Feed the Freezer, Free up Your Time, AND Stop Binge Eating Fast Food

Ever have one of those days where you come home from work and you don't have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to do ANYTHING? Me too. Those are the days I'm always tempted to stop for fast food, a pizza and wings, or Chinese take out on the way home. Then I eat All.The.Food. while in front of the television and crash. I usually don't sleep well and always wake up feeling crappy the next day. I know eating poorly after having a rough day is not the answer. I know it just spirals my mood and how I feel physically but I just can't help it. But, when my freezer is filled with healthy food or just healthier than the stuff I would have picked up food it's easier to avoid the crap food. I can have homemade spaghetti and meatballs on the table in about 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES! I can't order, pick up, and get back home with a pizza in 15 minutes.

Spaghetti and meatballs is actually one of my favorite I've had a crappy day comfort meals. I take the quart sized bag of meatballs and sauce out of the freezer, open it and rip it down one side. Place it in a skillet, cover the skillet, and heat it on medium/medium low heat until thawed and heated. Don't forget to start the water for your pasta right after you cover the frozen meatballs and sauce. Sometimes I stir the meatballs once or twice, sometimes I'm lazy and don't stir them at all. It honestly doesn't get much easier than that. I think it's even easier than takeout because lets be honest if you already made it home before picking up the takeout who wants to go back out. The most important part of preparing this meal is opening the bottle of wine. Sometimes I open it once I have the meatballs and sauce as well as the water started. Sometimes it's one of those days where you open the wine first and then worry about the food.

Not only does feeding the freezer help on my I have no energy days but it helps me to stop losing all my free time to cooking and food prep.  I shared a couple of the recipes I used that froze and thawed well in my last post but said I would share more later. Well here are a couple more I mentioned.

Meatballs (freezes well)

Ingredients 

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 small onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano (or a small amount of fresh oregano finely chopped)

1/2 cup bread crumbs 

1 egg

Directions

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Once mixed form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place them in crockpot.  Add ingredients for marinara sauce and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Pasta Sauce (freezes well)

Ingredients

3-28 oz cans of "Kitchen Ready" ground peeled tomatoes

3- 6 oz cans of tomato paste 

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or through a garlic press

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or a small amount of fresh oregano finely chopped)

1/4 teaspoon onion powder 

Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped

Directions

Add all ingredients to the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Bolognese Sauce (freezes well)

Ingredients

3- 28 oz cans of "Kitchen Ready" ground peeled tomatoes

3- 6 oz cans of tomato paste

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or through a garlic press

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped 

3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

3 carrots, coarsely chopped

2 cups of dry wine

1 1/2 pounds ground chuck

1 1/2 pounds ground pork 

1/4 cup parley, chopped

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

1 cup of heavy cream

Directions

Place all ingredients EXCEPT meats and cream in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. With an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the sauce to remove chunks.  While doing so brown the meats on the stove. Once sauce is blended and meats brown combine the two and add the cream. Serve over pasta with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.