Tip of the Day 26 January 2010

Pre-prep Saves Time and Stops the Takeaway Urge

I purchase lean mince in bulk quantities when it is on sale, usually in ten kilo lots, and prepare it to the cooking stage before freezing. I brown half the mixture and freeze in portions. This makes preparing tacos and pasta sauces a breeze. The other five kilos is made into a meatloaf mixture. Half of the meatloaf mixture goes into foil lined loaf tins so it is the proper shape. Then I take the foil and meat out, wrap it tightly and freeze. The rest of the mixture gets divided up into meatballs. I freeze it into sticks of 8 meatballs and then place in a plastic freezer bag. When I want to cook dinner, I can just pull a ready to cook meal from the freezer. On a busy night the time saving is huge, a freshly prepared and cooked dinner can be on the table in 30 minutes, faster than we can get a pizza delivered!