Favorites from the July 2020 cook!

COVID doesn't have to cramp your cooking style.  Here are our favorite freezer recipes that we made in late july:

Pork apple cheddar burgers: https://tidymom.net/apple-cheddar-pork-burgers/

So, we often do burgers....  formed raw on sprayed cookie sheets.....then store in a gallon zip.  These were SO good.  The cheese oozes out and forms a dark, fried, cheesy skin....  the pork and apple made a nice sweet counterpart to the cheese....  Cooking tip: Cook straight from frozen on low heat and let that cheesy crust develop.  Wait until liquids are oozing through the top of the burger before flipping.

Cajun potato soup:https://12tomatoes.com/slow-cooker-cajun-potato-soup/?utm_source=glp-12t&utm_medium=social-pin&utm_content=link&utm_term=&utm_campaign=slow-cooker-cajun-potato-soup 

The first attempt at this soup didn't turn out well....cut the Old Bay in HALF at LEAST....maybe even start with less and ramp up.  The seasoning is salty as is.   it sounds odd to use shredded hash browns, but this is one of the best comfort foody soups out there.  the spicy sausage is also awesome. Reheats easily....

Pastrami grilled cheese sandwiches

We recently purchased an air fryer and have been making pseudo-grilled cheese sandwiches in the device.....  if you want to do Reuben-style...freeze 3 ounce portions of pastrami or corned beef, freeze tiny "pucks" of sauerkraut (we freeze in mini muffin tin), and use thousand island or make your own....  assemble bread, spread., pastrami, and Swiss cheese on one side....  bread on the other.  Spray exposed side of bread with canola or grapeseed oil.  When the device tells you to flip, spray the other side of the bread slice with oil, assemble sandwich, flip, and spray the bottom of the spread, pastrami, Swiss side with oil.  When done, open, and add sauerkraut.  YUM!

Updated Once a Month (Freezer) Cooking Recipes

So I largely (now) get my recipes from Pinterest, and I can determine if they will work for freezing, or if I need to modify them for freezing.  I created a new board of freezer cooking recipes.  I will be working to update the modifications for using the recipe for freezer cooking in the next few weeks?

https://www.pinterest.com/leannaaker/food-i-ve-made/freezer-cooking-recipes/

Favorite Recipes from the December 2019 Cook

Well, since we're all sort of isolated at home right now, thought I might update the blog with our favorite recipes from our December 2019 cook (which should run out the end of this month.

1).  Kung Pao Chicken (https://thewoksoflife.com/kung-pao-chicken/)

So, it is always amazing when you use authentic spices...how much better a familiar dish can be!  The Sichuan pepper powder really makes this dish. I find myself now searching for recipes that use this spice. 

When we make this to freeze, we mix it together with the rice, although we have also done rice frozen into muffin tins for individual portions, too.  Best tip on the peanuts is to either:  1) freeze the dish and add the peanuts to the Ziploc afterwards to keep them from getting soggy, or 2) don't use raw peanuts and just keep them on hand to add as you reheat.









2). Irish Lamb Stew with Guinness (https://www.cookingcurries.com/irish-lamb-stew-guinness/)


There are a couple of things that puts this recipe on our recipe list every few cooks.  One is that the fire-roasted diced tomatoes add a nice kick (but not too much) to this hearty stew.  The other is that we frequently buy a half or a whole lamb, and you can use the "strange" cuts for the meat for this one (e.g., rib plates, etc.).  We are not fans of very thin soups, but even this thin broth packs such a punch that we don't end up skimping on the stock like we do for some recipes.  Oh yeah, and if you make your own lamb stock, it is even more delicious!  The Guinness adds a nice acid punch.

Reheating this one is a breeze.  Everything stays nice and most, and nothing really overheats or breaks down on the reheat.

Favorite Recipes from the February Cook

After cooking 14-15 recipes that you've selected, invariably, some of them call out from the freezer, and you're sad when they are gone.  Here are our favorite recipes from our February cook:

1) Enfrijoladas (https://www.budgetbytes.com/enfrijoladas-tortillas-in-black-bean-sauce/)



These are a winner!  They were a little fussy to assemble...you need to blend a thick black bean mixture in a good blender, and you need to put these in a dish.  The step that asks you to coat both sides of the tortilla in the black bean puree is necessary!  We added extra chipotle to the black bean puree, as well as a little chicken (leftover from another recipe) into the inside of each enfrijolada.   The black bean mixture is very much comfort food, and the raw cilantro/onion mixture provides a nice brightness.  These reheat easily.  We'll definitely make them again.


2) Korean Noodle Stir Fry (https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/japchae-korean-noodle-stir-fry/)


This was one of the those recipes, that while making it, you are HOPING it will reheat well.  We were worried about the sweet potato noodles, but they reheat great!  The sweet potato noodles are VERY long, so the package advises cutting them with a pair of scissors once cooked (great advice).  This sauce is super flavorful...bright, spicy, and salty.  Great combo of beef and veggies.  I was always looking for this one in the freezer!

The Cost of Freezer Cooking: $1.77 per Serving!

I thought it would be helpful to consider the cost per serving to do freezer cooking.  In previous posts, we have talked about how to be more efficient with shopping and cooking to waste less.

We usually shop at four places when we cook.  I've listed the amount of money spent and typical items purchased here, for your reference.

Store	Amount	What to Purchase at Store
Hmart	84.89	Cheap produce and Japanese foodstuffs
Costco	178.23	Large quantities of pantry items (e.g., diced tomatoes) and meat (e.g. bags of chicken breasts)
Cash n Carry (now Smart Foodservices)	47.63	Large quantities of meat (such as eye of round, pork loin, etc.) and cheap spices
Safeway	216	Remaining items and items in smaller quantities
Total:	526.75

Now, it is worth mentioning that these costs both under- and over-represent the cost of the freezer cooking.  We already have some things on hand (in this case, 4 lbs. of ground lamb, spices, etc.), and overpurchase some things we do not use up completely (in this case, we purchased quart and freezer ziplocs as we are running low, as well as huge amounts of 3 or 4 spices).  But at the end of the day, this comes out in the wash.

Next, we cooked, and kept track of the packed servings of each recipe (rather than the recipe-predicted, which can under or over-represent the actual servings).  We do always double or triple recipes to help the cost and be more efficient with ingredients.

Recipe	Servings (Actual)
Greek Mac n Cheese	20
Turkey and Zucchini Burgers	18
Mini Meatloaves + mashed potato cakes	28
Roast beef horseradish pinwheels	26
Korean spicy noodles	19
Extra lamb wraps (unplanned)	13
Cabbage Dijon with apple sausage	13
Sliced roast beef servings	19
Chicken with tomatoes & raisins	16
Cajun chicken soup	20
Tandoori lamb pizza	30
Enfrijoladas	18
Southwest chicken wraps	21
Enchilada soup	16
Stone soup	21
Total Servings:	298

When we take the total cost of the food bill:  $526.75, and divide by the number of servings, 298, our cost per meal is $1.77.  

So, with 2 of us eating 2 meals a day from our freezer cooking, we divided by 4 to figure out how many days of meals we have.  (How about that for a middle school math problem!!!!).  We have almost 74.5 days of food in our freezer.  

A couple of important caveats:

• We do cook breakfast for the freezer as well, but only do so every few meals.
• We have two normal freezer/fridge combos, one in our garage and one in the house, but we do not have a HUGE chest freezer or anything.  You could EASILY scale this down for your space (e.g. less recipes or less doubling/tripling).
• As much as I want a more environmentally-friendly Ziploc solution (I've tried reusable bags and do pack some things in reusable glass containers), Ziplocs are by far the cheapest and easiest to cram into a freezer in high quantity.

Now....  let's not talk about how many times we ran the dishwasher or the cost of laundry detergent or hand lotion to replenish hands in the dishwater all day!