When I wrote this post suggesting that you eat out less as a simple step toward becoming more healthy, several of you asked, “So what do you do when you’re just too tired to cook?”
Well, thankfully I never get tired so this isn’t an issue at our house.
Just kidding.
I adore cooking and consider it to be one of my favorite hobbies, but there are several times a week (whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner) that I really don’t feel like cooking. Or I don’t feel like messing up the kitchen. Or the kitchen is already messy and I don’t feel like cleaning it and then making it messy again. Or I’ve been in the kitchen all day making tomato sauce or salsa or applesauce, which makes me feel like I’ve been cooking but there’s still nothing for dinner…and I’m tired.
Then my pitiful, starving children crawl into the kitchen clutching their empty bellies because it’s been like 28 minutes since they last put food in their mouths and they must…have…dinner…
This is when I am so thankful that I have taken the time to prepare food ahead of time and put it in the freezer.
So in answer to your questions about what I do when I don’t feel like cooking: I make good use of the food I’ve prepared ahead of time and put in the freezer. Healthy freezer foods are a life saver for me. I HEART freezer foods!!!
Now, some foods take longer to re-heat from a frozen state (like a lasagna casserole)…so hopefully I am aware ahead of time that I need to grab something pre-made out of the freezer for a meal. (A frozen lasagna casserole takes a good two hours (+) to thaw and cook.) Otherwise, many items just go directly to the oven in their frozen state, taking just a few minutes to reheat (like these burritos).
I encourage you to look through all the posts in my Make Ahead Meals series for ideas, recipes and suggestions for freezer cooking. It isn’t hard to spend a few hours each month making extra food and putting it into the freezer. Just do a little bit every few days until you have a nice freezer stash. You will be so thankful you did! The few hours you spend cooking ahead will save you many hours later. Plus it will save you a load of money and help you eat healthier too!
Here are the foods I’ve been making recently to have on hand:
Banana Bread and Banana Muffins (Yes, that is tomato sauce in the background.
It’s always good to bake something while you’re in the kitchen waiting for tomato sauce to cook down.)
Sloppy Cornbread Muffins – these can be warmed in the oven
from their frozen state and ready in just a few minutes!
Two loaves of honey whole wheat bread and two loaves of
cinnamon swirl bread. We discovered the other day that the
cinnamon swirl bread makes wonderful french toast for breakfast!
Hamburger buns…and YES, I figured out how to make hotdog buns.
SO EASY! I’ll share the “how-to” soon!
Yogurt – okay it’s not a freezer food –
but I’m so happy to have a big half gallon jar of yogurt on hand for snacks or for soaking grains.
Chewy Granola Bars – also not a freezer food.
I made a triple batch of these so now we have a huge supply in the
fridge ready for Matt or the boys to grab on the run!
I individually wrapped the granola bars and put them in a cute basket in the fridge.
The men in my life don’t so much appreciate my cute basket, but you appreciate it don’t you?
They do appreciate the contents of the basket, of course.
You already know that I had a big chicken party and made four huge containers of chicken broth…
And ten containers of cooked chicken.
I made and dehydrated a double batch of homemade noodles
to go with that chicken and broth – perfect for these chilly fall evenings!
Last but not least, I tried an idea I’ve been thinking about for a while – homemade poptarts!! They turned out so-so (read: tasty but really sticky and messy), so I’ll be tweaking the recipe before I share it with you. But you can look forward to it coming sometime!
A few other fall back meals I rely on when I don’t feel like cooking:
- Salmon Patties with vegetables
- Quesadillas (if I have tortillas on hand)
- Pancakes and scrambled eggs (using this pancake recipe – skipping the soaking part)
- Hamburger patties with vegetables
- Fried eggs on toast with smoothies
What meals do you make when you don’t feel like cooking, but you want to avoid eating out? Have you found that having frozen, premade meals in the freezer has been helpful to you?
Gretchen says
I have frozen your chewy granola bars and they freeze well. I just take them out a few hours before lunch or put them in lunches to go and they thaw well.
Camille says
I think that sometimes you have to think “out of the box” for dinner. When I’m too tired to cook, I’ll do something easy like scrambled eggs and toast. That’s it. Or make a big bowl of popcorn with veggies and dip and sliced apples. All too often we think that dinner has to be this nice, big meal. It doesn’t. They will survive! Tonight we (meaning my husband) grilled brats and I pulled out leftover applesauce and coleslaw. Simple, easy, and no thinking or work involved.
Cinnamon says
I love all your pictures and ideas~ So lovely to see the prepared food and I will have to come back and peek at all the wonderful recipes~
Thank you for sharing~ Cinnamon
Shavawn Collier says
I had one of those days today. It was 4:00 and I had no idea what to do. I did have a roast in the fridge that I had planned on making but had forgotten about. So, I threw it in my pressure cooker with some beef broth and added baby carrots and potatoes. I set it for an hour and then I peeled more potatoes because I realized I had barely put any in the pot!
I also made a small batch of biscuits real fast while I was waiting for the pressure cooker to cool. Then I just mashed all the potatoes and added some of the broth from the pan and mashed away!
Everyone loved it! It was so tender as well! So, we had a home cooked meal in a little over an hour and it appeared as if I had cooked all day long!
I LOVE your ideas and tips and I think I will be working on stocking my freezer with some of your ideas for the times my brain doesn’t feel like thinking up a new creation!
Brighid says
Today it was whole wheat banana muffins. I’m teaching my 17 year to cook this year. It’s fun for both of us – we’re both learning things from each other. So when he wanted to make some bread, he wanted to make a lot because he’s a 17 year old boy. I wanted it to be healthy so we make a yeast-based banana bread recipe. My 7 quart Viking mixer really couldn’t mix it. By the time it was done, we wanted food quickly so bread became muffins and we just ate them, fruit and milk for dinner. :)
My husband was happy to say “I’m eating your homework!”
Amy Lynne says
Your chewy bar basket looks just like ours. I need to refill it this weekend, or I might have trouble on my hands ;) Thanks for all the advice you share with all of us! You ROCK!
Sarah @ Mum In Bloom says
Your freezer meals always inspire me. Love the basket and ideas :) I’ve made so many of your recipes and will be ready for meal planning and freezer cooking soon… baby steps ;)
Angie says
I would love to see what others post. I would have to say my go to recipe for my husband and me is steamed frozen veggies, rice cooked in the microwave rice cooker and thawed out chicken breast or tulip seasoned and cooked in a casserole dish in the oven on 350 for 30 to 40 minutes. I don’t really have to do anything but spend about 15 minutes on prep work.
By the way, what time zone are you on?
Laura says
Central :)
Shannon H. says
Poptarts??!! Please share!
Jessie says
Since it’s just me, my husband, and our 16 month old at this point in our lives, I’ve had great success making twice as much as we can eat, a couple times per week. That’s usually just a full recipe of something, anyway. Then I put the leftovers in the freezer, and we’ll eat them on busy (or lazy) days a few weeks later.
teresa says
I just love your frugal and wonderful ideas and the time you take “to take the pics” for us..This stuff even works for just 2 people in a family. I am so tired sometimes i dont even feel like thinking about food esp not cooking it, but if you only have to take it out and heat it up, you can do that, esp when i try to think, If we eat out it is gonna cost 3 to 5 times what it will cost me at home.(Do we really have the extra money?) My “good stand by” for “i dont feel like cooking” is always breakfast foods esp eggs, so easy and so much better than fast food or restaurants. Thanks for all you do Laura. You are a wonderful example for young and old (like me) women.
Amy says
Since recently going back to work full time I have begun freezer cooking and it found it to be a lifesaver. Thanks for your ideas and inspiration.
Jolene says
Love all the ideas Laura…thanks! My problem lately is that I cannot get all four of my guys to all like the same thing I make. For example, 2 of my guys like eggs for breakfast, one likes pancakes and the other muffins. I just can’t get them all to agree on one thing…..have you had this and if so what do or did you to so mealtime would not be a disappointment to someone?
Laura says
Yeah, we face this all the time at our house…it’s FRUSTRATING!! If my boys won’t eat what I’ve prepared, they have to fend for themselves (eating what I will allow of course). Sometimes they just eat an apple…then they’re still hungry and decide that what Mama made looks good after all. It would be SO NICE if everyone just ate what we made, wouldn’t it?
Jessica Nunemaker says
Ah, how funny. Salmon patties are my go-to dinner item when no one feels like cooking. :)
Homemade pop-tarts? That sounds interesting!
Laurel says
I love all your ideas. I just wanted to encourage you to package more environmentally friendly. Instead of wrapping everything in plastice, like the awesome granola bars, perhaps use wax paer or parchment. Plastic is one of the worst things i the world, and I feel the lord would appreciate us being better keepers of the kingdom, and think more about protecting. So that said thanks soo much for all your inpsriation and perhaps my thoughts can inpsire you too.
Lets move away from plastic it is plugging up th eoceans and really invading our world. There are plenty of old ways used to store things, before gladwrap came along.Blessings on you and yours.
Laura says
I’m with you an the “avoid plastic” issue – I only wrapped the bars in plastic to keep them from drying out. In general when I do use plastic bags, I am able to reuse them a million times – love that. Not so with the granola bars though :( because they get sticky. I think if I used parchment paper, they would get dried out. Maybe not?
Holly in Virginia says
I add a bit more oatmeal to your recipe, to cut down on the stickiness (although we do like it that way too) and my hubby says they taste like candy bars if you eat them straight from the freezer.
Laurel says
No matter how many times you reuse it, eventually it ends up in the oceans, and is breaking down in landfills and going into our water and soil…i.e. us. So glad to hear you reuse it, I hope you can see it still is just a product to avoid altogether. Even recycling it only goes so far, ultimately it will be here till the end of time.
Thanks again for your awesome site and inspiration.
Danielle says
You really could have just left it at your last comment and have been all right. Not everyone feels the same way you do. And to keep on repeating the same thing, is almost like condemning someone because they don’t do things the way you do.
Laura is a lot more gracious than what I would have been if this were my blog.
It’s as if you stepped into her house, and told her this and that was wrong, AND then said, oh I appreciate you. The words are still there. How would you feel? There is ALWAYS a better way to tell people how you feel.
Courtney says
Laurel, if you are at all familiar with Laura’s blog, you already know that she is living an environmentally-friendly life. She cooks natural, organic foods, avoids chemicals and artificial ingredients, doesn’t believe in buying unnecessary material “stuff” – and you are giving her a hard time over a few plastic bags?!
Laurel says
if everyone feels like they just use a feel plastic bags then they will just keep piling up : )
it wasnt aimes at her but at all of us, including mysekf. blessings.
Crystal says
My go-to meals: French Toast and cut up fruit (usually apples or oranges); Scrambled Eggs, Toast and fruit (which is basically the same ingredients but cooked differently! :) ) ; Grilled Cheese w/ Carrots and Ranch Dressing.
I do cook ahead.. especially things like muffins and snacks but we don’t have an extra deep freeze so I have to keep things minimal. I also make double batches of soup in the winter since soup freezes well!
Laurel says
I wasn’t trying to be rude. I feel really strongly about plastic. And I think we have to be real about it. Sorry Laura if you felt attacked. It was just my attempt at a public service statement. For all of us to see where we can change some habits…never said I was perfect by the way. She is brave to put herslef out there, and that is commendable. Please know that it wasn’t meant to be a condemnation, just a maybe call to action for all of us,and our children.
Laura says
Naw, I wouldn’t say I felt attacked…I’ve learned through the years of blogging that not everyone is going to agree with everything I say and do. Opinions are often contradictory even (“Laura, I really think you should use lots and lots of plastic…”). Okay – no one has actually ever told me that, but you get the idea!
I just do the best I can and hope I can encourage others to do the same.
Kris Mays says
My fall back is usually eggs in some form. I will either make eggs to order (whatever each person wants, like in a restaurant) or omelettes.
We also will do French toast or pancakes for dinner sometimes, too.
Homemade pizza is another fall back. And if I don’t have mozzarella, I make Strombolis instead. I normally keep all of these things in my pantry or frig on hand at all times.
Another thing I do is place an all-inclusive meal in a basket and have several of these in the pantry at a time. So one basket will have the ingredients for tuna casserole in it with a recipe attached to the basket and maybe even ingredients for a quick dessert (or even a brownie mix -sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do).
One basket might have pasta, clams and red sauce or ingredients to make a red sauce in it. You get the idea. I will actually be blogging about how I do this sometime next week.
Kris in OR
Tricia says
I love your idea of a “meal in a basket”. I’ll definitely remember that as I’m reorganizing my pantry this week!
Angie says
When you do you meals in a basket, do you label the meat in the fridge or freezer so it is not used for something else?
Kris Mays says
No, I just always keep those specific things on hand at all times. For meals in a basket, I mostly rely on pantry/dry goods staples. So tuna casserole is obviously canned tuna, clams in red sauce is canned clams, etc. But there are certains items I always have in my freezer & frig no matter what, like onions and ground beef.
This is where a pantry inventory list comes in handy. You list everything you keep in your pantry on one paper and you use that when you shop to make sure you keep pantry intemson hand at all times. I break mine up into categories: Spices, Proteins, etc.
Mommieof4 says
Laura, I wanted to tell ya how much I have been enjoying your site. Your buns and vanilla wheat wafers were big hits in my house!
Megan says
Even as a single gal (i.e.- not having to feed others), I still find that freezer cooking is very helpful. I work full-time outside of my home and it really helps to have pre-made food.
Myra says
How are you preserving the chicken? I see you have put chicken in canning jars. What will you do with them? And thank you for this website labor of love. It truly ministers.
Laura says
I froze the chicken in the jars (with lids).
Holly in Virginia says
Your inspiration to freezer cook has blessed not just the families who read your blog, but others as well! As a gift to several friends who were about to have babies (and one who was really sick with morning sickness) I went over and did freezer cooking for them. I don’t have much money but they provided the ingredients and I made between 6 and 8 meals for each family, which everyone raved about. Especially your pizza pockets! Now that I am expecting again our freezer stash is almost empty, but on my good days I try to fill it back up as best as I can.
Sarah Falk says
LOVE IT! My hubby was just asking me about making poptarts!! He will be SO EXCITED! (Well, as excited as he gets anyway)
Andie says
Heck, I wish I liked to cook even a smidgen as much as you!
Michele says
My goodness, you’ve been busy! If I had cooked that much they would have had to choose from what I had made to settle for dinner! I’m new to your site, but am enjoying your posts. I have you bookmarked. Looking forward to trying some of your recipes. I saw the recipe for the pop tarts over at chickens in the road, and she rolled our a layer of dough, put only a small amount of jelly in the center and layered another layer of dough on top and pressed it down real good then cut between where the lumps of jelly were and crimped the edges all the way around of each. I know, more time consuming, but less messy for the kiddos in the end. I’m tired just from reading about all your cooking. I am planning on trying the poptarts on Monday.
JH says
I just really wish you would use more plastic wrap! Maybe you could just individually wrap everything. I’m sorry, but I just had to say it! Love your site!
Jennifer says
PB & J… my kids both love it, and we don’t eat it all that often for lunch, so paired with a fruit and maybe a few carrot and cucumber sticks, it’s actually not bad nutritionally – far better than McDonalds any day!
Anna says
I was looking at your homemade pop tarts and I know how to fix your sticky mess problem. If the sole problem is a sticky mess, then you should pinch the sides together if the bread part is in a dough form. Like say, when you make the outside from thin dough and put the jam in the middle, pinch the sides, then freeze. That way they will keep longer and all you have to do is pop them in the toaster (pop them in uncooked and straight from the freezer, as they will cook in the toaster, just like a frozen pizza cooks in the oven) for longer to cook the dough, or put them under the broiler for a little while longer. The jam won’t escape and make a big sticky mess that you have to clean up.
Cheryl says
I just made poptarts today ( weird ) and I reccomend sealing the edges with the tines of a fork. Makes the hugest difference in the filling coming out the sides. Mine turned out really yummy and my husband has eaten 2 already even though they are for my kids Ü I love your site and applaud you for all you do. I also use plastic bags to wrap ” your ” granola bars and reuse. No harm no foul Ü
Cheryl says
recommend… spelling has been off today ha ha
Amanda says
Thank you so much for your honesty, and for the wealth of information you share with us! You first inspired me to start freezer cooking several months ago, and it has changed the way we eat and spend our money so drastically. To echo others, it has also allowed me to have meals on hand to give to others in need (like new mamas!). Thanks for the inspiration to start it up again… in those busy seasons when I need it most, I sometimes slack off on the freezer cooking! I’m also hoping to keep a stash ready for whenever my next pregnancy comes along. :)
Stevie says
Wow..you are an inspiration.
Darla says
Love the site. I’m going to have to try your granola bars for sure. I did some bulk cooking this weekend. I wish I would have taken pics and posted on my blog for the link up party. Oh well. Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Marie says
Oh wow! I am so impressed with all your freezer meals! I am doing my first big cooking day this Sat. I am excited but a little nervous! Can’t wait to get as much in my freezer as you have in yours!
Kelly @ A Full Table says
You are a gal after my own heart! :-) My newest little one is due December 25th and I am busily making plans on what foods and dinners I need to pile up in my little-bitty-above-the-fridge freezer.
Can’t wait to see your revised homemade pop tart recipe. I know my kids will love it.
Erin says
When is the hotdog bun recipe coming?? Anxiously waiting!!!
Laura says
Ack…working on it! Hopefully next week?? :)
Erin says
Sounds great. I made two of your recipes today that I hadn’t tried yet…fantastic!! I love taking my iphone into the kitchen and making some of your goodies…. :-)