Mother

I won’t. I swear I won’t….

Ummmm, what would be left to freeze if not the eggs in egg salad?

I DO remember those freezer boxes and still have some somewhere. I even have Tupperware ones. I bet they would work for stacking garlic bread and etc too. Freezing the bread flat first would make it easy to remove one slice at a time…. 👍

I was gifted a couple silicone “Souper Cubes” I use to freeze things. They come in different sizes but mine have four one cup sections. They come with a nice lid. The food comes out as square blocks which fit nicely in zip lock or food saver bags and stack really great. I freeze all sorts of food on cookie sheets then put them in bags for easy use. I make up sausage or other meat patties and freeze them that way before stacking them in bags. I can take out just what I need. Euphrasyne, that’s a great idea about the garlic bread! This is such a fun thread. I’m sure we have other similar ones but it’s good to revisit ides. I’m getting several great suggestions. Thanks everyone!

I do freezer meals because of my restricted diet. I sometimes do separate meals for DH so senior solo here too. I always label and date my meals but I also add instructions if needed, like oven temp if baking. I love my home made freezer meals. We don’t go anywhere unless someone takes us so no running to town for us. My energy levels fluctuate so greatly that I make them up and freeze them when I feel reasonably energetic and use them when I am too tired or unable to cook. I used a whole lot of them the first few weeks after my fall and was sooooo grateful I had them. They all need to be replaced now so your list was extremely timely. Now I can put a few different meals away?

Great list, Jeepers. I make a lot of those as well but a word of warning….measure your space in the freezer first. Those containers are great for convenience but take up LOTS of space. If you add a Food saver bag it’s even more. I use food saver bags to freeze foods directly. I vacuum seal the food then lay the bags flat on a cookie sheet to freeze. I am careful to smooth them out. When frozen I store them like books upright side by side. You can even use inexpensive book ends to hold them. I have also used flat plastic baskets to hold them upright, putting like things together. The baskets allow more air circulation around them. Depending on your space you can get a second row of ‘books’ above the first. Another advantage to doing them this way is that you can boil the bags in a pan of hot water to heat them. Another thing I do is make ‘dump meals’. These are more like fresh cooked and make a nice change. I gather all the raw ingredients, prepare if needed like peeling and chopping, but put them directly into the bags uncooked along with seasonings, sauces, etc. I often use frozen veggies and meats directly from their bags unthawed to do this and it really makes the process fast and easy. I try to mix the seasoning or sauces in just by squishing the bag around some and then it also acts like a marinade . I most often use this method for crock pot meals but if the pieces are bite size those bags of meals can also be boiled in a pot of water. Or I do all the ingredients for a ‘sheet pan’ meal and then just dump them on the pan and roast in the oven. Most of the time I get these type meals out the night before to thaw a bit, especially if they are for the crock pot. I especially like this for pot roast meals. I put a small roast in the bag, add some already peeled baby carrots, some quartered onions, some washed small red potatoes and whatever seasonings I want, seal and freeze. I have even done dump meal breakfasts by putting the raw eggs in the bags, adding onions, peppers, mushrooms, meat, and even cheese and freezing them to cook later. I used to take these along in the cooler when camping. They were great for first or second day when they were thawed some. Just get a big pan of water boiling, put the bags into cook in the water, eat right from the bags, then use the water afterwards for what little cleanup there was. I also make breakfast sandwiches and wrap individually in plastic wrap. I freeze these stacked in bigger zip lock bags so I can take out what I want that day. I often bake my egg mixture on a rimmed sheet and then cut them in squares to portion them on the bun or English muffin. I do the same thing if using ground meat. I will put a piece of cheese with each but put it aside until the sandwich is hot, then add it back or it gets too melted. Try making the sandwich using waffles. They are great and you can even drizzle some syrup over the top if you want. Don’t forget deserts. I love apples or other fruit cored and chopped and put in the bag with honey (or brown sugar), I add cinnamon, raisins, dates, nuts, shredded coconut, or rolled oats and freeze them to dump and bake. These are also great to put into one of the sections of the divided container to cook while you are microwaving the meal. I often just stick some frozen fruit pieces in with my freezer meals to have hot desert and it’s so easy when making up the trays. Don’t get me wrong. I love the already cooked portioned meals In the trays. I usually double or triple a recipe I am making for us and then portion the extra into meal sizes and freeze. But you have to think of space for other things too, like ice cream

The big candy canes switches places.

I am doing my well wishes for the new year. Happy New Year everyone. May 2024 be a good year for all.

Thoughts from here too!

She is adorable, simply adorable!

Oh no, ambergris. I’m so sorry but also so glad little godbaby doesn’t have it. Take very good care that you don’t end up in the hospital as well.

Love love love this!

Well, change of plans and DH and I will be lone today after all. DD just called to say they are not feeling well and will not be coming. I am so grateful they are thinking of us and do not want to bring us germs we don’t need. We will freeze the soup I made yesterday and I believe I will get out the two frozen meals I made up of Thanksgiving’s leftovers. Turkey and all the trimmings sounds good. 😋 Who says it doesn’t pay to be prepared?

Stairs and sunny yard are trying to get a peek at the winter garden!

Momo, my Mom always said as long as a person is remembered they are not truly gone. Your DH is there in memories. And as the others said, we are there with you in thought. And Jeepers, I am also thinking of you being unable to be with your family this year. My DD, DGS, and SIL will be here for soup and sandwiches later today but they are the only ones out of over forty kids, grands, and great grands in our family we will be with. Like you Jeepers, it was more our choice than theirs because of age and infirmity but it is still Christmas. I am able to smile because I can still celebrate the reason for the season. Merry Christmas everyone.

I found this…. https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/prednisolone/how-and-when-to-take-prednisolone-tablets-and-liquid/#:~:text=How to take it,all at the same time. i wouldn’t be comfortable taking them all at once but then I react badly to most medications and in particular Prednisone. Perhaps you should see what the mg’s are per tablet. It might not be a high a dose as it sounds. Or conversely, as the hole is closing you might just wait until Tuesday to ask your doctor.

Thank you Becca Anne. My DH collects these old red trucks and smiled when he saw it. I’m wishing you and all my Mrs S family a very merry Christmas. May your day be filled with love and joy.

You would think so, wouldn’t you! Nope! Just Jeepers and I being supportive.

Squirrel.

LS has hit on a possibility. You may be feeling relief from worry. After a year of being ill, dealing with insurance companies, contractors, workmen, losses, and on and on, it could be a let down that would have anyone feeling strange. Then there is the move coming up. You will be moving from a place you have called home a long time, leaving people who you have gotten to know and who have befriended you. Your house isn’t home any more though it will be a soon as you get settled in there. Then there is Christmas coming and the whole atmosphere is filled with emotions. Add to that knowing you will be spending Christmas alone could be adding to the emotions. I know you made an informed decision on that but it still can have an effect. You know what, let the tears flow. In fact, have yourself a good cry while you are at it. You deserve to cry a little no matter what the cause. It is a great way to relieve tension and it hurts nothing.

LS, this auction was a private auction for an estate. We still have them here. What I like about these frozen deserts are there is only the natural sweet of the fruit. Frozen bananas and frozen oranges together make a creamsicle taste.

I always dehydrate the celery leaves both from what I buy and from the root ends I regrow that I don’t use fresh. I just rinse them, pat them dry, and put them on the shelves of my old small Excalibur dehydrator. They dry fairly fast and keep their color nicely with nothing on them at all. I often sauté the sliced stalks with onions and etc and freeze them in batches big enough to use in recipes. Saves me a step in a recipe or I can toss them into soups, casseroles, or the crock pot and it’s not much more work to do large batches at once. I am all into batch cooking on days when I have the energy for days when I don’t.

I bought an All American canner a couple decades ago at an auction. It was in perfect condition and in the original box and had the instruction booklet. I was buying boxes of canning jars for a dollar a box and no one bid against me. The canner and boxes of supplies were thrown in free. A call to the All American co. gave me the information that the canner was made in the late 1930’s and was perfectly safe to use. I did get a new gauge for it but the original one tested good later. I have a Mirro and a Presto too. Both old. It has only been the last few years I have not used any of them because I no longer can anything. The last thing I canned was pork in 2019 and venison and venison broth in 2020. I have not moved a canner in years. Never could move them full. I did freeze banana slices yesterday I got a good buy on them for 29 cents a pound. We use them to make ice cream in our frozen desert maker. I also froze a pumpkin mixture in ice cube trays to use with the frozen bananas and crushed ginger snap cookies to make our healthy version of pumpkin pie blizzards.