Cooking: Eureka!

Are your evening meals for the month ready and waiting in your freezer? I'm not talking chicken nuggets or fish sticks! Join me in tracing my Joy of Cooking history and how I learned to modernize my efforts in the kitchen. Cooking: Eureka!

A truth I learned early on: fixing supper does not count as cooking.
Something warm on a plate, served at 6 PM does not equal appetizing, appealing, nutritious, or delicious.
Opening a can, warming up the contents, dumping it onto a plate - these strategies do not produce rave reviews.
Reading a vintage cook book puts preparing meals in perspective!

I did not come to the skill of cooking naturally.
I was not welcome in the kitchen because I made messes and was famous for disasters - using a hotel recipe for rolls, perking instant coffee, and dumping all pound cake ingredients in the bowl without mixing between each added ingredient. Also, I was not keen on baking a potato in the ground, so my Girl Scout cooking badge came from salads (pineapple ring, 1/2 banana, cherry on top placed on a lettuce leaf looks like a candle!) and desserts.

As a young married woman, I was expert at making...reservations.
I was usually in too much of a hurry to give time to a recipe. So, I opened a can, warmed up the contents, and dumped it onto a plate. That may be an exaggeration, but you get my point.
With children, I expanded my recipe collection. I enjoyed making specialty dishes like crepes, brownies, and crock pot roast beef. I made Rice-Krispie Treats and sprinkled flour on my face to impress the family.

Just as I planned out my wardrobe a week in advance, hanging the clothes together on the rack, I wrote out a weekly supper menu. Taster's Choice Instant Coffee by I.V. started my day. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
As the kids got older and became involved in after school activities, I became an expert at picking up Taco Bell on the way home. I clipped coupons for restaurant specials.
Breakfast consisted of Pop-Tarts, Leggo My Eggo, Do-nuts, Sausage Biscuit from the microwave.

Lunch came from a brown bag or a school lunch line. Supper - when I did cook, the kids said, "Mom, can we go out to Piccadilly tonight?"

So, what changed? I have time to experiment ...like with a local chocolate roll recipe.
I have time to cook, prepare meals, eat healthy. I work, but on my own schedule.
Also, I cook for a very appreciative diner. "MMMMMnmmm! That is so good. Thank you."  He lives to eat another day.

Here's the good part:  I attended a Freezer Meal Prep Workshop sponsored by the Women's group at church. The hostess sent a grocery list based on the Meal Plan I chose. My category was "everyday meals." I had also paid a fee so the hostess provided her brand (Wildtree) of spices, oils, and recipe enhancements. This afternoon, I prepped - prepared Freezer Bags: cut up chicken, and filled 10 gallon size freezer bags with beef, turkey, pork, shrimp, sausage, salmon, and chopped vegetables, according to the directions. At the workshop, we followed a printed recipe, used her spices and oils, added some canned seasonings like Rotel tomatoes and diced green chilies and filled up the 10 freezer bags with ready-to-thaw and cook bagged main dish meals. We double bagged the finished product and included the recipe for finishing the meal.

Since I cook for 2 most of the time, I have enough meals in the freezer that I may not have to Stew over Meals for months. All the dietary information that everyone focuses on now (non-GMO, organic, healthy, calorie and carb count, etc) is noted on the recipe.

I spent dollars at the grocery, dollars for the spices, and one afternoon of prep, plus 2 hours (socializing and Subway supper included) of combining everything for the meals.

That's how today's cook operates - grocery shopping - an hour; prep time- an hour; combining time- about 90 minutes. With that done on one day of the cook's choice, the rest of the weeks or month in the kitchen is a breeze. It's healthy and delicious, and no one has flour on her face!

I should have discovered this Joy of Cooking method years ago!