Book review Wednesday: The Complete idiot Guide to Easy Freezer Cooking

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals

I’m always looking to make dinner time easier in the Crazy Mom’s house; with me working full time and hubby leaving work early in the morning and the three munchkins running around it can get stressful. Sometimes it would sound a lot easier if we just would run to a fast food restaurant and pick up dinner. I hate wasting money like that on food that hardly ever fills us up. A normal trip for us, a family of 5 will run us at McDonald’s a good $40+… amazing isn’t it. I don’t have that kind of money to toss out for one lousy meal.

I do the meal plan and we are doing really well, there are a few nights especially once the fall Soccer season kicks off again, where we have little to no time to prepare meals. I found a book called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals.

This book was prefect for me, I’ve heard about Freezer cooking, just never knew how and what to do. This book has everything from How to get started, what food works well and what to avoid; how to prepare and anything you need to know along with yummy recipes that can be used for freezer cooking or even just a quick dinner at night.

This book has nearly 130 recipes on and many pages of ideas, instructions and tips on how to get you going, it even has a meal plan schedule that you can copy along with a check list for a well stocked kitchen. Anything you ever wanted to know about Freezer cooking is in this book. This book as the name states “Complete Idiot’s guide” is just that.. basic English for everyone to understand, simple and very informative, easy to read and understand as well as follow.

We prepared beef and broccoli with Rice, it was delicious. The kids asked for seconds, too. We didn’t use the Freezer technique because we were short on time, but defiantly will start using it this summer once kids are out of school and I hopefully can find some time to prepare meals ahead of time and freeze.

This is what we prepared:

Beef and Broccoli with Rice

This is what you need:
2 TB Soy sauce
2 TB cornstarch
2 TB rice vinegar
2 tsp. sesame Oil
1 tsp. sugar
1 lb. flank Steak
4 tsp. oil
3 cups small cut  broccoli florets
1/2 water
1 large bell pepper, cut in cube, cleaned
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup oyster sauce ( we left that out)
4 cups cooked white rice 9 or brown if you prefer)

This is how to make it:

1. Whisk together Soy sauce, cornstarch, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar.
2. Add strips of beef to Soy sauce mixture, mix and set aside.
3. In a wok or a large skillet over high heat, heat 2 teaspoons canola oil until hot, but not smoking. A drop of water should sizzle when added to the wok. Add broccoli florets, and stir fry for about 30 seconds. Add water, cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring once, for about 2 minutes. Remove broccoli from the pan and set aside.
4. Add remaining 2 teaspoons canola oil to the wok and set over high heat. Add bell pepper and onion, and stir fry for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir fry for 1 more minute.
5. Give the meat mixture a  stir, add to the wok and stir fry for about 2 or 3 minutes or until almost done. Add broccoli, and stir. ( stir in Oyster sauce.. we skipped that part)and cook until everything is heated through and well coated in sauce. Cool completely. Divide rice among 5 wide microwave safe rigid Freezer containers. Divide beef and broccoli mixture among the 5 containers. Cover, cool completely, label and freeze.
6. Ti Reheat: Microwave frozen on high for about 3 or 4 minutes or until heated through, stopping to stir occasionally.

Can you smell it… this was amazing.. yummy and soo quick. We had leftovers and froze them for another lunch meal. Simple and awesome, yet very affordable. I love this book. So many different recipes to choose from, I can’t wait to make every single one.

Freezers allow busy home chefs to plan their family menus a weekend, a week, or even a month in advance. Now expert chef and flood blogger Cheri Sicard presents recipes for 120 delicious, healthy meals that can be frozen and then reheated-and still taste fantastic.
• Over 120 delicious, unique and easy to prepare recipes
• Great cooking tips designed to help the home cook
• Flexible menu planning from a weekend to a full month

About the Author

Cheri Sicard was the creator, editor, and publisher of FabulousFoods.com, now owned by SheKnows.com. She has taught cooking classes for Williams Sonoma and is the author of The Low Carb Restaurant Guide and Everyday American and has written for The Boston Herald, Magellan, Canoe & Kayak Magazine, and The Armchair Reader, as well as The FamilyCorner.com, iChef.com, ChefMom.com and GardenGuides.com.

You can purchase your copy through Amazon.com and it retails for $16.95

I was provided with the book for my honest review, no other compensation was nor will be received, all opinions are 100% my own.