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Margaret Hochla
El Reno, Oklahoma
I have been married for 27 years to Victor and have 4 children. The two girls and two boys range in age from 25-10 years. We are pleased to still have one grandparent from each side of the family ... More about Margaret
Sareen Dunleavy-Keenan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
I live in Minneapolis, in 1.5 story craftsman bungalow with beautiful woodwork, but a tiny lot. Sharing this space is my husband Brendan, 'baby' (5/07) and 'new baby' who is expected to join the fold in August. More about Sareen
Gina Keenan-Klages
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
My name is Gina, and my husband's name is Patrick. We have three children, ranging in ages from 1 to 5 years. Our household also includes my mother, who is living with us from September to May. More about Gina
Donna McClurkan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Early January may seem an inauspicious time to begin an "eat local" project in Southwest Michigan. As if to underscore that point, nearly a foot of snow fell in Kalamazoo on January 3. More about Donna
Cher Stuewe-Portnoff
St Louis, Missouri
My first father-in-law taught me to garden in the mid-1960s. Over the next few years, with a family of five to feed, I read everything I could find about nutrition ... More about Cher
Vera Schabicki
Ashland, Mississippi
Four years ago my five children, one husband, two dogs, one cat and I moved to the rural South from a large northern California city. We went from .12 acres to a rambling 57 acres. More about Vera
- oh yeah
- Love
- successes and failures
- Hurrah for (kind of) local juice!
- Wow, it has gone fast!
- You must be brave
- Perhaps to give you some insight
- Finale: The Meaning of Life
- Meeting Joel Salatin ... and other posts from the cutting room floor
- The snack that does what?
< Preparing for work | Main | Tomatoes and Squash - two ways >
It takes some creativity
Posted at 12:08 PM on September 26, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan
While preparing baby's lunch today, I got out some mixed frozen veggies. I examined the pieces. They were locally grown and processed by a company, but I was sure I could do it all myself. We have beans, corn, peas and carrots. The real question was, do I have the prepping patience to get all of those items cut up? I am sure others can manipulate the cuisinart to do chunks, but my skills are limited to either grating or pureeing.
Once cut, it am sure it was going to be easy from there. A little blanching, dry and put them spread out on the sheet pan for the individual quick freeze (IQF)* that the freezer packages proudly boast. From there, freezer bags. Easy. But seriously, hours for a gallon bag of mixed veggies. I have got to become better friends with the food processor.
But the bottom line remains the same. You can look at about any convenience product you own and start to think about either a) do I have to have this or b) how can I replicate this? I am sure there are much fancier sites to go to, but I use Recipezaar to look up meals for the freezer. Search for "OAMC" and you will find Once A Month Cooking recipes. These are meals that you can put together when you have time to eat when you don't. What are sites that help you?
*freezing things this way is extremely helpful. Making a batch of hamburgers for later? Freeze them flat and then toss them in the freezer bag. Makes it much easier just to get the one item that you are looking for. This is how I have such nice balls of frozen cookie dough also.