Easy “Make Ahead Ideas”

Tip of the Day

I know I’ve posted this tip in various forms before, but it is so valuable that I wanted to share it again. It’s so easy to save yourself time and effort by simply planning a a few leftovers you can freeze and use in other recipes.

Meatballs… my family loves meatballs…. so as you can imagine I make them quite often…. I try to always set aside about 7-10 meatballs with a little sauce and freeze it in an airtight container… it is a terrific time saver when making a number of recipes…. baked ziti… or as in today’s recipe… lasagna roll-ups.

I buy hot and sweet sausage and cook it up… and store the cooked sausage in Ziploc bags in the freezer… another ingredient in a lot of recipes that can save you tons of time and clean-up…. just plan ahead… if you’re making something that you can use at another time… make a little more and freeze the leftover.

Tomato sauce…. with meat…with mushrooms… with peppers… plain… that is another perfect freezable timesaver.

Chili is another example… when making a batch… make sure you make enough to have some left…. I freeze it in small containers for chili dogs.

I’m sure you can add to the list…. it really is a life saver sometimes… especially when you’re feeling under the weather and don’t have the energy to cook a meal…. defrost some meatballs…some sauce.. and the only thing you really have to do is boil the spaghetti…