Because I want feeding your family to be enjoyable, I am including another time saver tip below. In case you missed the ones from the last 2 newsletters, I've included links to them below:
Time Saver - Prepare Ahead & Freeze
I can tell you, this saves you A LOT of time and lightens the mental load significantly.
🍗Crumbed Chicken
I quite often buy chicken breast in bulk from our local butcher when it's on sale. Then crumb it in bulk.
- set up a crumbing station.
- crumb the chicken and freeze it uncooked for 1 hour.
- place the frozen crumbed chicken in a container and store in the freezer.
- take out the number of pieces you need the night before and allow it to defrost in the fridge. Or if you're like me and forget to take it out of the freezer, you can always spray it with a little olive oil and cook it in the oven from frozen.
Step 2 is super important. This is what allows you to freeze the chicken in bulk without it sticking together. This way you can just take out the pieces you need.
🍕Pizzas
We often have pizzas for lunchboxes or for dinner alongside a couple of salads. Here's what I do to prepare ahead and freeze:
- pre-make your pizza bases, cook them in the oven.
- allow them to cool.
- add your toppings.
- flash freeze for 1 hour.
- wrap them individually in baking paper.
- then seal them all in a large ziplock bag (or if you've made large pizza's, use glad wrap but try to reuse it again).
- take out the number of pizzas you want, and cook straight from frozen.
🥤Smoothie Bags
These are great, especially if you have a teen who can't think, just needs food quick. They are great for breakfast or even as a snack.
- assemble different fruits and vegetables that you'd use to make a smoothie in the bag.
- place in the freezer.
- take out of the freezer, add your liquid and bonus ingredients like nuts, yoghurt etc.
- blend away.
This article by Super Healthy Kids gives some great examples of Smoothie Packs.
Similar to the smoothie bags, you can also do slow cooker bags or curry bags. Plop everything you need into the bag, freeze and away you go.