Military Nesties
MrsOjoButtons
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Meals in jars
Have any of you ever made these? (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to a Mason jar with layers of beans, pasta, seasonings, etc. that people give for Christmas. Like this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/sealed-delivered-recipes-in-a-jar/index.html)
I'm thinking meals in jars would be a quick alternative to all the freezer meals I'm squirreling away, but so far I keep finding lots of bean soups. Do you have (or can you find) any recipes that aren't heavy on the beans? The soaking time for beans would defeat the purpose of having the meals on hand, at least for my purposes.
Twin boys due 7/25/12
Re: Meals in jars
I have very basic canning skills (spaghetti sauce) and a pressure cooker. I'm not sure what you're talking about though, LOL.
Well, the pressure cooker is what I was talking about...
Acidic foods like tomato sauce, jams, jellies, etc, can all be processed in a water bath - basically you put it in jars, put the jars in a big pot of water, boil it for a bit, and then remove them - they should seal and be shelf stable at that point.
Meat, however, needs a pressure cooker to can safely. This site mentions some of it... http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-meat.html#axzz1sEGx662h
I've seen a few. I'll look for the recipes tonight when I get off work.
What crockpot things are you doing? I've found a few recipes that you make ahead, it makes two zip lock bags worth and then you freeze it and through it in the crockpot frozen. I'll post those links too.
I haven't mapped that out yet. So far all I've got is one cowboy stew for the crock pot, 8 assorted quiches, and a savory French toast casserole. My neighbor gave me five dozen eggs and I didn't want them to go to waste. I figured that was also a good way to clear through the random bread in the freezer and assorted canned goods in the pantry.
I've frozen crock pot meals of chicken cordon blue, Mongolian beef, and broccoli beef, so I know those will survive the freezer. I have a whole list at home of the crock pot meals we both agreed we liked, so I need to dig that out. I haven't really had to cook since before I did IVF, so last September, so I've forgotten some of the go-to meals I relied on.
I've seen twice-baked potatoes done OAMC-style, frozen before the second bake. I'm sure I'll attempt that because they'd make for super easy snacks or part of a lunch/dinner. That's what I liked about the quiches...they'll work for any meal. Oh, and I'll probably also freeze a bunch of whole wheat/flax waffles for the same reason.
I'm really glad you posted this so I can steal it for when I need it.
We bake potatoes and freeze them often. I like to put cheese, broccoli, bacon, and sour cream and them and just eat that as a meal all by itself so we keep a stash in the freezer. But that's all the help I can be for now since I haven't thought this far in advance yet. I need to get through the birthday party in a couple weeks and the wedding first, then I'll think about this!
Missed M/C 11/5/2010 @ 5 weeks, 3 days* D&C 12/3/2010 at 9 weeks, 3 days
DH's grandma will put deer in a jar. Just cubes of venison steak in some brine and she pressure cooks it. I think the idea is with the pressure seal that it will stay good because it's protected. Similar to vacuum sealing. I could be wrong though.
Lasagna does well in the freezer, I always cook it first and then freeze but it does well.
My Mac and Cheese does really well in the freezer too, cook first though.
These are some of the make head freezer crockpot meals I've done. They are okay they could use some tweaking.
She has a bunch of other freezer recipes too.