Giving the family a nutritious and tasty meal when time is short is difficult for most homemakers. Avoid this problem by following the directions for preparing meals ahead given in this section. One of my recent visitors asked me a question. She asked whether or not to use freshly purchased meat or frozen meat? A question that I am sure many others have asked themselves!! I am grateful to her for asking the question, it was one that I had not considered when doing this section. The answer is FRESH! Although frozen meat may be a little cheaper, you want the freshest you can get for the maximum flavor. You probably have noticed that when you purchase frozen meat, the package usually states not to refreeze once thawed. And in this case, that is what you would be doing - refreezing. So, please always try to use fresh meat when preparing your Make-Ahead meals.

As the name suggests, Make-Ahead Menus must be planned in advance so the preparation can be done ahead. Freezer cooking is a lifesaver, and as far as I am concerned, one of the smartest things that you can do.

This can be accomplished in several ways:

Take 1 or 2 days to cook and enjoy your meals for weeks. Doing it this way, you would usually cook several different kinds of meat and about 2 to 6 weeks worth of meals. This should be based on the size of your freezer, as to whether to cook in advance for a week, two weeks, etc.

Simply double or triple a recipe that you make during the week. Eat one and freeze the others.

The one that I usually do is with a certain type of meat. It's nice this way when you catch a sale on the meat you are using, or are getting low on one type of food. Doing this in several sessions, is easier for someone with a busy schedule to get a start on this method of food preparation. For myself, I do a BIG SESSION over a 3 to 4 day period of one meat at a time. Then fill in with the smaller ones as I need to replace them.

There are a few simple procedures to follow and this will become simple:

• Plan your menu or make a list of meals that you plan to cook.
• Get your recipes together.
• Make your grocery list
• Do your shopping - but NEVER on a cooking day!

• Do the prep work and precooking...easiest if done the night before.

Cooking Day - I usually do this on weekends when my schedule is not so hectic. I normally do this on Friday evening, and begin cooking early Saturday morning. During the summer months I change this schedule, as we spend most of our weekends camping and on fun weekend trips. Cooking this way, makes it a lot easier when getting ready for camping or picnics. Mostly everything is already prepared and in the freezer.