Proper packaging is the solution to all problems. By using the right packaging, you will extend the shelf life of your food in the freezer and preserve its taste.
To store frozen foods you can use:
- special bags for freezing with or without a zipper (slider bags);
- plastic containers that can withstand sub-zero temperatures and are suitable for the microwave;
- thick foil;
- cling film;
- disposable baking dishes.
Be sure to label everything you put in the freezer. otherwise, later you simply won’t remember what you froze; frozen foods look completely different. Also sign the freezing date to avoid unpleasant consequences. You can use a permanent marker for this. Regular markers or pens are not suitable for this, as they fade.
What foods can be frozen?
Believe it or not, you can freeze almost all ready-made dishes.
Below are just a few of the dishes that store well in the freezer:
- broths;
- puree soups;
- sausages;
- meat goulash;
- pilaf;
- chops;
- lasagna;
- pates (meat, fish, liver);
- mashed potatoes;
- cereals;
- pasta (boil until al dente);
- cutlets;
- cabbage rolls;
- baked goods (pies, pizza, buns, muffins, pancakes, pancakes);
- casseroles;
- sauces (Bolognese, pesto).
Nuances:
If you cook a lot at once, then do not freeze everything in one package, Divide into portions so you don't have to defrost several times.
The faster the freezing, the better. Many modern freezers have a quick freeze function. To freeze a dish, use this function, and for storage you can use a regular compartment with a standard -18 degrees.
When freezing in bags, try to “expel” all the air, then the products will better retain their appearance and taste.
Do not fill storage containers to the top, since most products contain water, which expands when frozen. This especially applies to broths, soups and gravies.
When storing in the freezer, try to use different shelves for meat and fish dishes, vegetables and other products to protect products from foreign odors.
It is better to add mayonnaise, yogurt, cream to the dish before eating, because after freezing they separate.
How to organize?
1. Make a menu and a list of necessary products. We wrote about this.
2. Plan your work. Start by making a list of what you need to prepare for each recipe. For example: chop and fry one onion, boil the pasta, boil the meat. Then group the same steps: for example, one recipe calls for one onion, and another calls for two, so we can peel and fry three onions. When planning, consider the following: first prepare all the products (clean, wash, cut), then grate, cut, chop, and only then begin to fry, boil, bake. This approach will allow you to cook several dishes at the same time.
3. Prepare all necessary utensils and supplies- knives, cups, pots, pans - and feel free to start cooking, following the work plan.
4. Once all the ingredients are ready, All we have to do is put everything into bags, containers and label it, then put it in the freezer.
It would seem that what could be simpler than freezing food? But even here there are myths and misconceptions, as well as nuances and tricks, which we discuss in detail during the training. In this article I will answer the most common questions about freezing.
1. Frozen food is “dead” food – a myth
Freezing is the best a way to preserve life invented by nature itself. After all, everything freezes in winter: plants, tubers, seeds, roots, etc. – during the cold season they are frozen and defrosted several times. And at the same time, not only do they not “die”, but in the spring they begin to grow, bloom and bear fruit!
To preserve living plants, nature, unlike humans, does not cook, pickle, salt, smoke, etc. Nature is freezing! All minerals are preserved after freezing. And most vitamins too. It is better to freeze strawberries, raspberries or cherries than to make jam from them. This way they will retain more vitamins and be healthier.
2. Frozen food is not tasty - a myth
If you choose the right products and follow all the principles of freezing, packaging and storage, the taste of your food will never fade, much less spoil. And in some cases it will become even better (for example, when freezing semi-finished products).
To extend the shelf life of products to 10-12 months, you just need to properly prepare them for storage in the freezer. It is very important not to skip steps such as washing, blanching, drying, cooling and freezing in the freezer. Product packaging also plays an important role in preserving the full range of taste of your products and ready-made dishes. They need to be carefully and airtightly packaged using special freezer containers, cling film, durable plastic bags, foil or parchment paper.
And to prevent frozen foods from turning into a solid piece of ice, it is very important to completely dry them from moisture, cool them in the refrigerator, if you need to freeze them further, and only then completely freeze them. If whole berries, such as, are frozen, then they need to be frozen on a board or other flat tray so that they do not touch each other and only then poured into a bag or tray.
This also applies to other similar products.
3. You can freeze fully cooked food - true
Fully cooked food lends itself well to freezing and, if you follow all the rules for freezing/thawing, its taste after freezing will not only not disappoint you, but will also pleasantly surprise you.
Having frozen ready meals at home is very convenient. For example, if there is a lack of time for cooking, unexpected guests or another force majeure situation, there will always be homemade delicious dishes at home that will certainly save the situation.
And if you have prepared more food than your family can eat, then you shouldn’t wait until it sits in the refrigerator for a week and will be fed to a barn cat, or even worse, it will go in the trash. Freeze some of the prepared food, and in the future, when there is no energy, time or desire left to prepare lunch or dinner, frozen food will save a hungry family, and the family budget will not suffer from buying store-bought sausages, dumplings and other unhealthy food.
4. There are no vitamins in frozen foods – a myth
Vitamins are destroyed during any storage and during any processing of products, and most - not during freezing, but during heat treatment.
If we compare frozen vegetables and fruits with fresh ones collected in season, then naturally there will be more vitamins in fresh products.
But if in winter you want to enjoy strawberries or cherries, zucchini or bell peppers, then it is better to give preference to frozen vegetables rather than those just bought in the store. As a rule, fresh vegetables and fruits are frozen in season, that is, collected at the peak of their ripeness, when the amount of vitamins and other useful substances is high.
Therefore, the benefits from such frozen products will be greater than from glossy greenhouse vegetables and fruits grown under artificial lighting using stimulants and other substances that promote rapid ripening of products. Even canned foods are not as healthy as frozen ones.
5. You can freeze any food and ready-made meals - a myth
Yes, almost everything can be frozen. However, there are a number of foods that are not advisable to freeze. This applies to watery vegetables such as cucumber and radish (after defrosting, they lose their characteristic crunch and elasticity). Also, delicate greens such as lettuce cannot be frozen.
As for ready-made dishes, there are some nuances here too. Creamy sauces, dairy dishes (creams, desserts), cream, sour cream and kefir do not tolerate freezing well and separate after defrosting. This also applies to cold soups (okroshka, gazpacho) - such soups will be tasteless: the liquid part will become inhomogeneous, and their ingredients will no longer have a crunch.
6. Frozen food spoils when stored for a long time - true
Freezing allows you to preserve the high quality of food for a very long time.(for example, up to 12 months). Therefore, it is very important to adhere to a certain temperature regime in the freezer, namely minus 18 degrees and below. If the temperature is higher, the shelf life of the product will be greatly reduced, since freezing does not stop, but only slows down the processes that cause food to spoil under normal conditions, and temperatures above minus 18 degrees are not enough for long-term storage of food - the food will continue to deteriorate due to for the active reproduction of microorganisms that are present on products.
7. Food absorbs odors in the freezer - truth and myth
Yes, this really happens. If you store fish, milk, strawberries and mushrooms in one freezer drawer, then after some time of storage together you will have mushroom-flavored strawberries and fishy-flavored milk :)
But in reality this is very easy to avoid. You just need to pack the products well, sort them into groups and allocate a separate place for them.
In a refrigerator with a standard 3-compartment freezer, it is advisable to have a separate drawer for each food group. For example, in the first compartment (1) store meat products and their semi-finished products (dumplings, dumplings, cutlets, meatballs, cabbage rolls, etc.), broth, soup, sauces, etc.
In the second (2) compartment to store vegetables, fruits, dairy products (milk, butter), baked goods, etc.
Third (3) Set aside a compartment for frozen mushrooms, fish, seafood and other things.
8. You can defrost food in any way - a myth
The best way to defrost food is to defrost it slowly! That is, put it on the refrigerator shelf and let it thaw completely or partially.
Defrosting food under running hot or warm water is not right!
Warm water will quickly defrost the top layers of the product, while the inside will still be frozen. Such uneven defrosting has a very bad effect on the final quality and taste of the product. It will be heterogeneous and may even partially collapse.
You should also not leave frozen food on the table at room temperature.
When defrosting something (meat, fish, semi-finished products, etc.) in the air, there is a chance that the top layer of the product will become spoiled, since the process of bacteria and microbes will begin to multiply on it.
Cooking broth from frozen meat or stewing a frozen piece of meat/fish is also wrong.
It is highly undesirable to subject frozen meat to heat treatment, including cooking. This is due to the fact that after such a cooking process very few useful substances remain in the meat, it significantly decreases in size, becomes dry, and the broth becomes cloudy.
Defrosting some foods in the microwave is also undesirable.
This applies to fish and seafood. Such foods cook quite quickly and the cooking process can begin. The proteins of the outer layer of the product will coagulate, and with further heat treatment, the taste, color, density and even the composition of nutrients in the dish can change greatly.
To eat or not to eat frozen foods is the choice of each person
To freeze or not to freeze foods, to eat them or to abstain is everyone’s choice. But where is the confidence that the dishes purchased or ordered in stores, cafes and restaurants were not prepared from frozen foods? After all, almost everything can be frozen. This is the most common way to deliver products to the consumer without loss of taste characteristics and preserve them for a longer period.
Don't be afraid to freeze foods and prepared meals! Freezing is the best way to store food.
If you ALWAYS have HOMEMADE food ready in your freezer, then you won't need to cook as often. I’ll say more, you may not go near the stove for days or even weeks!
If now, during the season of inexpensive vegetables, fruits, and berries, you freeze them, you can save a lot, because in winter, fresh vegetables and fruits will cost as much as a Boeing wing.
Interesting? Sign up for the training ““. During the training, you will learn not only how to properly freeze food and ready-made meals. You can improve the quality of your life by freeing up time to do the things you truly enjoy.
And you’ll save money on grocery purchases – as a nice bonus!
Sign up for training
Freezing is a great way to store food. But such food can be both beneficial and harmful to the body. It is important to learn how to choose frozen foods correctly in order to get vitamins and important microelements from such food.
There is constant debate about the benefits and harms of frozen foods. Fruits, herbs, and vegetables are sources of vitamins, but if improperly processed or not maintained under storage conditions, they lose their properties. The amount of vitamins decreases, some of them oxidize. The website contains a useful reminder "", it will help prolong the freshness of products and preserve their taste.
To extend shelf life in an unnatural way, manufacturers add chemicals that negatively affect the human body. In order to preserve the useful components as much as possible, you need to learn how to properly defrost food.
Frozen food production
In production, fruits, vegetables, and berries go through several stages:
- selection by size, quality;
- the washing up;
- removal of seeds, skins, stalks;
- blanching;
- cooling;
- weighing;
- freezing;
- packaging, labeling, packaging.
Freezing meat products
A similar scheme is used for freezing meat, fish, and poultry. In production, air cooling can be used, in which food is poured into special chambers where natural air convection occurs. Processing using a fast air flow in tunnel or gravity-conveyor freezers is considered more effective. The temperature ranges from -35 ° C to -50 ° C. This shock effect ensures individual cooling of each individual element, preserving its beneficial properties and natural appearance.Freezing vegetables and fruits
Plant-based foods are very rarely cryogenically processed. This technology is used for freezing meat, fish, bakery and confectionery products. The refrigerant can be carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen. With this processing, there is a slight evaporation of moisture from the food. Thus, the cellular structure is practically not affected, due to this the taste, original appearance, and beneficial properties of the products are preserved.The duration of freezing depends on the technology used and the types of food.
What food is frozen
Fruits, vegetables, berries, herbs - all this is frozen to obtain vitamins in the winter. Do not process cabbage, radishes, cucumbers and lettuce in this way, as they turn into a watery pulp.Frozen meat, poultry, and fish are especially popular. They are stored longer if processed in their raw form.
Bakery and confectionery products tolerate cold well, but crumbly decorations can get wet, and icing and custards lose their properties. Salty, fatty foods (sausages, bacon, ham, sausages) lose their taste under prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures. Their shelf life should not exceed 1 month. This also applies to ready-made meals.
Frozen dumplings, pancakes, cutlets, dumplings are semi-finished products that are found in abundance on store shelves. You can prepare them yourself for storage in the freezer (no more than two months).
What are the disadvantages of frozen foods?
When exposed to low temperatures, many vitamins oxidize, and meals prepared from frozen foods may not be healthy enough. When preparing at home, important components are practically not preserved. In industrial conditions, due to very low temperatures and high processing speed, some vitamins still remain in the food.The harm of frozen food also lies in the fact that it can decompose soon after consumption under the influence of an alkaline and acidic environment in the body. Such food rots faster than is over-etched.
Freezing does not kill many types of microbes; they become inactive and become active after defrosting. Therefore, fruits, vegetables, berries, and herbs need to be washed well and preferably subjected to heat treatment.
What will you choose - food additives and preservatives or frozen foods?
Is it harmful to eat frozen foods?
The benefits and harms of such food depend on the following factors:- freezing method;
- storage conditions;
- method of defrosting.
Food that has been cooled without the use of technological equipment contains fewer nutrients, but there is confidence in its naturalness. Freezing, which is done in production, is considered more reliable for preserving vitamins and microelements. But here doubts arise about proper storage.
When processing at low temperatures, manufacturers can additionally use dyes and various chemical components. Very unhealthy food that was re-frozen.
How to choose quality frozen foods
Frozen meat It is better to buy in individual packaging from the manufacturer, with a written expiration date.Choosing seafood, pay attention to the amount of ice glaze. It should not exceed 10% of the total weight. Individual packaging must be for dry-frozen seafood.
Vegetables, berries, fruits should not be stuck together. When choosing, you should pay attention to their shape and color. The appearance should be natural.
When purchasing, special attention should be paid to the integrity of the packaging and the expiration date indicated on it.
Whether or not to consume such food is a personal matter for everyone, but it is worth remembering that it can bring both benefit and harm. It is better to buy products from well-known manufacturers who are responsible for quality. If you decide to process food at home, you should follow the basic rules of freezing and storage.
How do you feel about frozen foods?
And we use ideas from this article by Elizaveta Pravikova:
Lent has arrived - and what is a person forced to think about most of all, especially those with a large family? Of course, about food, alas and ah. About food, about its composition, about how to prepare dishes tasty and nutritious, and ideally, simply and quickly. Because the prospect of spending the entire fast at the stove does not make me happy, that’s for sure.
The most interesting thing is that there are many recipes for lean food, there are also opportunities, but how lazy to put all this into practice... Moreover, the result (in the sense of whether they will eat it or not) in my family, for example, is unpredictable. It can easily turn out that half of the family will like it, but the other half will not eat what is cooked. However, creating a Lenten dinner is not a particularly big problem; everyone except me dines outside the house. The problem is different - breakfast, that's what requires a truly creative approach!
There is a constant “ambush” with breakfasts during Lent. I don’t know about you, but for me it’s a constant headache to make sure my husband and children don’t leave home hungry for the whole day. Oatmeal is fine for me, if I have it, the issue of breakfast is always resolved. For me, but not for children, in whom you can’t stuff oatmeal with milk, let alone its lean version. And this year we have a very interesting situation - three older children get up before us, get ready on their own and go to school. This means that we need to provide them with breakfasts that do not require any effort from them to prepare: something that they can take out, heat up and eat, and that are nutritious and tasty. So I started thinking about how to ensure this. And in the process of my thoughts this list was born.
Please note that these are not specific recipes, but rather 5 ideas for a meatless breakfast. To be honest, I don’t really like to use exact recipes (unless it’s baking, where strict proportions are important), because they require a certain set of products, certain manipulations, and time. And people's tastes are too different. That's why I personally prefer ideas as a basis for creativity. Like things and ideas from IKEA - you pick what you like, pick up the idea and create based on your personal taste and preferences. My list includes both quick ideas and those that require cooking and preparation, that is, homemade semi-finished products. And, by the way, continuing the theme of the last article - all ideas are more than budget-friendly!
Pancakes
I start with pancakes, because they are the Lenten “salvation” for us; all my children eat them! The main thing is that the filling is different. Yes, this is a dish that will have to be prepared in advance. And if we take on it, then in full. It's stupid to make dough for the sake of a dozen pancakes, right? That's why I do a lot at once. Lean yeast pancakes turn out very tasty and elastic if you add more sunflower oil to the dough, and also let the dough rise, and then stir it well.
The composition of the dough is simple - water, salt-sugar, yeast, flour and sunflower oil. Also, to prevent the edges from drying out during the making of pancakes, it would be good to cover the finished pancakes with a lid (while warm). Your pile of pancakes is the basis for further creativity in terms of filling. Its quality can be anything, depending on your taste - cabbage, rice, potatoes, beans, peas, with the addition of fried onions (onions and greens), mushrooms, fish, seafood. Sweet fillings include berries with sugar, grated apples, thick jam. And then everything is simple, wrap the filling in a pancake, preferably a roll, and put it in the freezer. That's it, a delicious and nutritious instant breakfast for several days is ready!
2-3 minutes in the microwave, any child and any husband can handle this on their own. And I can’t help but add about the budget nature of this dish: I calculated that 20 pancakes (larger than those sold in packs) with cabbage and rice, very tasty, cost me 50 (!!!) rubles. And, of course, plus my work on days off.
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Vegetable cutlets
Our second main dish also requires preparation, and again we prepare it in industrial quantities. Potato cutlets (or pancakes, as you like). The basis is jacket potatoes, then, of course, peeled and minced in a meat grinder. Then add whatever you want to this dough - mushrooms, onions, herbs, spices. This is a very convenient semi-finished product; the cutlets can be frozen unfried (and then their preparation will take a little more time) or fried (then just reheat). You can use them as a hot dish, with peas for example, or with sauce, or you can put them on a sandwich. The sandwich usually uses “yesterday’s” cold pancakes left over from dinner. Any vegetable cutlets you like, made ahead and frozen, also work great for breakfast. Again - the dish is very inexpensive.
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Oatmeal, sir!
But my favorite oatmeal is a truly fertile basis for creativity! In my opinion, it is not included in the “porridge” section precisely because of its versatility. Quick, tasty, nutritious, you can add anything, make it any consistency, you want it, cook it, you want it, no, you want it, fry it like pancakes, in general - a miracle.
Another good thing about it is that it doesn’t require any recipe. Everything is prepared here, as my grandmother used to say, according to the principle “everything good is included.” You can add soy milk, liquid or dry, to it, you can cook it in water with honey, apple juice, or cocoa. Add any spices, nuts and dried fruits, any fruits and berries, everything to taste. You can make jelly and delicious nutritious cocktails from it. It’s great to combine it with bran. You can pour it in the evening and eat it cold or reheat it in the morning. Taking a banana, a handful of berries, a glass of liquid (water, juice, soy milk) and a few spoons of cereal and blending it all with a blender, we get a cocktail. Add bran, let it sit - and here is a new dish. The same can be done in the vegetable version by whipping liquid porridge with herbs, spices and vegetables. In general - there is more than enough creativity! And again, mind you, it comes out very budget-friendly.
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And porridge
For those who are not opposed to cereals, this is one of the most versatile breakfast dishes. Yes, it’s a little boring without milk, but let’s get creative. Unlike oatmeal, however, most porridges require more time to cook. However, now there are a variety of cereals on sale: buckwheat, rice, corn, etc. But if you want it to be budget-friendly, it is better to stick to cereals.
For example, did you know that buckwheat doesn’t need to be cooked? Moreover, uncooked it is much healthier. Just in the evening you need to fill it with water, cold or hot, you can immediately add salt, sugar, honey, spices, dried fruits or hot seasonings (again, everything to taste), close the lid and leave. And then in the morning all you have to do is add oil as desired and heat it up - very tasty!
You will have to cook the rice in advance, of course, and in the morning you will have to diversify it somehow. Happy people are those who love pumpkin, because rice and millet go well with pumpkin. And by adding zest, ginger or other spices, you turn this porridge into a culinary masterpiece.
And, in order not to offend our favorite children's porridge, I will share an idea based on semolina. Semolina porridge is very tasty cooked with lingonberry or cranberry juice. You need to cook it thinner than usual, and then, after cooling a little (or completely, if you do it in advance), beat thoroughly with a blender or mixer. The result is a delicate and delicious nutritious mousse. If you make it in advance and in larger quantities, then you should put it in vases and bowls and put it in the refrigerator. At any moment you have breakfast/afternoon snack/snack/dessert ready. Children, by the way, eat with great pleasure (and don’t even always realize that it’s semolina).
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Sandwiches and pies
Well, for those who categorically do not want to eat all sorts of healthy cereals and vegetables, but always prefer a cup of coffee with pastries or a sandwich, there are also countless lean options. Well, firstly, fish and seafood - salted, smoked, caviar, various pates. This, however, is not budgetary at all. Even if you do everything yourself. But sometimes you can treat yourself, right? Secondly, various types of “non-sea” caviar: vegetable, mushroom, legume. Here both purchased options and home-made items will come into play. Bean and pea paste can also be made from canned food for speed - beat it with a blender, add what you want, to taste, put it in the refrigerator. Vegetable and mushroom caviar, of course, takes time. But the good thing about all these “spreads” for sandwiches is that you can make a lot of them at once, even for a week. And, of course, no one canceled preserves and jams for spreading on a sandwich! By the way, anything can become the basis for sandwiches - bread (regular and in the form of toast), dry bread, pita bread, pita bread, tortillas.
The topic of Lenten pies is worthy not just of a separate article, but of an entire book. Therefore, I will limit myself to a simple life hack for breakfast pies. I always have a pack of puff pastry in the freezer for Lent, it’s very convenient. For example, you have something left over from dinner (for us it’s usually a side dish), you quickly defrost the dough, make a filling from the leftover dinner, adding something else for taste, like herbs or fried onions, and make envelopes or triangles from puff pastry. It bakes very quickly, a little fuss too, and a delicious breakfast is right there!
I hope our ideas will help you develop your own creativity in preparing delicious Lenten breakfasts and spend less time cooking during Lent. And, of course, we expect you to share your ideas too!
http://www.matrony.ru/5-idey-postnyih-zavtrakov/
The phrase “Cook once, eat a month” spread all over the world, and the frozen food system itself became very popular in the West. Who wouldn't love the idea of preparing a week's or a month's worth of food in just one day?
What do you associate with frozen food? Probably with semi-finished products, all kinds of dumplings and mixed vegetables from the supermarket. But what if I told you that the frozen food system makes life easier for housewives and allows them to free themselves from cooking for 2 weeks or a month. It's very simple: you can prepare food for the whole family for a whole week in one day! To do this, you just need to prepare a large number of dishes and... freeze them!
In our countries, not every housewife can boast of a separate freezer or a two-door refrigerator with a large freezer. Therefore, cooking for a month is not suitable for everyone. But cooking for 2 weeks (considering that most housewives at home have a refrigerator with three freezer compartments) is ideal. But don’t be sad for those who have a one-compartment freezer. A small freezer, if stored compactly, will provide seven ready-made meals for a week.
Advantages of cooking for a week - a month
- You will have more free time. Spend it with your family and dedicate it to yourself. Now you definitely won’t be able to look for excuses for your laziness and will finally take care of your figure. This will help you.
- You can save your family budget. American women have calculated that on average they save about $250 when purchasing groceries for a month. No wonder. In addition, you can purchase products in large quantities. And with the help of promotions in supermarkets, you can sometimes save a lot of money (for example, using the “every third item is free” scheme).
- You will always be ready for the arrival of guests. Do you often have unexpected guests? Convulsive rushing around the shops and kitchen... Why do you need this? Having fallen in love with cooking for 2 weeks, a month, you will be able to prepare for the arrival of guests (dress beautifully and do makeup). Let your friends figure out for themselves why there are so many goodies on the table!
How not to die in the kitchen in one day while preparing 15-20 dishes?
Determine your cooking modeIt is extremely important that you take time to rest 2-3 times a day. For example, prepare 5-6 dishes early in the morning and then rest for half an hour to an hour. After lunch cooking, take a long rest for several hours. The first time I tried the system mode, I fell asleep in the evening for 3 hours. You can do the same so that you have some strength left for the evening. The cooking process is just as important to plan as it is.
Enlist the support of loved onesIt is ideal if your husband helps you in the cooking process, but this option is more an exception than a common occurrence. Ask him to take care of the children for the day while you provide the family with delicious and nutritious meals. You can hint to him that, having a supply of ready-made dishes, you will have more time not only for yourself and your children, but also for your loved one. And if the husband can help with the rough work (washing, cleaning) - this is already a big plus. The main thing is motivation!
Create a menuIf you've never done menu planning, start learning its principles. Without a competent menu, you will not be able to buy food in the required quantity and provide your family with a variety of dishes. If you don’t know how much food your family eats per month, then it’s too early for you to start cooking for 2 weeks!
For 2-3 weeks, write down everything you cook and how many days you eat it. For example, knowing that a pot of soup does not stay in the refrigerator for more than three days, and a fish casserole has to be thrown away after 2 days, it will be easier for you. 
Based on your family's standard diet, choose recipes to cook. It's good for your wallet to check the promotions in supermarkets. For example, if you love liver and the nearest shopping center has a 50% discount on it, you need to take it. The liver can be used to make liver cutlets, pates, or simply stewed in sour cream. Choose recipes where the active cooking time is no more than half an hour. Of course, consider the tastes of your loved ones.
Buy groceriesA day or two before the planned kitchen “marathon”, go to the supermarket or market. Definitely with your husband, because you will need his strong strong hands. Make a grocery list in advance. It is important to think through everything to the smallest detail. Don't forget how you can
Check your kitchen cabinet for spices! It’s very unpleasant when you have to stop cooking and rush headlong to the nearest store for allspice or vanilla sugar.
Write out a step-by-step action plan for yourselfBe sure to create a cooking plan that you will follow. For example, wash and peel vegetables, add broth, etc. This will allow you not to get lost in the kitchen among a large number of products. 
Important points
None of the frozen foods become poisonous. Its taste or consistency may simply change. That's why It's better not to freeze:
- potatoes in pieces (but in dumplings and potato cutlets - ideal)
- coarsely chopped cabbage (can be used in the form of lazy cabbage rolls)
- sour cream and kefir
- “water” vegetables (for example, cucumbers)
Advice! It is best to freeze meals in portions so that you do not have to refreeze them later if the contents of the container are not eaten.
What you need for freezing- free freezer
- food containers, pickle buckets
- cling film to wrap each container in several layers
- baking paper
- freezer bags
To simplify the preparatory cooking process, a blender or food processor will not hurt you. Makes it easier to cook for 2 weeks and have a multicooker. I make do with a lot of pots.
How to defrost
It is better to defrost prepared food in the refrigerator. I leave it in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat it in the oven. You can also use the microwave. 
I have been freezing the following homemade semi-finished products for a long time:
- cutlets (including potato ones);
- chops and meatballs, meatballs;
- stuffed peppers;
- broths (I cook chicken and fish broths in several pans, and then freeze them in portions: for soups, sauces);
- dough for pizza, pies
At first I doubted it, thinking that there was no benefit left in dishes after freezing, but after studying the information on the topic, I realized that this was far from the case. And if your refrigerator has a blast freezing function, that’s just great. I love the fact that cooking for several weeks allows me to spend more time with my family, have family picnics, and be creative. Prepare for the week and make your life easier! 
Preparing food for several days (video)
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