Choose your recipes...

Try recipes out first.
Never make more than one of something until you know that it’s a “winner”. That includes the 30 Day Gourmet recipes in this book and on our website. Yes, I love them and so do most of our cooks but I wouldn’t want you to make 6 recipes of Parsley Parmesan Chicken unless you’re sure that you love it too.

Decide how many entrées you want to make.

We freezer cooks get a bad rap sometimes because once we begin this venture people expect us to eat an “out of the freezer home-cooked meal” every night. But most of us don’t live that way. I know I don’t. Be realistic. Freezer cooking is about doing what works for YOU. If you still want to eat out on Sundays and order pizza on Friday nights, that’s fine. Plan for it. You’re down to 5 dinners a week now. Is there a night when you always clean up the leftovers? Plan for it. Do you eat at Mom’s every Monday night? No reason to stop now.

Decide how often you want to freezer cook.
If you’re planning to be a once-a-month cook who needs about 20-25 entrées, we suggest that you choose about 6-8 recipes and make 3 of each. If you cook more often than that you should still do several recipes but you will be building up a variety over several cooking days.

Make multiples.
Once you’re sure of a recipe, always make more than one. Even if you are doing a “mini-session”, make multiples. You can put 15-20 chicken entrées into the freezer on a Saturday morning if you choose 3-4 recipes and make 5 of each. The time you save really adds up. All of our recipes are multiplied out in columns making it very easy to make multiples. We’ve done the hard math problems for you☺

Don’t choose too many or too few recipes.
I realize that you need variety, but don’t be like the cook we met once who loved eating the foods but hated the process. She worked all day, all night and half of the next day to get 30 entrées into the freezer. Upon closer questioning, we learned that she was making 30 different entrées. Whew – no wonder she hated it. Your family will eat something more than once a month. If they won’t, you need to get a new family But don’t be like the ladies who confessed that they only assembled 4 recipes but made 7 of each and began rotating them every night for a month. Lasagna seven times a month?! Probably not. It only took them one cooking day to take a closer look at their recipe list.

Choose a few versatile recipes.
Rotating 6 recipes may not seem like much variety to you. Try choosing a few recipes that can be frozen in one form but transformed into different entrées on serving day. For example, I always make hundreds of meatballs. I pre-cook them and freeze them in family-sized portions. On the day that I want to serve them, they could quickly become Spaghetti and Meatballs, Sweet and Sour Meatballs or Swedish Meatballs. Sometimes I made the sauces ahead of time, sometimes not. The meatballs are the hard part and they’re done.

Always do a crock pot meal.
Crock pots great. You’re not limited to using them for wintertime soups and stews. Sandwich fillings, macaroni and cheese and all sorts of other foods can be done in the crock pot. You can start a recipe the night before cooking day and when you wake up you already have one meal done.

Consider the season.
Here in Indiana I choose lots of hamburger patties, ribs and meats in marinade to grill in the summer. Chili, soups and casseroles are winter favorites for us.

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