Freeze Now, Eat later

Given how precious my time is these days, one of the things I wish I had more recipes for is king in bulk and freezing the rest for later. For me, a perfect example of this time saving technique is freezing spaghetti sauce. While, yes, you can use those store bought sauces you buy at the store in a pinch, those never taste nearly as good as the home-cooked deal. They tend to be overly sweet and lacking in depth of flavor. Plus, where's the fun in having no meatballs or sausage?


My goto sauce rrecipe is my grandfather's recipe. And it is a good thing that this recipe freezes well, because I ALWAYS make the sauce in bulk. Why? Because it's how my grandfather taught me to do it. I've tried exactly once to scale it down, but it didn't feel right. Was that in my head? Possibly. But hey, since freezers exist it doesn't really matter now, does it? Plus, there are those added advantages I hinted to -- you have spaghetti sauce for later!




Some practical tips: 1) When you go to store the sauce, use appropriate sized containers. This means diving it up into portions that you will want to use at one time. Yes, it takes a big more time than dumping it into one huge container -- but its infinitely more useful. 2) Similarly, divide up the meatballs and sausage evenly. Or, you could put more meatballs into one container for a day you want to make meatball sandwiches. 3) Use containers designed for the freezer! Why does it matter? Well, first other containers can become brittle and break if you use freeze them. Second, those aren't as good at protecting against freezer burn. 4) Don't be scared to completely fill up your freezer. Did you know that freezers actually use LESS energy and freeze better the more full it is?

Anyway, lucky for me I follow my tips above when I put away my sauce mid-January. Why? Because I went skiing at Snowshoe at the end of January, and the condo had it's very own kitchen, complete with cooking supplies. And what's better than spaghetti and meatballs after a long day of skiing, and not having to pay $20+ a person for the meal?