Food and Drink – Scoop Central

Everyone needs a quick convenient meal at times. If you need a quick meal between work and your kids school program or simply something to take to work for lunch, a gourmet frozen meal can be the ticket of the day. If you make your own frozen meals you can be assured of a tasty time saving meal.

Sometimes life gets so busy that we have no other choice than to grab a convenient meal from the grocery store. Some of these meals are very good but others are far from gourmet. Here is another option that you might enjoy, make your own gourmet freezer meal.

By making your own frozen meals, you get to choose what goes into your food. If there is an ingredient that someone in your family will not eat, you can leave it out or prepare an individual portion without that ingredient. In addition, you are in control of the amount of sugar and sodium that is added to your meals.

Most people find that it is best at first to choose recipes that your family already enjoys. Who wants to have a freezer filled with dinners that no one in your family likes. If you need some ideas, try these: Beef stew, chicken curry, corn chowder, vegetable soup or Broccoli Beef.

Rice and pasta do not do well in many freezer recipes, they tend to be overcooked by the time the food is cooked and then re-warmed. If you are cooking these recipes, just freeze the sauce and cook the rice or pasta separately. If you have a rice cooker just throw in the rice and water so you can let it cook while you warm the rest of the meal. Pick up fresh pasta and it cooks in boiling water in about three minutes.

If you want to stock your freezer with gourmet meals, just start cooking two or three times your normal size meal. Remove excess food to the refrigerator as soon as the food finishes cooking so that you are not tempted to over eat and the quality of the food is preserved.

Another way to stock the freezer is to have a couple of days per month that are set aside for shopping or cooking. Shop the first day and cook the second. In a short amount of time, you can prepare several meals that have been doubled or tripled and fill the freezer.

While there are many containers that will work in the freezer, one of the best is a vacuum sealer. Choose the sealer that has a heat seal to preserve the quality of your food. These bags will stand up to microwaving or boiling in a pot of water.

If all of this sounds like a lot of effort, take heart! There are professional chefs who will take all of the work out of a gourmet frozen meal.

Don’t count on your local grocer to carry truly wonderful food that you can love.  Instead, take a look online for a high quality gourmet dinner delivered to your door, frozen and ready to heat, serve and enjoy.