Chesterfield, MO — Dinnertime during the school year can be...
"Kinda crazy," a mom commented
Another mom said, "Mayhem, yes."
Which is what inspired Polly Conner and Rachel Tiemeyer to write a cookbook called From "Freezer to Table."
Polly said, "Dinnertime is hard on families. Around that 5 o'clock hour, the toddlers are cranky. Elementary kids have activities. There's not a lot of time to make a good meal."
The book features 75 meals that hold up well in the freezer.
She said, "Freezer cooking can get a bad wrap sometimes. People think its boring, beige, or mushy. In reality, freezer cooking can have a lot of texture and flavor and taste if you do it the right way with the right recipes."
Before the book, Polly was throwing freezer cooking parties.
She said, "It's like Christmas, you come home with a freezer full of food."
It's an easy way to stock up on delicious meals and have fun while doing it.
Polly said, "The parties started out of necessity. I was a new mom, totally floundering as a new mom. One of the hardest parts is getting food on the table. Once I realized freezer cooking is an answer to that for me, I found more ways to do it."
The cookbook spells out how to plan a freezer cooking party, down to the email you send to your friends. She suggests six people and one host to coordinate the party.
She said, "There's usually one coordinator to a freezer party and you pick 6 recipes. That way you have a variety. Because if everyone were to come with their own idea, you might end up with 6 chicken recipes."
Each person brings ingredients for the recipe the coordinator picked out for them- times 6.
She said, "So then at the party everyone makes their recipe 6 times."
A party takes about an hour, depending how prepped everyone is.
She said, "If you're just gonna chat a lot and drink wine and have snacks while you do it, you can make it last as long as you want."
And at the end, everyone goes homes with 6 different meals.
Then if you're really serious, you can start a freezer club, where you simply exchange freezer meals once a month with friends.
Polly said, "It is a time saving, stress minimizing lifestyle."
From Freezer to Table is available at all major book sellers. Visit fromfreezertotable.com for more information. You can also check out their blog, thrivinghomeblog.com.Their next cookbook, From Freezer to Cooker, will come out in fall of 2019. That one features recipes for the slow cooker or Instant Pot as well as freezing instructions for every recipe.
