Easy, make-ahead meals your family will love using a mix and match system where you make batches of ingredients and then easily and quickly combine them into the meals you want when you want them.Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch will save readers time and money by teaching them how to prepare large batches of different staples to quickly combine into a variety of meals in no time. The book offers batch cooking for beef, chicken, pork, beans and rice. Plus you can batch cook however you like, whether that's on the stovetop, in the oven, in the slow cooker or in the broiler. Each cooking technique comes with incredible recipes such as Mongolian Beef Lettuce Wraps, Chicken Alfredo Skillet with Spring Vegetables, Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Artichoke and Spinach Rice Bake. By batch cooking, readers can prepare multiple family-friendly meals at once, ultimately saving time and money. Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch sets out to redefine "fast food," offer speedy food prep techniques, share money saving shopping strategies and food storage tips and help readers pull it all together by learning to develop meal plans. Preparing meals ahead of time means you don't have to spend precious hours of everyday working in the kitchen-a big feat for those of us cooking for our families.

The immensely popular blogger behind Little House Living provides a timeless and “heartwarming guide to modern homesteading” (BookPage) that will inspire you to live your life simply and frugally—perfect for fans of The Pioneer Woman and The Hands-On Home. Shortly after getting married, Merissa Alink and her husband found themselves with nothing in their pantry but a package of spaghetti and some breadcrumbs. Their life had seemingly hit rock bottom, and it was only after a touching act of charity that they were able to get back on their feet again. Inspired by this gesture of kindness as well as the beloved Little House on the Prairie books, Merissa was determined to live an entirely made-from-scratch life, and as a result, she rescued her household budget—saving thousands of dollars a year. Now, she reveals the powerful and moving lessons she’s learned after years of homesteading, homemaking, and cooking from scratch. Filled with charm, practical advice, and gorgeous full-color photographs, Merissa shares everything from tips on budgeting to natural, easy-to-make recipes for taco seasoning mix, sunscreen, lemon poppy hand scrub, furniture polish, and much more. Inviting and charming, Little House Living is the epitome of heartland warmth and prairie inspiration.

An impressive collection of 500 recipes at your fingertips! Make the recipe all at once, if you have time; or, use the accompanying suggestions on what parts are best to make ahead separately if you’re short on time that day. Every recipe has been tested thoroughly on what’s best to make when, and how to store it, to give your results a just-made flavor. Included in this compendium of new recipes are a few fan favorites that have been thoroughly re-tested and adjusted for the best results if you need to make a component in advance. You'll find classic, international and modern flavors with recipes such as Breakfast Strata, Mini Chicken Empanadas, Olive Oil-Sea Salt Pita Chips, Chickpea Cakes, Cauliflower Gratin, Stuffed Eggplant, Mexican Lasagna with Turkey, Tequila-Lime Turkey Chili, Moroccan Chicken Salad, Beef Tamale Pie, Smoked Salmon and Leek Tarts, Blueberry Streusel Bars, Maple Pecan Pie, Flourless Chocolate Cake and Bourbon Whipped Cream. In addition you’ll find information basics for refrigerator and freezer storage, how to freeze egg yolks and egg whites properly, and the ultimate guide to storage containers – all to help give you the best tasting results!

Our mothers—and grandmothers—put up food in the freezer to economize on time and money. In a recessionary environment and in a world of dual-job families, there’s even more reason to do so today. But we don’t have the same tastes as our moms. We eat a wider range of foods, drawing on a variety of ethnic and global cuisines, we include more produce and grains in our diets, and we use fewer processed and fatty foods. Jessica Fisher’s Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook is the perfect guide for economical home cooks with any or all of these new tastes in foods that take well to freezing. Competing books on freezing sell strongly and steadily. Typically, they are based on a very specific plan—cooking for a family of four for a month ahead in an afternoon of work in the kitchen, for example. They offer orderly plans with decent, if largely unimaginative, food. Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook offers two advantages over these books. First, Fisher lays out lots of easy-to-follow guidelines for diverse families with varying needs and desires, taking into account how long you want to spend in the kitchen—there are 2-hour, 4-hour, and daylong plans—as well as how far out ahead you want to cook for, the size of your household, the size of your freezer, your budget, and even your taste for one-dish meals versus multi-course meals. The emphasis is on facilitating flexibility without sacrificing clarity and ease-of-use. Second, Fisher’s 200 recipes deliver flavorful and healthy food in abundance. She takes readers beyond mom’s beef-pork-chicken triumvirate, with lots of ideas for lamb, fish, shellfish, and vegetarian main courses. There are homey and family-friendly dishes, like Cheddar Cheese Soup with Zucchini, Broccoli, and Carrots, or Crumb-Topped Cod Fillets, fancy dishes for company, like Seasoned Steak with Gorgonzola Herb Butter, and lots of globally inspired creations like Salsa Verde Beef, Red Lentil Dahl, and Hoisin-Glazed Salmon. While the emphasis is on dinner, there are breakfast and brunch recipes, too, and plenty of ideas for breads, quick breads, and desserts that freeze well. Ample sidebars address such matters as finding good freezer bags and containers, labeling frozen food, whether to invest in a new freezer, and how to thaw safely. The author’s story—cooking for a family of eight, including six home-schooled children under ten, and serving as the creator and writer of the popular blogs Life as Mom and Good Cheap Eats—fits the topic and the book perfectly. Fisher is a woman who knows all about budgeting time and money efficiently, at the same time serving up delicious food with warmth, love, and an appreciation for the pleasures of the table.

"Seriously Good Freezer Meals provides home cooks with the tools they need to make delectable, healthy meals using fresh and flavoursome ingredients, with information on shopping, cooking, freezing, thawing and everything in between. This unique compilation of 150+ family- and freezer-friendly recipes, made without processed foods, will help busy families save time and money while still enjoying home-cooked meals. The book provides an all-encompassing look at cooking freezer meals: getting organized, making lists, shopping strategies, nutritional information, making a lot of freezer meals in one day, freezer organization, freezer meal swaps, thawing and more. It also offers a mini starter programme for beginners, an intermediate programme and, for more advanced cooks, a guide to making 50 freezer meals in a day. Within the beautifully photographed full-colour pages you will discover recipes for every meal of the day and for every occasion."--

Cook the best, most nutritious food for your family and save time and money with this mega-delicious guide to preparing meals you can fix-and-freeze now and enjoy any night of your crazy-busy week!

FAMILY FREEZER MEALS is the ultimate cookbook to help you and your family eat healthy all year long. The book is packed with freezer cooker basics, best assembly methods, and the motivation to make freezer meals a staple in your life. With family-friendly recipes such as Cool Ranch Shredded Tacos, BBQ Maple Ribs, and Lentil Sloppy Joes, this book shows you how to stock your freezer with slow cooker meals that extend beyond slow cooker soups and stews. Plus, you'll get more for your money, less stress, and precious time back that you can spend with your family. Kelly is the wife, mother of five, and slow cooker addict behind Family Freezer Meals. She is committed to sharing healthy, simple, and budget-friendly recipes through the website's blog and freezer eCookbooks. Besides cooking and eating, Kelly loves spending time with her family, reading fiction, and running outside.