Giving Up Processed Foods

[OakLeaf]

They freeze fine. Best if they're cooked on the firm side of done, like you would for a salad.

[VeganBikeChick]

I'm getting inspired by this thread. Made my own pasta sauce tonight for the first time. Couldn't believe how easy it was and how few ingredients I needed. I'll never buy jarred again.

[szsz]

I'm getting inspired by this thread. Made my own pasta sauce tonight for the first time. Couldn't believe how easy it was and how few ingredients I needed. I'll never buy jarred again.

Ya! Just sautee onions, garlic, and toss in the tomatoes. I often toss in cashews and spinach, too. For a "cheesy" sort of sauce I add nutritional yeast and a bit of oat milk or soy milk (or whatever nut milk is around). (I am vegan, too.) Sometimes I run it through the food processor but if I don't want to do so many dishes I just have it over pasta or quinoa as is.

[OakLeaf]

Martha Rose Shulman is doing work-ready portable lunches this week.

[Susan Otcenas]

They freeze fine. Best if they're cooked on the firm side of done, like you would for a salad.

OK, Inspired by you, I cooked up a BIG pot of kidney beans this weekend. They came out great. I kept about 4 cups to use right away. Put the rest in 2 cup containers and stuck 'em in the freezer.

Thanks for the motivation!

Susan

[Aggie_Ama]

Getting some great ideas ladies, thanks! Right now I am still at phase one, giving up artificial sweeteners and phasing out HFCS. So far three weeks in and no headaches at all! I have not taken Excedrin, only took Ibuprofen after my 85 mile race.

[smilingcat]

Things to help with making from scratch.

chicken stock: I buy whole chicken and cut it up. I freeze up the chicken pieces in groups then freeze all the bones together. When I have bones from four chicken, I make stock. No Salt no seasoning. simmer for about 4 hours then cool the stock by putting the pot into the sink and fill the sink with cold water. Place the cooled stock still in the pot in a fridge. I let the oil congeal then scoop out the oil. scoop or pour the stock into ice cube trays and freeze. This way you have small portions of frozen stock. No need to go buy stock. Use however many cubes of frozen stock to meet your need.

Pizza: got the idea from bobboli. We make enough pizza dough for 10 to 12 pizza. roll out, spoon out pizza sauce, some cheese on it, bake. When cooled we bag them up and freeze. When we want quick pizza, take the frozen pizza out, add our toppings, add more cheese if you want then bake. 20 minutes tops.

egg noodle for chicken noodle soup. I make enough egg noodle for about 4 batches of soup. Only takes one egg, pinch of salt, some flour bit of water. Make noodle freeze in three or four bags. when we want soup, we just use one of the frozen bag of egg noodle.

hmm should go back to making my own salad dressing. Citrus dressing.

Occasionally we bake extra potato. The extra one is used within few days for stuffed potato. Saves time for baking raw potato. It's just matter of heating.

We use pressure cooker to cook beans. Lot faster. Pinto beans cook within half an hour. Chick peas within one hour. stew 1 hour.

We also make hamburger patty in bulk then freeze them into groups of 4, separating the patty with wax paper. Burgers are quick and easy.

no need bread

few of the time savers.

[soprano]

I'm curious - where do you all find the freezer space for all of this pre-cooked homemade stuff?

I tend to gravitate towards things like canned beans because I absolutely do not have freezer space for anything that is shelf-stable. We keep in the freezer chicken carcasses for stock and/or stock, random bits of meat for sausage, high-oil grains that are likely to go rancid, and a few bread products that we can't eat before they go stale. And butter, because it freezes well and is way cheaper at Costco. After that, I am completely out of freezer space. Do those of you who make lots of stuff ahead like pizzas have separate deep freezers? Or do you prioritize food over having an ice-maker?

[smilingcat]

Yes I do have a deep freezer. It's made by Arctic Air model CF15 I think. It's good size. I keep my whole wheat, organic brown rice, bulk herbs, pizza crust, nuts such as almond, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, meat and stock,

Very Important: Do put dates on the items you put in the freezer so you know how old it is.

[skhill]

I've been wanting to get a (smallish) deep freezer, for putting up goodies from the garden primarily. But the problem is where to put it? The most obvious spot is where the litter boxes are, and I dread the cats' reaction to having their bathroom moved. Stupid, I know...

Was talking to my brother last night, and he proudly told me that in the week since he's stopped consuming HFCS, he's lost 4 lbs. Well, duh. But I'm glad to see another person moving away from processed foods. It won't cure his increasing baldness, but I bet he won't care about that so much when he's at a better weight!