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Make 2 Freeze 1

Cooking in bulk saves money and time

Stock up your freezer by cooking twice as much of your favorite meals, and freeze half for another night.

Dishes that freeze well include:

  • pasta casseroles such as homemade macaroni and cheese, baked spaghetti casserole, or lasagna
  • enchiladas
  • desserts such as coffee cake, cookies, and pies
  • soups
  • vegetable side dishes such as broccoli/squash casseroles
  • taco meat
  • spaghetti sauce

Bulk cooking

Bulk cooking is the same idea on a larger scale. You spend a day or two cooking and fill your freezer with a variety of foods. I’ve done a small version of this before. It is a lot of work, and you need a lot of available freezer space. However, you can save a lot of money by purchasing your meat in large quantities.

Learn more about bulk cooking from these sites:

  • Bulk Freezer Cooking
  • Wise Bread
  • 13 Bulk Cooking Recipes

My favorite “cook and freeze” recipe

On a busy day, my favorite meal to throw together is spaghetti. I can thaw the homemade sauce in the microwave and have dinner done within 20 minutes. Lasagna is a close second, so I like to stock up on both.

The following makes about 1 large or 3 small lasagnas and 3-4 dinner’s-worth of spaghetti sauce. I have some great recipe’s for more complicated sauces, but this is the easy and quick version that I make most of the time.

First you need to make a large batch of Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

spaghetti sauce supplies

  • 3lbs of meat of your preference. I use:
    • 1 lb. ground turkey, browned and drained
    • 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
    • 1 lb. Italian sausage, browned and drained
  • 4 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (look for buy one get one free sales on these)
  • 1 large tomato sauce
  • Italian seasoning to taste (I add about 2 Tbsps)
  • 1 Cup of water

spaghetti sauce
Simmer all the ingredients on low for about an hour.

Easy Lasagna

  • 1 box of lasagna noodles
  • Small Ricotta cheese
  • 1 package of provolone cheese slices
  • 2 packages of 5 Italian cheese -shredded

Cook the noodles for about 10 minutes and drain.

Use a one cup measuring cup to scoop out a cup of sauce and spread it out to cover the bottom of the pan.

Alternate the following layers until you fill the pan:

Noodles
ricotta cheese
Sauce
Provolone cheese (rips into small pieces)
Sprinkle some shredded Italian cheese

Repeat.
lasagne layers

Wrap up and label items for the freezer

wrap for freezer

Wrap for freezer and label

After the lasagna had been made, the leftover sauce is frozen in dinner-serving sizes.

Prepare your food for the freezer by wrapping them in foil. Use a Sharpie to write what it is and the date. I wrote “SS” which stands for Spaghetti Sauce in my special shorthand.

Freezer to Oven

Bake the lasagna in a 350 degree oven for about an hour if frozen and 30 minutes if thawed.
5 minutes in the microwave will thaw the spaghetti sauce.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ileane says

    September 26, 2010 at 10:09 am

    Melinda you are making me so hungry! I like the idea of “doctoring up” the spaghetti sauce with some ground turkey, that’s what I use. Ground chicken adds a nice flavor also.
    Thanks for the tips.

    • Melinda says

      September 27, 2010 at 12:02 am

      I like just the turkey, too. But the kids not so much. I like to mix it around so they have no idea what they are getting ha ha.

  2. Jodi says

    September 26, 2010 at 11:11 pm

    Under your “Dishes that freeze well” heading, you forgot to include “TV Dinners.” 😉

    But seriously, great tips Melinda, especially for us working moms. And that lasagna–dang does that look delicious!

    On a side note, thank you for hanging around even though I’ve been a terrible blogger lately. 🙂

    • Melinda says

      September 27, 2010 at 12:03 am

      Ha Ha!!! I will add it and put a (if you are in Jodi’s house) next to it.

  3. Felicia says

    September 30, 2010 at 2:08 am

    This post of yours makes me hungry for some pasta right now 🙂 Thank you for sharing your tips on bulk cooking – it really does save time and money for any busy mommy.

    • Melinda says

      October 1, 2010 at 9:55 pm

      I love knowing I have something already made on busy days, and it keeps me away from the fast food restaurants.

  4. Kissie says

    October 1, 2010 at 9:13 pm

    I am SO greedy because I immediately thought of food when I saw your link somewhere and now I’m angry that I was right! Well, come to think of it, what else could we freeze?

    I’m a vegan living in the house with 4 meat eaters (1 is an undercover but she thinks I’m fooled.) There’s really not much use for me to freeze mine but I’m sharing this with my daughter, the caterer. This info should come in handy for her … and her family who loves her food but don’t want to hire her.

    See ya around!

  5. bryanb says

    October 15, 2010 at 8:07 am

    That is really good… and also could be a potential business idea. Good job. Yum yum.

  6. Marie says

    August 27, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Hum nice idea ! Thank you

  7. coco says

    October 5, 2011 at 10:32 am

    I have tried the easy one with italian chesse and my girldfriend loves that 😀

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