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May 19, 2024 0:25:16 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 3:08:24 GMT
It seems like quite a few YT moms are doing 'Fill your freezer' vlogs.
They are all SAHMs. Most have older kids who are capable of making their own lunch in the morning.
Some think it is for content. Others think it is pure laziness on part of the mom, especially those who do stay home and have no babies/toddlers/preschoolers.
So do you fill your freezer full of made ahead meals. (breakfasts, lunches, dinners)
Do you only freeze left overs?
Or do you cook a larger amount and freeze some for later to make dinner on a busy night easier?
Curious if large batch freezer meal cooking is really a thing...or just a YT mom thing.
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Post by dewryce on Sept 10, 2019 3:18:49 GMT
I did it a long time ago and found it made weeknights easier, but that was before we changed the way we cook. A lot of the foods we eat now don’t lend themselves to this method. What we do is make 2 or 3 servings at once if we are making a food that will freeze well, and freeze the extra servings. So 2 or 3 meals for the same amount of effort and clean up as one.
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theshyone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,411 
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Post by theshyone on Sept 10, 2019 3:27:47 GMT
What is a yt mom?
I get severely sidetracked, lost track of time, ruin meals etc. It’s much easier for our family to do a bunch of freezer meals all at once, and then each day take them out put them in crockpot and we are good. It’s what works for us.
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Post by snugglebutter on Sept 10, 2019 3:40:19 GMT
I do it to a limited extent. We have a few casserole type dishes that freeze well, so I often make a second for the freezer since it's not much work. I have a few other dishes where I season the meat before freezing to save steps later. Soups during cooler weather.
I like having muffins etc on hand in the freezer, but it just doesn't get done as much as I'd like. Breakfasts and lunches? Nope. My bigger kids do most of that on their own.
The stuff I do does make a big difference. I have homeschool four kids and had a baby a year ago. By the time 5pm rolls around I am barely holding it together many days lol.
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Post by freecharlie on Sept 10, 2019 3:48:12 GMT
I have about a 1/4 of pig and 3/4 of beef in my freezer. There is no room to do any batch cooking.
I've never done the batch cooking
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Post by elaine on Sept 10, 2019 3:54:00 GMT
What is a yt mom? I get severely sidetracked, lost track of time, ruin meals etc. It’s much easier for our family to do a bunch of freezer meals all at once, and then each day take them out put them in crockpot and we are good. It’s what works for us. I think YT means YouTube, because she then mentions vlogs. |
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Post by pattyraindrops on Sept 10, 2019 4:01:27 GMT
The pure laziness thing makes me laugh. How silly. How many other things where someone is efficient would be complained about as laziness?
My youngest is 18. I am a homemaker. Sometimes I do it. Sometimes I just make a second dinner along with the first and freeze it. Sometimes I plan ahead. Sometimes I come up with things last minute.
I may have been a SAHM for years, but I have never liked cooking, so if I can be more efficient at it then great! Doing so enables me to do more things.
I've taught my kids about doing it. Mom is visiting this week and we did it - I'm sending some of the meals home with her and some with her to my aunt who isn't well.
Doing it can be a bear while you are getting it together. Much more complex than a meal each night, but I love not having to worry about it every night.
Also, in the summer time I may heat up my house once with it. Doing this means I cook all the hamburger etc that goes into the meals and then instant pot or slow cooker them each night, making things much more pleasant in the kitchen and having my Phoenix AC running less.
It's not for everyone. It's not even for me sometimes, but I do love having done it.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Sept 10, 2019 4:03:32 GMT
I have about a 1/4 of pig and 3/4 of beef in my freezer. There is no room to do any batch cooking. I've never done the batch cooking This is us usually too, we don’t have room in our freezer for precooked meals most of the time. But FWIW, we also don’t tend to have leftovers for more than a day or two anyway since DH will eat any leftovers for lunch if he happens to be home around lunchtime. I can see where it would be beneficial for busy families that have multiple kids going in several different directions after school to sports or other activities. |
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paget
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Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on Sept 10, 2019 4:11:30 GMT
I don’t do it -I did it once and I felt things didn’t turn out right or reheat well or I forgot stuff etc and so I didn’t bother with it again. I cannot see how that makes someone lazy?! I think it’s efficient and ambitious.
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Post by lucyg on Sept 10, 2019 5:02:15 GMT
I don’t. I don’t like cooking enough to want to spend all day doing it. But I don’t understand why anyone would call it lazy. That’s bizarre. Talk about pointless mommy wars.  I do freeze extras sometimes, when it works out that way. Usually if I’m making a 9x13 casserole recipe, I’ll make it in two 8x8s instead and freeze one (or give it to my sister or my neighbor). I always put in more stuff than the recipe calls for anyway, so it fills up two dishes easily. One 8x8 is enough for us for dinner, with leftovers for lunch the next day. |
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Post by kels99 on Sept 10, 2019 5:16:48 GMT
I used to when the kids were younger. Now, I just make a meal and if there are leftovers, we eat it until it's gone. I'm not a good meal planner at all. It's my least favorite 'job'.
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Post by Linda on Sept 10, 2019 12:49:48 GMT
I did when I was pregnant with my youngest - figured that it would be easier for me or my teenage son to just heat up a meal for dinner than to cook from scratch with a newborn - DH doesn't cook and DS was in high school and gone nearly 13 hrs a day 5am bus stop to 545pm bus stop).
Then she turned out to be allergic to corn, milk, eggs, and soy and I had to cut ALL of those out of my diet (I was breastfeeding) and guess what? I couldn't EAT any of the freezer meals.
I've never bothered again.
At this point in my life? We don't eat the sort of meals that lend themselves to freezing....yesterday we had a cobb salad, tonight we're having hot ham and swiss croissants, we had lamb chops/broccoli and sauteed potatoes on Sunday - we'll have baked chicken with a couple of veggies later in the week as well as a night of tomato soup (from a tin -sue me) and a night of italian bread, cheese, and raw veggies
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psiluvu
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Location: Canada's Capital
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Post by psiluvu on Sept 10, 2019 12:54:43 GMT
Yes I do and have for years. There is only 3 of us at home now, DH, DS (16) and myself. I am not and never have been a SAHM. I ma not sure what a YT mom is but I don't think I am one of those either LOL. I never pre make breakfasts which are usually quick and easy around our house This past Sunday I made a gigantic pot of spaghetti meat sauce. From that I made two lasagna's one of which I cut up into large pieces and have some in our freezer for DH's lunches and will give some to DD who is away at school in her own apartment. One pan I left intact for dinner some night. I separated several smaller bowls of sauce for dd and have two dinner with lunch leftovers bowls in our freezer. I made chicken thai curry soup and made individual lunch containers for myself and some to take to DD. DH and Ds don't like it. I made meat loaf for dinner Sunday and cooked and ate one and froze two for some other night. I also made two kinds of muffins for lunches and froze them. I was planning on making a big pot of chili and chicken pot pies also but ran out of mojo. Both kids played competitive sports when they were younger and we were rushing around a lot of week nights so I got in the habit of having quick meals in the freezer and now that I am not rushed at all especially in the winter as DS doesn't play hockey anymore I still love how easy it is. Also dd loves homecooking from her mom  |
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Sept 10, 2019 13:04:48 GMT
I don't like cooking(for me it's a disliked chore), so when I cook I make a lot so I can make individual portions to freeze for a later date.
I would rather cook several things all at once (in a couple/few hour time frame) and freeze it, instead of having to come home daily and have to cook dinner.
With freezer meals, all I have to do it move it to fridge in the morning and heat it up(usually toaster oven or microwave) when I am ready to eat dinner.
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christinec68
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Location: New York, NY
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Post by christinec68 on Sept 10, 2019 13:08:35 GMT
I did it a long time ago and found it made weeknights easier, but that was before we changed the way we cook. A lot of the foods we eat now don’t lend themselves to this method. What we do is make 2 or 3 servings at once if we are making a food that will freeze well, and freeze the extra servings. So 2 or 3 meals for the same amount of effort and clean up as one. This is what I do as well. I'll make enough for 2 dinners and then freeze 2-3 servings which will generally end up being my lunch. I don't get the judgement on how this is lazy or in any way a negative thing to do bc of her stage in life. Because she doesn't have young kids she should cook every night. :  : This is one of those things I will never understand...why care about how someone else spends their time? |
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Post by elaine on Sept 10, 2019 13:48:16 GMT
Our Christmas Eve dinner is almost identical to our Thanksgiving dinner. We just add a ham to the turkey, but the side dishes are all the same.
When I make the corn casserole, sweet potato soufflé, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes, I make them 1-2 days before Thanksgiving. I also make two of each, but one goes straight into the freezer, instead of oven, to be cooked on Christmas Eve. I bake the others (and reheat the mashed potatoes) on Thanksgiving. There is no taste difference if the sides are frozen for a month vs. making them that day, so it would be foolish for me to not cut my work in half by putting it all together at the same time.
I also try to do that if I make casseroles during the regular year - putting together two and sending one straight to the freezer. And when I have a smoking session in my smoker, I try to smoke a few things at once and if one of the things is a large pork shoulder, I will shred it afterwards and freeze meal-sized portions for later.
I don’t understand why anyone would judge someone else as lazy if they are cooking meals for their families whether they are doing it from the fridge or the freezer. I have to say that the judgmental attitudes of some women, especially regarding how other women spend their time, strongly rubs me the wrong way.
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Post by teacherlisa on Sept 10, 2019 13:58:03 GMT
I do lots of meal prep type things, including freezer cooking. I was a single mom of two teenage boys with busy school/sports schedules-so that is kinda when I started. Now I am a single empty nester, but I am working 4 or 5 12 hr shifts per week. I also can be called in at a moments notice on my days off. Sometimes I want to eat crap but I don't want to be forced to. I have some "dump and go" crock pot dinners in my freezer. I have individual "tv dinners" in my freezer, which are complete meals in individual servings-usually leftovers of things that freeze well. I also prep ingredients that will be used in recipes later (shredded cooked chicken, browned seasoned ground beef for example) I have individual servings of soups and sauces in my freezer also. (homemade marinara, meat sauce etc) I eat out very rarely and enjoy cooking, and like to eat home made meals most of the time. I recently had shoulder surgery and got hooked on YouTube while recovering. I agree that some is for content. Some of the meal prep or freezer ppl I love to watch are www.youtube.com/user/MindOverMunch (she is not freezer meal-just meal prep) www.youtube.com/channel/UCYidQwKhM3WTDKpT8pwfJzw (again, not freezer meal, but meal prep and she is a genius who meal preps in a completely different way-love her) I keep a stocked pantry and fridge too- I live outside of town and it is just so much easier for me to have things on hand. |
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peabrain
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Post by peabrain on Sept 10, 2019 13:58:42 GMT
I have a few recipes that freeze well. For instance, our family's homemade spaghetti sauce recipe freezes great and makes a ton. So usually on a weekend, I'll make a batch for dinner that night and portion out the rest to freeze.
I also marinate chicken or steak and freeze that. Tonight dh will grill up some honey bourbon chicken. Yum.
I have a few books on Make Ahead Freezer meals that are helpful too.
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schizo319
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Post by schizo319 on Sept 10, 2019 14:08:05 GMT
I don't specifically do OAM cooking or any other kind of freezer meals, but I freeze a lot of leftovers and certain ingredients to make things easier on myself later. Since it's just DH and me, lots of meals are just too much for us. For example, Sunday, I made hamburger "steaks". I went ahead and fixed 2lbs of meat (because I use a mixture of ground beef/pork), I used about half for 4 hamburger steaks and made the rest into meatballs. I did the meatballs first and stuck them in the freezer, then I cooked dinner using the same pan. I also freeze leftover soups, baked beans (which I do from dried in the crockpot), spaghetti sauce, enchiladas and lasagna.
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Deleted
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May 19, 2024 0:25:16 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 14:12:52 GMT
How is it laziness, pure or otherwise?
I loathe cooking so the thought of doing it in large quantities makes me queasy.
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likescarrots
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Post by likescarrots on Sept 10, 2019 14:16:09 GMT
No. My husband won't really eat anything that's been in the freezer for more than a few weeks. In the winter I will make a giant batch of soup and we will eat it for 4 or 5 days depending on how long it lasts. But it goes in the fridge, not in the freezer.
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Post by marzbar71 on Sept 10, 2019 14:36:33 GMT
I live alone so any time I actually make a recipe, it's batch cooking! LOL
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Sept 10, 2019 15:02:08 GMT
My answer wasn't included, so I chose "I freeze a few items" but I have done batch freezer cooking- not for a while, though. It's a huge undertaking when I do it, but it is totally worth it.
The last freezer-cooking day I did was for chicken: cooked, shredded chicken in the crock pot that I turned into:
1) chicken / onion / cheese quesadillas
2) chicken enchiladas
3) chicken / pesto stuffed shells
4) a couple different chicken casseroles
I've also done freezer-cooking that involved cooking a huge amount of ground beef and separating it out into ready to use portions for quicker casseroles, tacos, chili, etc.
And 'laziness' is totally NOT the word for batch freezer cooking, lol-- it's more the OPPOSITE of laziness, considering the amount of preparation, planning, and effort it takes to do.
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rickmer
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by rickmer on Sept 10, 2019 16:38:32 GMT
i don't think it's a waste of time - people gotta do what's right for them and their families. when i make pasta sauce, burritos, taco meat or casseroles, i do try to make extra to freeze. it wouldn't probably occur to me to make breakfast or lunches.... although when i make burritos i have to hide them in the freezer well since my 14 year old would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner til they are gone.  |
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Peal
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Jun 25, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
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Post by Peal on Sept 10, 2019 18:49:18 GMT
I have done. There is a lady in our community that does it as a business. She offers 8-10 menu choices, everyone orders what they would like, then she buys all the supplies and everyone shows up and pack the meals assembly line style. It's very efficient, it take maybe three hours to make up to 100 meals. Then everyone takes the ones they signed up for home and puts them in the freezer. She also offers keto options for those who want it. Most of the meals were quite good. I only did it a couple of times before I had too many scheduling conflicts to keep going.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Sept 10, 2019 18:52:45 GMT
^^^ there was (briefly) a business like this where I used to live; you could choose the menu options you wanted, and in the storefront they had a salad-bar type area where all the ingredients were chopped / ready to assemble. You paid, assembled your meals, took them home, and froze them. I thought it should have been more successful than it was; it didn't stay open very long, IIRC. It was more expensive than if you did it yourself at home, but it was a lot less expensive than those mail-order meal prep services.
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Post by huskermom98 on Sept 10, 2019 18:56:53 GMT
I used to do it a fair amount, mostly so I could take advantage of sales, but also because we didn't need that much food when my boys were little. It was definitely handy to have certain meals on hand that could be thawed quickly (sloppy joes, taco meat, soups, etc.) Other times I would double a recipe to freeze part right away (lasagna, pasta shells, enchiladas, etc.) I wasn't a fan of freezing whole casseroles in the end because they always took too long to thaw or didn't cook up as nice from a frozen state. I still freeze some things, but we don't have a ton of extra food these days now that my boys are 14 & 11.
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gina
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Post by gina on Sept 10, 2019 19:02:18 GMT
Calling it lazy is just dumb. The woman is STILL COOKING! I can be in my kitchen for 4-5 hours at a clip batch cooking. How is that lazy? I do NOT freeze my cooking. I don't find that easier for me at all. To defrost something just takes time and I prefer fresh. I do meal-prep once a week though, but it all stays in the fridge. We eat everything way too fast (family of 5; I live on leftovers for lunch; I pack my husband meals to take to work) to have leftovers to freeze. I just did my meal-prep yesterday. I was in the kitchen for about 3.5 hours and came away with 3 main courses, two veggie dishes and two baked items. We will eat that all w/in a few days so it's pointless to freeze. I do however LOVE having it in the fridge for nights when I don't want to/don't have time to cook (like tonight!) It's not lazy. I cooked all of that freakin food myself, just on a different day.  |
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Post by gmcwife1 on Sept 10, 2019 19:04:13 GMT
I have done it in the past. Especially with spaghetti sauce, Pioneer Women’s sour cream bake, that type of thing. I’m not a fan of cooking and get bored meal planning and cooking every day. I haven’t done it in a while since my freezer space has been taken over by my dog’s raw meat  I love doing it for the RV. I’ve also done it in individual portions for my dad. I get tired of the mommy wars. Why do women so often have to tear each other down  |
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Post by Merge on Sept 10, 2019 20:59:24 GMT
I’m not going to fault anyone who is cooking rather than relying on takeout (and I’m not going to fault takeout moms, either, because everyone gets to do their own thing). But batch cooking is a PITA so I wouldn’t call anyone who does it lazy.
We’ve tried similar things, but as someone said above, weren’t always happy with the quality of the food after it had been frozen. I do weekend food prep most weekends, but haven’t tried batch cooking to fill the freezer in several years.
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: This is one of those things I will never understand...why care about how someone else spends their time? 
