Another Freezer Cooking Adventure

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It occurred to me today that I have a vast range of 'servants' in my home that I'm not really taking advantage of.  Take my upright freezer, for example.  At the moment, all that it contains is a 6-months-past-due package of puff pastry and a freezer burned beef roast.  My decade-old breadmaker is still perfectly useful but languishing in a dark recess of some rarely used kitchen cabinet.  And my crockpot should be a star attraction in my weekly menu, but isn't.  All of these things should be working to make my life easier, and yet I'm not making the best use of of them.

Part of the reason why certain appliances rarely see the light of day lies within the design of my kitchen.  We have a very small galley-style (walk-through) kitchen, with limited bench space (just two smallish areas).  I would love to have these appliances standing proud and at attention, ready to be used, but we just don't have the counter space.  It's very, very easy to end up with the kitchen a cluttered disaster unless we're continuously on top of the dishes and general 'putting away'.  The precious bench space we do have is set aside for daily-used items such as the kettle and toaster.  As the breadmaker and crockpot aren't used daily, away into the cupboard they go.  And because we have an open plan kitchen / family room layout, any kitchen clutter is compounded by it's exposure to anyone who happens to visit.

Despite the teeny tiny kitchen, I'm lucky enough to have a fairly good sized upright freezer in my laundry room, and a decent above-fridge freezer.  It's time to put them to good use!

In the days to come I'll be formulating a freezer cooking plan.  I am spectacularly on board with the idea of freezer cooking, and have even produced some decent frozen meals in my time, but I've lapsed in recent times.  I'm bummed I missed out on the latest round of Freezer Cooking Days (co-hosted by the lovely Jessica at Life As Mom and Crystal at Money Saving Mom) but no matter - I'll press on and get a head start on next month.  I'll try a few 'one meal' recipes to see if I can stumble across some winners to add to my tried-and-trues.  I have a fabulous Recipe Binder in development with literally dozens of 'in the wings' recipes to have a go at.

See you early next month for the next Freezer Cooking Days!