Pre-prepping onions

Even though I cook a lot, sometimes onions will go bad in my pantry before I can use them. Did you know you can freeze them? Pre-chop them, and freeze them in little pre-measured bags - 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup - that way when you pull out a recipe, you've got the onions already measured and chopped - big time saver! The money saver comes in by being able to buy larger quantities of onions, and not having them go bad in your pantry.

Regarding the bags? I use cheap little sandwich bags and a twistie tie - and then put all the little bags in a gallon ziplock bag.

Flash-frozen bell peppers

Why pay for Birdseye to do this? The next time bell peppers go on sale (green, red, yellow, any color) purchase a bunch, and then slice them into strips ready to add to recipes such as my Italian Sausage Skillet. Lay them separately on a waxed-paper coated piace of cardboard or cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, transfer them to a gallon ziplock bag - this way they won't stick together, and you can pull out only as many as you want for any given recipe.

Italian Sausage Skillet

1 lb. italian sausage links
1 can italian stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1 tsp chicken bouillon
2 good handfuls bell pepper strips - fresh or frozen
1 lb pasta shells, rotini, or other favorite shapes.

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. While waiting for pasta to cook, cut sausage links into 3/4" pieces. Saute in a little oil until browned and cooked most of the way through - @ 10 minutes. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and bouillon to the skillet - stir to combine. Add pepper strips, and simmer for 10 minutes. To serve, mix with as much pasta as you'd like and serve with grated cheese.

To freeze for a future meal - add all the ingredients (except pasta) after the sausage cooks, and don't simmer - let it all cool down, put it all in a gallon ziplock bag, and lay flat to freeze. When ready to serve, thaw, simmer for 10 minutes, and then add cooked pasta.

Freezer roast pork

I had purchased a 10 lb. pork butt and cooked it up in the crock pot a month or so ago. To see how well it would hold up for future dinners, I placed a meal-sized portion of pork in a ziplock bag, covered it with unthickened gravy from the crockpot, and froze it like that. Last night, I thawed it out most of the way in the microwave, and brought it all to a simmer on the stove to reheat. I seasoned and thickened the gravy, and we had a feast of roast pork, mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce I thawed from the freezer, and even a few leftover green beans I had frozen in a ziplock from a previous meal. Freezer cooking at its best!

This type of pork roast holds up so well to freezing in gravy. I tried freezing a portion NOT in gravy, we'll see how that holds up another time.

But this was wonderful, economical, and a real time saver!