Short-Term Storage: Step 2

Using your list of meals, write down the ingredients for each recipe.  Do this for the entire list, or only pick a few meals out of the day. 

Here's mine.  Notice the recipes are simple and made from shelf- or frozen- food that will stay good for at least a year.  In fact, all of the recipes can even be made ahead of time and frozen.*


DINNER

• Spaghetti:  1 lb. spag. noodles, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 3/4 C **FD beef, 1/2 C FD broccoli, seasonings.
• Mexican Soup:  1 can chicken broth, 1 C instant black beans, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can corn, 1-1/2 C diced FD chicken, spices.
• Minestrone Soup:  1 C instant red beans, 1/2-lb mac. noodles, 2 C potato dices, 1 C FD sausage, 1 can tomato sauce, spices.
• Penne Casserole:  3/4 pkg penne noodles, 1 can tomato sauce, 2 C mozzarella cheese, 1/2 C FD gr. beef; seasonings
• Chicken Pot Pie:  2 frozen pie crusts, 1 can cream-potato soup, 1 can mixed veggies, 1 C FD chicken, 1 can corn, seasonings.

Click here to see Step 1

*note:  when freezing pre-made meals, do not cook noodles, potatoes, or pie crust ahead of time.  They'll be soggy when thawed and re-heated.  I'll spend more time on freezer meals another day.

**FD = freeze-dried.  The benefit of this over frozen is that you don't have to cook it and it doesn't get that awful freezer burn flavor.  Plus it has a 25-yr unopened shelf-life and doesn't take up freezer space.