Nix9to5

Pie. It’s what’s for dinner.

// February 18th, 2010 // Balance, Budget, Cooking, Time Management

If there is one thing I love even more than saving money, it’s spending money.  No, wait.  That’s not what I meant to say.  Let me try that again:

If there is one thing I love more than saving money, it’s saving time.  Lucky for me, I’ve found a way to do both.  I’ve recently been cooking a lot of freezer meals.  When I cook dinner, I basically make a double recipe and bake one pan and put the other in the freezer.  This means I cook half the days I normally would, and we’re also eating out less because there is almost always something at home to eat (unless I forget to thaw something, which usually results in a Sonic run.  Mmmm….tater tots).

Now, if you do an internet search for freezer cooking, freezer meals, or freezer recipes, you’ll find a lot of resources on once-a-month-cooking (OAMC).  I do not do OAMC for a few reasons:

1. I do not have a separate freezer and could not fit a month’s worth of food in mine.
2. I do not have the foresight to come up with a month’s worth of meal ideas before grocery shopping.
3. I do not want to give up an entire weekend for shopping/cooking, even if it only is one weekend.
4. No.  Just no.

Now, I know OAMC works for many people, and perhaps one day I’ll change my mind.  But for now, I can’t stand the thought of cooking 30 meals at once.

My freezer cooking usually is about 7 recipes, so two weeks worth of food.  I cook about every other night.  When I cook, we eat one dish and I pop one in the freezer.  The next night is leftovers (maybe two nights).  Then I cook again.  After a week or two, I start pulling things out of the freezer to heat and eat.  So far, it has worked pretty well.

Here’s what we had for dinner last night.  It had the benefit of being easy the first time around AND made an extra to throw in the freezer:

Ham and Cheese Quiche

2 frozen pie crusts
2 c. cubed ham
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 t. dried minced onion
4 eggs
2 c. half and half
salt and pepper (there were measurements, but I just did to taste)

The real recipe called for baking the pie crusts first, but I always think you can skip that step.  I don’t know if that is pie crust crime or not, so do what you want.  It says to line with a double thickness of heavy duty foil, bake at 400 for 5 mins., remove foil, and bake 5 more.  Like I said, do what you wish here.

Okay, so next you layer 1 c. ham, 1 c. cheese, and 1 t. dried minced onion in each crust.  Beat together the eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper.  Pour half over each pie.  Cover one in foil and put it in the freezer.  Mine spills every single time, so be more careful than I am.  Cover the edges of the other with foil (I’m thinking if you skip that pre-bake thing, you can skip this, too, but who knows?) and bake at 400 for 35-40 mins.

A colleague of mine read my post with the Chicken Pot Pie recipe and suggested that I start including pictures of the meals I make, so now I’m going to become one of those people who photograph my food.  Look what you have done to me.  Here is my Ham and Cheese Quiche:

I didn’t exactly measure the cheese.  I had a 2 c. bag of cheese (that I bought on sale and with coupons, of course) and I estimated half the bag for each quiche.  I estimated poorly, and the quiche in the freezer has way more cheese.  I’m looking forward to it.

If there’s a food I love more than cheese, its . . . I got nothin’.  There is no food I love more than cheese.

Now, I realize I’m two for two on recipes about pie for dinner.  I promise that we do not have pie or pie-related meals every night.  Although, if you think about it, that’s not a bad way to go through life.