there is just the two of us not counting the cats. i cook portion and
freeze almost everything... DH does most of the daily cooking but when it
comes to bulk cooking and the slow cooker i do that, also i portion and
freeze all of the raw meat, once cooked DH portions it out by weight and i
freeze it... i do WW and our work schedule that haveing easy items that are
healthy is very important... i have a med sized chest freezer and one on top
the frig... i just can't abide waste... i keep a list on the frig of what is
in the big freezer, little freezer and both are on the computer so i can
read/edit them. I feel it is bad for me emotionally to waste food which we
worked so hard to earn the money for, and i also think food budget is one of
the few places you can save money these days... and since my diet requires
some speciality foods i find saving where i can allows me to buy these items
without impacting the budget. and having portions ready made also helps cut
down on over eating, if i have to back to the freezer for another portion i
might think twice about it.

Lee

--
Have a great day
"Ozgirl" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>> "Ozgirl" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> Its day before shopping day and I was clearing out the fridge ready
>>> for the big shop and realised I had almost no salad veggies left and
>>> no protein. I had a few bits and pieces in the vegetable line and
>>> considered what I could have for lunch today.
>>>
>>> So I gathered the bits and pieces together (carrot, onion, garlic,
>>> limp celery, a zucchini and a bit of fresh basil). I sautéed the
>>> onion and garlic in olive oil and in a saucepan put the
>>> onion/garlic, the veggies chopped up, a can of diced tomatoes, some
>>> bottled V8 veggie juice and a can of 4 bean mix.
>>>
>>> It has been simmering for about an hour and the smell alone is
>>> superb, the test taste was similar to minestrone. Will be even
>>> better when I add a bit of dry parmesan and FGBP! Can't wait. Looks
>>> like it might be my dinner as well as I can only see sausages left
>>> in the freezer so the kids will get that - the soup is not the kind
>>> they like.
>>
>> That's the best kind of soup! Angela doesn't really like it either
>> but she will eat it.
>>
>> I am not looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner. Leftover pasta.
>> I used to eat a lot of it and liked it. I don't know if it's just
>> that the gluten free stuff tastes so much different or what. Or
>> maybe because I can't have real cheese. I just don't want to eat it
>> any more. Alas, it is one of Angela's favorite meals. I used a
>> jarred sauce so there were 6 servings. I guess when my husband isn't
>> here I will have to start making my own sauce and in a small quantity
>> so I can make less pasta.
>> I have to start being careful what I buy at Costco. I bought a 2
>> pack of cooked chicken breast strips and a 3 pack of sliced turkey.
>> Angela ate none of the chicken before it expired. I don't like it. And
>> only one sandwich from the turkey. There are times when she
>> grabs handfuls of meat, but this wasn't one of them. And I didn't
>> eat any sandwiches. So it all got thrown out.
>>
>> I have used all of the meat in the fridge except for some pre-cooked
>> bacon, bologna and the new turkey I bought.
>>
>> Now the big thing is to clean out the freezer. There's another
>> package of pre-cooked chicken breast in there that I stuck in there
>> rather than throw it out. I can't stand the stuff. For some reason
>> they put sugar in it and when I eat it, that's all I taste. There's
>> half a gluten free pizza. Can't get Angela to eat the other half.
>> There's the giant package of uncooked chicken breasts. Some cooked
>> hamburger, a few boxes of chicken nuggets and fish sticks and I'm not
>> sure what all else. Angela keeps wanting ice cream but there is no
>> room for it.
>
> I gave away my chest freezer when I moved interstate so only have a small
> fridge and freezer. Anything that comes in a container or packet I take
> out then I divide what I took out into meal sizes. If I had a pizza in a
> box I would toss the box and cut the pizza into serving sizes and freeze
> it. I freeze just about everything I buy in the meat line as soon as I get
> home from the shops. I don't buy in bulk anymore like when I had 4 kids
> at home and a deep freeze but doing it the way I do it now works for me.
> If I get 6 chops I put 3 in a freezer bag and 3 in another. That way
> there is no waste.
>
> I can rarely fit ice cream in the fridge. I have my bread frozen because I
> don't eat it quickly enough, I have a large bag of walnuts in there pluse
> the flattened out meat in their portions. I don't need boxes or packages
> anymore to know how to cook something but I mostly have just meat in there
> and on the odd occasion something that came boxed that the kids like.
>