Freezer cooking and I go way back. My sister first introduced it to me when my kids were very young and I was dealing with some health problems. In many ways freezing cooking saved me during those years, or at least they helped me survive and still feed my family well.
When I felt well I would cook, and when I had bad days and was not up to cooking, I would have plenty of food in the freezer. This allowed me to serve my family healthy, home cooked meals on days I would not have been able to.
Having meals in the freezer, made up ahead, also allowed me to help others in ways I would not have been able to. I almost always had a meal in the freezer that I could give to someone in need of one.
There were many days that I was too sick, I was actually the one probably needing a meal, but pulling one out of the freeze took no work at all and gave me the ability to help others when I otherwise would not have been able to.
I can easily say I love freezer cooking and still keep some meals in the freezer for those crazy days.
I will say though that my freezer cooking days were 1990’s style. They were good and my family enjoyed them, but some of the recipes scream 1996, just keeping it real.
My friend Jessica from Life As Mom though has written a cookbook full of make ahead and freezer friendly meals that fit life in 2012. If you have never tried freezer cooking, or are looking for new freezer cooking inspiration, Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook
is the book for you.
These recipes are free of canned cream of whatever soup. They include a lot of fresh ingredients and ideas for add ons at serving time.
There is even a gluten free list and a meatless chapter. As the title says, these are not your mother’s freezer recipes. This is freezer food updated for our busy schedules, but keeping with the theme of healthy type food.
And I love the cooking plans that Jessica shares in the book. The plans allow you to focus on the time you have. Freezer cooking does not have to take all day. Jessica shows you how to do it with just a few hours here and there.
There are about 200 recipes in this cookbook, so there are plenty of recipes and ideas that your family will love. Jessica has six kids ranging from young kids to teenagers, so she knows about feeding and pleasing everyone in the family. This book has recipes your whole family will enjoy.
And the good news is that I have one copy of Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook to giveaway to one of you.
To enter all you have to do is leave me a comment.
- Giveaway ends Tuesday September 18, 2012 at 6 pm.
- One entry per person
- For more information about my giveaways please see my giveaway policy.
- If you are reading this by email you must click through to this post to leave a comment. Replying to this email does not count as an entry.
Giveaway ended. Dineen won: I would love to have a freezer cooking resource that doesn’t fall back on canned soups and has gluten free options.
I’d love to try freezer cooking…this cookbook looks really great!
Always enjoy reading her blog and can use some updated freezer recipes for my family!
I am looking forward to this book! I hope I win!
Thanks for the giveaway! I need some inspiration and this book looks great!
I would love to win!
I would love to have some new freezer recipes to add to my bank of recipes. Thanks for the chance.
I would love to win this cookbook since my cooking needs some inspiration! This sounds perfect! Thank you for telling us about the book and thank you for a chance to win.
I’ve just recently discovered freezer cooking and need some new recipes. This book would be so helpful.
I’d love to do more freezer cooking – this would be great.
Great giveaway! I’ve dabbled some in freezer cooking but am hoping to get a lot more in the freezer before Baby #2 arrives this fall.
As a fan of both your recipes and Jessica’s, I’ve been looking forward to this publication. It would be a delight to win. Thanks!
Please enter me in your giveaway! Your picture of the meatballs make me want a bite.
I would love to win
This cookbook sounds fantastic! I love that it includes mostly fresh ingredients. Thank you for the chance to win!
The cover picture alone looks yummy!
I have long been a fan of Lynn and Jessica for you practical delicious advice; I would live to win!
This book looks great!
I would love to win! The book sounds great.
This looks great!!
What a great time-saver for busy families! Thank you for your website and the giveaway!
I do some freezer cooking but would like to do more, this cookbook would help that. Thanx for the chance to win !
My mother did this when I was a child and I continued the tradition when our family totaled 5. It made meal time so much easier. Still continue to prepare freezer meals now with just the 3 of the family!
I am getting a new stand up freezer next week and i am sooo very excited and would love to win this book to start on the freezer cooking venture.
I would love to win!
Would really like to win this book!
Thanks
This sounds like just the cookbook I need. I would love to prepare meals on the weekend and have quick good meals for the week.
I would love to have this as a resource! Thanks for the giveaway.
I haven’t frozen many meals but would love some good recipes to do so.
This would be perfect! I work nights and my fiancé never knows what to do for dinner, unless I have something made ahead of time or in the crock pot. It would make my life much easier!!!
Would LOVE this! 🙂
I would love to win this cookbook! Thanks for the opportunity!
Ooo, ooo, ooo…pick me, pick me! It sounds like a great book and I am really excited. Thank you for introducing me to make ahead breakfasts, Lynn. It has saved me from being Mean Mom in the mornings and the guilt I feel when I plop a bowl of cold cereal in front of my bebes before school! I love your pb & j baked oatmeal. Keep ’em coming!
As a busy mom like all of us this would be very helpful!
Love your blog!! Great ideas, thanks for sharing.
Am new to freezer cooking and just went back to work full time. In the past I have worked at the schools my kids were attending, and now I work until 5. This cookbook would be just the thing I need to get started! Thanks!
Enjoy reading about your family and trying your recipes. I use my freezer a lot and this would give me many new ideas for making meals ahead of time. Hope to win!
I’m a big fan of Jessica’s sites and would love to win her cookbook.
I’m excited about this book – I’d love to have a copy.
I would love to win this book! I subscribe to Life As Mom and have been anticipating this cookbook!
Sure hope I win!
Would love to win this – need help getting ahead with cooking for my family!
Thanx for the chance to win…
This is just the cookbook I’ve been looking for!
Would love to win this! Definitely could use some new recipes!
I’ve not done freezer cooking but would love to try using a cookbook that uses fresh food!
I am 62 years young and freezer cooking saved my college education. When I was in college, single mother with 4 kids freezer meals kept them fed well. After college as I worked crazy nursing hours to feed those kids, freezer meals kept them healthy. Now I live by myself, but with freezer meals, I always have time to live my retired life, help out the kids with meals when they need it and take meals to those in need. I have done it so long it is hard for me to cook anything without doubling it! Would love to have the new cookbook.
There is just the two of us now, so every time I make a casserole or such, I have to freeze the rest. Freezing food is now a way of life for us. I would love to win a copy of the book.
This cookbook sounds so wonderful!!
Thank you for the giveaway. . . I always love trying new recipes and having a “bank” of meals in the freezer sounds great!
Would love to win!!
Wow finally, a cookbook for our generation, it’s nice to visit the past but I am so ready for something new. Thanks for sharing all that you do and find with us.
I would love to win!
I am looking forward to this book!
I’m very interested in exploring the idea of freezer cooking & this book sounds like the perfect inspiration to get started. I hope I win!!
Would love to win this book! anything to make a busy schedule easier!
Would love to get this as I have been wanting to start incorporating freezer cooking!
This looks wonderful! I been so enjoying your e-mail updates for quite a while now and have recommended it to several of my friends and family who love it as well!
I love the cook and freeze method, been doing it for years, but these recipes look amazing!!!
Can’t wait to try it!!!!
This sounds like just what I have been hunting for. I’ve repinned so many freezer meal plans on Pinterest that I have a seprate board. The problem is I don’t ever go back and print them out and do it. Having the book along with the plans in it will surely help.
This is brilliant! I could really use a cookbook like this one.
I have a two year old and a three year old. I need this book! 🙂
I can’t wait to check this book out!!
Can’t wait to get my hands on this cookbook!
This would be awesome to win!
I have always been interested in Freezer Meals but have never tried them. I’d love to get started with this book!
I am new into the world of freezing meals. So far, not so good. This cookbook sounds like something that I really need. Thanks for the giveaway! Happy Weekend..
Thanks for giving away what looks to be an awesome cookbook. Would love to try the recipes!
Just had my third boy under 3…heading back to work in two weeks…will be doing more freezing over the next several months. Would love this book…it never occurred to me before now that my “cream of…” recipes were outdated…I guess they are!!
I definitely need to change things up in my household. I would love to win this cookbook. With a suddenly picky 13 year old, I’m willing to try anything.
I so want to win a copy of the cookbook! Awesome giveaway!
I’m always looking for new recipes that freeze well – this looks like a great book! Thank you for a chance to win!
Would love to have a cookbook of freezer meals!!!
Love to see a recipe list that is homemade! Health for our family! Love this post!
It is so nice to have something in the freezer for dinner. I love to cook, but there are days when that just cannot happen. The fresh ingredients as opposed to a can of cream of something also sounds very good.
With my family being so busy these days, I could use a cookbook like this to ensure I’m still feeding them well with limited time! 🙂
Having a large family, and home educating to boot, I need more free time. ;-). I would love this book!
I would love to have this freezer cookbook. I’m a busy mom and need some new ideas!
Yay!
Thanks for the giveaway!
This book sounds wonderful. I love freezer cooking. I started a new job last year, which threw my cooking out the window. I have been trying to get started back again. This book maybe the boost I need to get going again.
Would love to win such a wonderful cookbook!
I have always been interested in freezer cooking and I never thought to look for a cookbook about it. This is such a great giveaway, thank you for the opportunity to win!
Oh, I NEED this book!!! – Thank you for the opportunity. Love your blog!
I always love trying new freezer recipes. Thanks for the chance to win this!
ooooooh, yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmy! and what an incredible blessing. have to admit, the title intrigues me. when I read about your health issues, (and I am sorry you had them) … it spoke to me. I can feed my family well, AND not feel up to cooking. at last, a book for me!
thank-you for this give-away.
z
I would love to win this cookbook! Always having a meal on hand to share would be great.
I have stayed away from most freezer recipes because of the processed foods added. I am glad I have learned of this cookbook!
It’s hard to find a good casserole that does not use cream soup and for someone with high blood pressure cream soups are a no,no.
I’m always looking for ways to save time at dinner time. I also love new recipes.
I’d love to try freezer cooking. I do freeze the extra waffles that I make but I’m not sure that qualifies as real “freezer cooking” 😉
Wow, meals that don’t contain cream-of-something soup….just what I need. I live overseas and can mostly only use fresh ingredients…nothing canned or boxed so I’d love to have some new, healthy recipes with ingredients I can find!
P.S. Just in case it is a question, I am a U.S. resident with a US address…just currently traveling long-term but will be back 🙂 And could totally use the kindle version!
I have been working to be able to do more freezer cooking and this would certainly go a long way toward that goal.
Just what I NEED!! 🙂
This looks like a great book. I’d love to win it!
Would love to win this cookbook. I want to start freezing more for the fall and winter.
I would love to have this cook book! Since I have several chronic pain illnesses, there are many nights when I would love to pull a dinner out of the freezer and heat it up. Where to start, though?
Oh, and to complicate things further, I need to eat gluten-free and dairy-free.
Thank you for the opportunity to enter this contest!
Blessings,
~Anna
This sounds like a great cookbook. It’s nice she included a gf section. Thank you for the giveaway.
I keep wanting to try freezer cooking but it seems like all the recipes are the unhealthy variety and/or covered in mystery sauces my family wouldn’t like. This cookbook sounds great!
This cookbook sounds like a winner!! Glad that it is not full of recipes with canned soups. We avoid them at all costs!
I would love to try this cookbook!
Oh, my! What a great resource to have. I’d love to get my hands on this helpful item!
I would love to get this one!! Freezing meals is such a life saver for those busy sport nights!