Coupon Queen: Freezer cooking a big time, money saver

I grew up having regular evening meals around the dinner table with my family. We'd talk about our day, plan our week and bond as a family. We didn't have a lot of money growing up but there always was a good meal on the table. Continuing the tradition, my own family sits down at the dining room table almost every night. But to be honest, there are some days I feel the pandemic has stretched this "family togetherness" a bit thin this year. With my husband home from work and my kids doing virtual schooling all year, we've had more meals together in the past year than I care to count. It's us, at home, all the time. I'm sure many of you can relate. One thing that has saved my sanity and budget in meal prepping this year has been freezer cooking. It saves me time, allows us not to have to prep yet another meal and saves us money from ordering takeout when no one can decide what to eat for dinner. Freezer cooking simply is cooking meals and freezing them to use at a later time. I started freezer cooking soon after my first son was born when I discovered this cute baby demanded attention at very inopportune times. Freezer cooking has saved me so much time over the years, but it's been such a great tool to have during the pandemic when creating yet another meal from scratch is the last thing I want to do at the end of the day. I often will take a few hours to freezer cook a few of my family's favorite dishes. Dinners such as chicken soup, lasagna and chili will be stacked in the freezer by the end of the day. I also do it on a smaller scale and double a recipe when cooking a meal. This is easy to do with hardly any extra time involved. In the past, I've loved getting together with my sisters or friends to create a few meals together, but since the pandemic I haven't been able to do this. Instead, I've swapped a few meals with them, doing porch pickup during the early days of the pandemic. I find this a great way to get a variety of food in your freezer for a minimal amount of work. With freezer cooking, your options are limitless. You can grab a free recipe book at the library or do a quick search on the internet. You'll find hundreds of recipes from breakfast to dinner to everything in between. Perhaps you even will find some new family favorites. Another time-saver is to precook ingredients. For instance, precooking ground beef will save time when making chili, taco meat and spaghetti sauce. Some of my other favorite things to prepare are marinated chicken, crumbled sausage and meatballs. If you need a break from nightly cooking, give freezer cooking a try. I'd love to hear if it saves you time and money, too. This week's deal Here's a deal you can grab this week at CVS. Dove Easter Eggs bagged candy — 2/$7 Use $1/2 Mars coupon in the March 7 SAVE insert Pay: $6 + get $1 ExtraBucks (EBs can be spent like cash in the store) Rachel Krych is passionate about helping others spend less and save more. In addition to her weekly column, she has a blog, Couponing With Rachel, which earns her compensation from Google for ads it places there, and from entertainment marketers whose promotional codes she touts. She doesn't write about entertainment in her column. Email her at couponingwithrachel@hotmail.com.