10 Tips for

Stress Free Summer Cooking!

1. A well stocked freezer makes for a fun and relaxing summer. Decide to spend a day early in the season filling your freezer with easy to prepare foods. Make a list of the kinds of foods you most enjoy eating in the summer and see which ones could be frozen ahead of time.

2. Meats frozen in marinades are GREAT for the grill! (Click here for the Easy Meats in Marinade Recipe!)

3. Freeze delicious fruit salads ahead of time.  Individual serving cups are a good idea for “grab as you go” meals or kid servings. (Click here for the Fruit Slush Recipe!)

4. Cook rice and pasta ahead of time for cool, quick summer salads. Cooking, draining and chilling the pasta and rice is what takes the longest for these recipes, so do it ahead of time! Just thaw, add some fresh vegetables, shredded cheese, and Italian dressing and it is ready to serve!

5. Package freezer foods for summer schedules.  Does everyone eat at a different time? Does dinner need to be taken to the ballfield? Consider individual packaging in rigid containers or small freezer bags.

6. Pre-cook for easy microwave re-heats.  Most of us don’t feel like turning on the oven every day in the summertime.  Cook all of your meatballs or casseroles during one big cooking session.  Then divide them down into smaller servings for easy re-heats.

7. Make your own fast foods!  Is it any surprise that fast food restaurants are the busiest in the summer? Everyone is busy and on the go!  You can make your own breakfast sandwiches, chicken nuggets, taco filling, and pizzas.  Load them into the freezer and watch the time and money you’ll save. (Click here for the Chicken Nuggets Recipe!)

8. Make your own snacks. Snack foods like granola bars, cookies, and snackin’ mix freeze great and are much healthier when you make your own. Freezing them in kid-sized individual freezer bags makes them easy to snatch on the run.  (Click here for the Granola Bar Recipe!)

9. Don’t forget dessert!  Search your cookbooks for freezable desserts.  You’ll find LOTS of them.  Making a few at a time saves you MORE time in the long run. You may need to disguise them, though, to keep out thieves! (Try our Candy Bar Pie Recipe)

10. Share the bounty.  Have those neighbors over that you’ve never met!

Click here to download this article and recipes for Media Publication. (MS Word)

30 Day Gourmet

This page was last updated on Monday, August 04, 2008.

Copyright 2008 - 30 Day Gourmet.  All rights reserved.