Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Once a Month Cooking - Packaging Mixes


It's after Midnight.....and I'm making muffins!  We need to do another Once a Month Cooking Day (or Freezer cooking if you like) but I've yet to plan one.  They save soooo much time, but they do take a lot of energy.  

Tonight I made Chocolate Chip Muffins (for the diabetics, these are 45 grams of carb per muffin).  While they baked for 15 minutes, I made up 5 pre-packaged Chocolate Chip muffin mixes (remember the chocolate chips I bought on our Costco trip?).  A pre-packaged mix is simply taking all the dry ingredients for a recipe and putting them in a zipper bag.  I re-use the bags even.   Next time I want to make muffins, I grab a bag and add the wet ingredients - homemade food in no time!  Since we live in sunny (aka.....HOT) central California, I put these mixes in the freezer.  Even with AC, our cupboards sometimes melt the chocolate chips.

I wanted to show this because, while I don't get a lot of comments here, I have read other blogs' freezer cooking posts and some of the comments focus on not having enough time or wanting to eat casseroles, etc.  So, I'm here to say, Once a Month Cooking isn't just about casseroles - it's making ahead whatever your family enjoys eating.  It will ALL save you time - maybe it's breakfast foods, or pre-packaged mixes that allow you to cook from scratch when you otherwise wouldn't have time?  Anything goes.......and it's all better for your budget! 

I even think a box of pre-packaged mixes would make a nice new mom, wedding, or "moving out on your own" gift - staple a pretty card to each bag with the rest of the recipe and include a gift card so they can purchase the rest of the items. 

Find recipes for homemade mixes HERE, HERE, and HERE is a homemade Bisquick substitute.

2 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I found your site through a comment you left on my Tot School blog. I do quite a bit of cooking for my freezer with a couple of my girl friends. We post our recipes and results on a blog here, if you interested are looking for some new ideas.

    I agree that it doesn't have to be always about casseroles!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for the link!

    ReplyDelete

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