With three growing boys in the house, it was inevitable. We finally bought a deep freezer. And we totally lucked out when friends had a second-hand upright freezer to sell instead of the chest-style one I had been considering.<\/p>\n
I already love it, but it currently contains only one pot roast waiting for that first perfect fall day (see recipe below), a loaf of bread, two bags of hot dog buns (thanks, Yvonne!) and three kinds of ice cream for Beloved and the boys. In other words, seriously underutilized.<\/p>\n
Now is the perfect time for me to be filling the freezer both with bulk items and with make-ahead recipes. And an unexpected side effect of my new Plan B diet is that I don’t rely on prepackaged foods nearly as much as I used to. Until February, at least, I have the time and the means to be ferreting things away for when time is less leisurely.<\/p>\n
I’ve never owned a deep freezer before, so I’m not really sure how to best make use of it. So tell me, what’s in your freezer? What can I freeze to make my own life easier? And please feel free share any make-and-freeze recipes you love! <\/p>\n
(My no-fail Yankee Pot Roast slow cooker recipe, with next day beef sandwich left overs to die for, is tucked below the fold.<\/em>) <\/p>\n Filched from CTV Ottawa’s news at noon cooking feature with Pam Collacott:<\/p>\n ALL DAY YANKEE POT ROAST DINNER<\/p>\n Serves 6 to 8<\/p>\n 1 3-pound boneless pot roast (cross rib, blade, rump, sirloin tip) 1. Brown roast on all sides in large ovenproof Dutch oven over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients except cornstarch, 1\/4 cup cold water and parsley; cover pot.<\/p>\n 2. Transfer to 200\u00c2\u00b0F oven. Cook for 9 to 10 hours, or until meat and vegetables are tender. (or at 225\u00c2\u00b0F for 6 to 8 hours; or 250\u00c2\u00b0F for 4 to 6 hours.)<\/p>\n 3. Remove meat and vegetables to platter or tray; keep warm in 200\u00c2\u00b0F oven. If slow cooker: transfer liquid to saucepan.<\/p>\n 4. Add 1 to 2 cups more water or stock if needed to make gravy. Bring liquid to a boil. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Stir into boiling liquid. cook and stir until gravy thickens. Add salt and pepper, to taste.<\/p>\n Slow Cooker Variation: Brown roast in skillet as above. Assemble (step 1) in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, until roast and vegetables are very tender. Go to Step 3.<\/p>\n YANKEE POT ROAST SANDWICH MELT<\/p>\n Leftover pot roast and gravy * To caramelize onion, cook with small amount of oil in small skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until soft and light brown. Sprinkle with a few drops balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.<\/p>\n Slice pot roast along the grain. Shred with 2 forks. Add enough reserved gravy to moisten. Heat in microwave or on low burner.<\/p>\n Spread both sides of bun with horseradish and mustard to taste. Spoon beef onto bottom half of bun. Top with cheese. Broil until cheese melts and bubbles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With three growing boys in the house, it was inevitable. We finally bought a deep freezer. And we totally lucked out when friends had a second-hand upright freezer to sell instead of the chest-style one I had been considering. I already love it, but it currently contains only one pot roast waiting for that first … Continue reading “Food week continues: filling the freezer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-the-universe-and-everything"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n6 medium potatoes, peeled
\n4 large carrots, peeled or scrubbed, cut into thick sticks
\n6 small cooking onions, peeled
\n\u00c2\u00bd of a small rutabaga, peeled, cut in chunks
\n2 cloves garlic, peeled
\n2 tablespoons onion soup base
\n1 teaspoon thyme
\n\u00c2\u00bd teaspoon rosemary leaves, crumbled
\nPepper, to taste
\n1 cup beef stock or water
\n\u00c2\u00bd cup red wine or tomato juice (or more beef stock)
\n2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
\n1\/4 cup cold water
\nSalt and pepper, to taste<\/p>\n
\n1 crusty roll
\nHorseradish and grainy mustard
\nCaramelized sliced onions*
\nSliced cheese (Swiss, old Cheddar, your choice)<\/p>\n