| 1. |
Choose
recipes that seniors like.
Some favorites are “meat and
potato” type entrees, soups and stews and
frozen salads.
Many seniors don’t care for
casseroles.
Follow the rules when choosing recipes
to freeze.
Click
here to review the Freezing Rules. |
| 2. |
Many
seniors like their foods well seasoned as the
taste buds seem to fade a bit with age. We
often tease my dad about the time we recruited
him to taste test the recipes for our holiday
cookbook.
He dipped everything in salsa first
which made us wonder how he could choose the
best stuffing recipe! |
| 3. |
Lots
of seniors openly declare their distaste for
frozen food that has to be “warmed up” and
isn’t made “fresh”.
Sometimes the best trick is not to tell
them where the food came from.
Most people expect food coming from the
freezer to taste inferior but that simply
isn’t true. You can avoid the “warmed
up” taste by not pre-cooking your foods
before putting them into the freezer. When we
pre-cook, freeze and then reheat, we often
overcook the food and it tastes
“twice-baked”. |
| 4. |
Choose
the right size freezer container.
This is a key to quality freezing.
There are so many choices available
now.
Choose small containers and avoid
leftovers.
Every time you thaw, heat and then
re-freeze foods, you will lose quality and
flavor.
Be sure that your containers are
freezer quality – no more margarine and
whipped topping tubs!
Rigid containers work well for most
foods and are easy to label and stack in the
freezer.
Try the lids first to be sure that you
can get them off and on easily. |
| 5, |
Freeze
in 1-2 serving portions.
Many people think that cooking in
quantity doesn’t work for small families or
singles.
On the contrary, freezer cooking can be
a great answer to the dilemma of making
something new every night or worse yet, making
a pan of lasagna and eating it for dinner 8
nights in a row!
The trick is to divide the entrée,
side dish or dessert down into suitable
portions BEFORE freezing. |
| 6. |
Label
everything!
It’s amazing how similar foods can
look in the freezer. |
| 7. |
Breads,
cakes, cookies and many desserts freeze well!
To avoid the quality loss in thawing
and re-freezing, slice the dessert before
freezing and wrap the slices individually in
freezer quality plastic wrap.
Put all of the slices into a freezer
bag or rigid freezer container and just pull
them out one at a time. |
| 8. |
Leave
a few loaves of bread, desserts and entrees in
large quantities for company and for taking to
friends will appreciate your
hospitality. |
| 9. |
Consider
cooking in quantity with a friend or family
member.
It can make a boring job so much more
fun!
Rotate the sitting jobs so that you
aren’t on your feet all day.
Your cooking expertise and “good old
common sense” could be just what your
neighbor or daughter needs to tackle this
job. |
| 10. |
Have
fun and send us your ideas and recipes. |
