Lefty wrote:

> The best thing is to cook as small a recipe as practical because otherwise
> no matter what your intentions, the reality is you are going to waste a lot.
>

I'm actually trying to cook in bulk so that I can not cook so often,
but still take lunches to work, and have something decent for dinner
when I get home. I need to save money and stop buying fast food lunch
at work and microwave meals. If I can make a variety of meals for the
freezer, then I can take out a different meal each day and still have
variety without buying food at work.

> A lot depends on how domestic you are. In my case, I love good food and good
> cooking but my other important interests supercede being home much except on
> weekends, when domestic chores are done, including some cooking.
>

I can only really cook twice a week. I can do some small stuff in the
microwave and toaster oven after work, but I only have access to the
oven and stovetop two days a week.

> After years of hassling with it I am at a point where if I lived in a city I
> would eat three meals a day at a restaurant during the week (a good
> restaurant) --it would cost about the same overall. If you can do this and
> you cook for one, save the time, money, and the aggravation of shopping for
> one.
>

I don't have the budget to eat out. That is basically what I have been
doing, and even a $5 lunch is costing me too much. I have to reduce
costs, and cooking my own meals is helping me do that. I'm just finding
too much frost in my containers.

> The point is, be realistic. If after a short while with a system you are
> tossing stuff out a lot, or don't feel like following through with the
> frozen dish you made two weeks ago, whatever, don't think that buying a new
> gadget will solve the problem. The problem amounts to quantity control --
> less is more.

It's been going pretty well for me. I did get bored when I only had 3
different meals, so I quit for awhile. Some of it holds up quite well -
my chili, beef roast, and salmon with pasta have all done well. But my
split pea soup is rather frosty, and my pork steak looks a bit dry.

I'm looking to add more variety, so I figured I would learn more before
I frost some more food.

> I'm looking to add more variety, so I figured I would learn more before
> I frost some more food.

I took out some pork loin yesterday that I had baked and cut into individual
slices. They were not foodsavered. They were not frosted. I had wrapped
them in a paper that comes in a box (bought at Costco). It might be called
deli paper. They are sheets. If they are too juicy, wrap them in two
sheets. I had been wrapping them in butcher paper, but it was too bulky and
didn't tighten up enough around the meat.

Perhaps what you are trying to do - do I understand it correctly - you want
to make a whole meal and then defrost the whole meal for your lunch. What I
would do is freeze each thing separately; in this case, I would have a pork
chop and perhaps I would have some peas that I had frozen separately, and
whatever else you chose for lunch. Make yourself a little fresh salad to
take or a fresh fruit. i.e., don't try to get a whole meal in one package.

Perhaps I mis-read your query; if so -- pardone moi.
Happy cooking,
Happy frugal-ing,
Dee Dee

Dee Randall wrote:

> Perhaps what you are trying to do - do I understand it correctly - you want
> to make a whole meal and then defrost the whole meal for your lunch.

What I am doing is making a triple batch of something, say broccolie
beef. I then package it up in several containers and freeze them. I
don't have a lot of time to eat at work, so I don't really eat that
much at once. A 14 oz container will give me 2 meals easily. I have
used some of those in the past, but the lids weren't staying on. I
found some nice conatainers that were hold up better in the freezer,
but they are larger, and hold 3 servings for me.

So, after making my hige batch. I dish it up into 7 or 8 of these
containers and then I freeze them.

I was having a frost problem, but it sounds like that doesn't degrade
the food, so I may just keep doing it this way. If I do decide to
freeze and wrap it differently, then I would prefer to go ahead and do
a smaller package so that I actually have 1 serving size instead of 2
or 3. That would let me do more variety and not got bored with the same
lunch 3 days in a row.

The biggest reason that I have bought lunches at work is because I
don't have time to cook real meals. I share a house, and I am a night
owl. I don't get home from work until 11pm. After dinner, I am
energetic, but one family member sleeps in the living room (she has
pain if she tries to sleep in bed), so if I cook late at night, I have
to be really quiet. No talking, no tv, no radio, and very quiet with
the clanking of pans. It's much easier to cook on my days off during
the afternoon and evening. I don't have to worry about waking anybody
up.