Save Time and Eat Well!

I can't say that I love cooking, but I do it because I want my family to eat healthy.  And let's face it, when you love eating as much as I do, it's doubly important that it's not all junk.  But eating healthy requires using fresh vegetables.  Using fresh vegetables requires chopping.  Chopping requires time.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  It seems to me that most women (and the oh so rare breed of cooking males) desire to serve their family good ingredients but just don't have the time.  So I thought I'd share my itty bitty prep tip that saves me time and frustration and helps me not waste the whole bag of carrots (even though the recipe only called for two!).  Maybe it's something you already do and that everyone knows about (that's quite possible), but it seemed revolutionary to me, and we wives (and husbands) need to help each other out as much as possible.  

Once you pick out your recipes for the week and get the groceries, I spend a little time one evening (I like Sundays) pre-chopping all of the vegetables needed for the week.  Then I bag them up by recipe in a freezer bag, label and, you guessed it, freeze.  When you're ready to cook just pull out your bag and you're rearin' to go!

Important note!  Be sure to read through the whole recipe to see at what point you need the different vegetables.  There's nothing like having to pick tiny carrots out of a big bag of vegetables because you didn't realize you don't add them until the end of the recipe... all the while your baby is crying...and your chicken is over cooking...and your dog is whining to go out.  I'm just assuming of course, that's never, ehem, happened to me.  At any rate, just bag the carrots separate.  


And since many vegetables come in bulk (like carrots and celery), and you often only use a little of it in one week, I go ahead and cut them up and freeze them too so they don't spoil.  Waste not, want not! 


So there it is, it's not that mind-blowing, I know, but it is useful!  Do you have any time-saving cooking tips?  I'm all ears!


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