Product Description

The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet is a comprehensive cooking system that teaches busy cooks the art of spending one day assembling and freezing a month's worth of delicious and nutritious entrees, side dishes and desserts. This "hands-on" manual includes time-saving worksheets, step-by-step instructions, healthy tips, money-saving ideas and practical advice. The manual also features: - 23 black and white demonstration photos - 7 easy-to-follow steps - fold-out tally sheet - benefits of cooking with a friend - choosing recipes for freezer cooking - shopping smart - assembling in quantity - freezing for great results - thorough appendix with: - equivalency charts - metric conversion charts - freezing time chart - blanching chart - list of basic cooking terms - freezer selection and maintenance - power failure procedures

The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet differs from other quantity cookbooks seen on the market. - Our system allows for choosing a different combination of recipes each cooking day. - Our system allows for incorporating personal recipe favorites. - Our recipes are multiplied out for time-saving multiple entre cooking. - Our recipes are "kid-friendly" and family approved. - Our recipes are not repeated elsewhere in the manual.

Thousands of 30 Day Gourmets LOVE this manual and attest to its sanity saving value.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #433560 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
"After struggling to fix dinner in time, two busy moms create a fool-proof system. . .Together they bulk cook enough dinner entrees for a month (during one day of marathon cooking), freeze the meals and eat them later. Their system is not only a time-saver, but saves a bundle on the food bill as well." -- Theresa Campbell, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, IN

"Not only did the two moms learn how to prepare and freeze delicious, fresh-tasting and nutritious meals for an entire month in one day, they discovered they could also save hundreds of dollars on groceries. . . So, if you are tired and out of ideas by 5 p.m., Tara and Nanci's ideas can help you 'beat the dinnertime blues' at your house." -- Morgan Halstead, At Home Mother Magazine

"The 30 Day Gourmet plan is one that is slowly gaining the interest of many busy cooks." -- Laurie Freeman, Hendricks County Flyer, Danville, IN

From the Publisher
Are you a van driving/sandwich generation/soccer Mom who feels guilty about serving corn flakes for supper but dreads the pricey (and fatty) trip to the drive-thru? Or are you a 9-to-5er/gym going/meeting attender who is tired of meals grabbed between appointments? Imagine sitting down to a home-cooked meal every night.

Impossible, you say? Not if you follow the advice of Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle. Over the past five years they have created and perfected a near fool-proof way to enjoy healthy, tasty, low-cost, home-cooked, convenient meals every day. Now anyone can do it themselves with the help of the Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy.

How does it work? Well, in a nut shell, you plan/shop/assemble/freeze/cook/serve/enjoy. Happily, Tara and Nanci walk you through the process one step at a time. Whether you are someone who loves to cook but just doesn't want tohave to do it every day (like Tara) or someone who hates to cook but wants to serve her family great tasting home cooked meals on a regular basis (like Nanci), you can become a 30 Day Gourmet in no time. The front of the manual is filled with basic information, worksheets, and checklists to help with planning, shopping, and preparation. Then there are 100+ pages of recipes that include everything from Lazy Day Lasagna to Parsley Parmesan Chicken, Citrus Marniade for Fish, Pasta with Herb Sauce, Champagne Salad, and Apple Squares. Plus there is advice on how to adapt your own favorite recipes or allow for special dietary needs.

Whether you do as the authors suggest and team up with a cooking buddy to share labor and costs - or go it alone, the recipes hold up well both in the freezer and under picky-eater scrutiny. With a stuffed potato running $1.50 for a half slice at the neighborhood grocery-deli, the Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes from The Freezer Cooking Manual is a a real value at just pennies a portion (adults and kids love 'em). A Sunday brunch quiche without the Sunday morning mess is a guaranteed palate-pleaser, too, and contains fresher ingredients at a fraction of what those "homemade" pour-a-quiche mixes cost.

All the recipes in The Freezer Cooking Manual are multiplied for easy quantity cooking so dishes can be made haead for singles, parents, families or to plan do-it-ahead parties and potlucks. All use common household ingredients. All are guaranteed to save time and money. The book also contains great tips on everything from compatibility with a "cooking friend" to food storage and shopping strategies.

So, if you want the home-cooked flavor without the daily hassles, consider trying this marathon method with the help of Tara and Nanci, who have perfected the way to make all of this not only possible but easy, too. Presented clearly - and with humor - so anyone can do it.

From the Back Cover
Nanci Slagle Hi, I'm Nanci. I HATE to cook! Before 30 Day Gourmet, I did what I call "crisis cooking" - make whatever I can with whatever I have at 5:30 p.m. and hope for the best! Sound familiar? Since Tara and I began cooking the 30 Day Gourmet way, my life has changed. Gone is the daily pressure of what to have for dinner - I know there's something in the freezer that will be quick and delicious. I have more time and money for other things - things I really LOVE to do. If I can do this, anyone can. Try 30 Day Gourmet cooking. You'll love it!

Tara Wohlenhaus Hello, I'm Tara. I LOVE to cook! I always have! But with so many interests and responsibilities, finding time to put the "ideal" meal on the table every evening was getting more and more difficult. With the 30 Day Gourmet plan, I can still feed my family nutritious and delicious food without spending all day doing it! Very little compares with the relief of knowing that even on the busiest day of the week, your family will sit down to a hot, nutritious meal. Try the 30 Day Gourmet plan. It really works!

- REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR COOKING LIFE - LOWER YOUR DINNER TIME STRESS - SAVE TIME AND MONEY - EAT HEALTHIER FOODS

This manual is the greatest thing - just fabulous! It really does simplify life's after-work worries. Deborah - Rancho Cordova, California Thanks for making a HUGE part of my life easier. You gals have saved my life. Carrie - Savage, Minnesota This system is fantastic! Your worksheets and organization are the best ever! Our whole family (even the picky eater) loves the recipes! Cyndy - West Palm Beach, Florida

Customer Reviews

This book changed the way I cook!
I bought this book a few months ago after a friend recommended it. My friend has a cooking partner and they've been cooking this way for well over a year now. My circumstances do not allow me to spend a whole day cooking meals, but I have used the ideas and recipes in the book to fit our family. Instead of spending a whole day cooking enough dinners for a month, I will make 2 or 3 meals' worth of a recipe when I do cook. I freeze what we don't eat and I've accumulated quite a good supply of meals that are in the freezer.

Tara and Nanci have developed quite a system. There are charts and worksheets that are extremely helpful. This book is not just a book of recipes that freeze well. It's chock-full of information and techniques. Also, 30daygourmet.com is their website and they have message boards (with the authors participating!) and if you own the book, you can see and print out an additional 50 recipes, set up just like the ones in the cookbook!

The ingredients are listed in quantities for one meal, then they do all the math and multiply out what you need for however many meals you want to make.

The recipes are very family-friendly and delicious. No strange ingredients that you would have trouble finding. Everything I've made from the cookbook has been WONDERFUL. I've made the Taco Rice (serve it with cornbread - yummy!), Crispy Baked Chicken, Saucy Oven Pork Chops (recipe from website), Cheeseburger Quiche (also from website), and Cheese-Stuffed Shells. I made 80 shells last time I made them and you freeze them in rigid containers and they don't stick together and to cook them, you just take out however many you need in the morning and put them in the fridge and at dinnertime, put them in a cooking dish with spaghetti sauce on the bottom (I use Ragu!) and cover with more sauce and bake. Absolutely delicious!

This is a great way to have homecooked meals without having to cook every night. I really enjoy doing it! God bless you, Nanci and Tara!

PS Nanci and Tara also do conferences where they give a demonstration of their cooking methods. I'd love to see one of those - they also have a great sense of humor! With 7 kids between them, they really know what it's like to have a chaotic dinner hour!

Cooking this way saves you time and money and gives your family great meals. I can see that this would be useful for anyone - from young singles or newly-married to families with children at home to empty nesters! You won't be disappointed with this book!

I'm saving money AND eliminating stress!!!!!
I have been cooking the 30 Day Gourmet way for two years now, and I can't even begin to express the difference it has made in my life! No more stress at 5:00; no more stress when company drops in at the last minute; no more racing around in a panic, trying to make it to the grocery store after work and then throwing something together to feed the hungry family when all I want to do is collapse in exhaustion. I now have all my dinners in the freezer, more quality time with my family in the evenings, and my dinnertime blues have disappeared! My family eats nutritious, home-cooked meals instead of fast food, and we save lots of money! My biggest problem now is deciding which of the delicious meals sitting in my freezer to make for dinner tonight.

This is truly the most organized, easy-to-follow and flexible freezer cooking system on the market. The recipes are good, home-cooking types of recipes without exotic, strange ingredients that kids won't like or that will cost you an arm and a leg to buy. I love the fact that Tara and Nanci have made it so easy for users to adapt many of their own families' favorites to the system so that those recipes can be frozen, too. You absolutely are not limited to cooking just the recipes that they provide.

One of my favorite features is the appendix in the back. There, Tara and Nanci have done an amazing job creating equivalency charts. If that graham cracker crust you're making calls for 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs and you don't know how many graham crackers it will take to make one cup of crumbs, check the equivalency charts. The answer to this and much, much more is there, taking the guesswork out of bulk cooking and eliminating the time and frustration that comes from trying to figure it out yourself.

The charts they include are glorious. They are easy to follow and easy to understand. I was amazed that something that could potentially be so complicated could be made so easy.

In addition to all of this is the wonderful support that comes from visiting their website. There is a wonderful network of other 30 Day Gourmets who consistently share recipes, cooking adventures, support, etc. It's a wonderful resource to be able to turn to the message boards and touch base with others who cook this way, ask questions, and sometimes get wonderful encouragement. Also, there is an area at this website for book owners to obtain 50 additional free recipes!

All I can say is, Thank goodness for 30 Day Gourmet! I'll never cook any other way again!!!!

Kitchen Organizing 101 - What an Inspiration!
What an inspiration this book is! Not only do the authors offer a step-by-step guide to bulk or freezer cooking, but they provide you with the tools to make it work effectively, and even encourage you to have fun while doing it. Written primarily for moms, The Freezer Cooking Manual takes the dreaded chore of planning, shopping, and cooking for your family and turns it into a working system. You know you're going to enjoy a book where the authors confess in the introduction that they are NOT superhuman , but are "fellow strugglers". And you thought you were all alone!

This is not another cookbook, although it does include simple to prepare foods. More importantly, it is full of checklists, food storage tips, recipe worksheets, shopping lists, meal inventory checklists, freeze time chart, and numerous other reusable forms for you to simply your life.

Well organized and streamlined, I recommend using The Freezer Cooking Manual to get and stay organized in the kitchen. I got so inspired that I'm going to try bulk cooking again, and can't wait to see how much spare time I will have in the weeks to come with my family, friends, and myself.