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Giveaway: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals

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THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

 


You don’t have to ask me twice if I’d like to review and giveaway a cookbook with freezer meals!  Between teaching and blogging, I need all the help I can get in the kitchen!
 

About the Book

 
Time crunched parents are often overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of new back to school routines this time of year, but help may be as close as their freezers. Cheri Sicard, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Easy Freezer Meals says this common kitchen appliance can take the stress out of lunchtime preparation as well as help send families off with a hearty, hot breakfast every morning by getting the work done in advance.

Preparing homemade heat-and-eat morning fare insures families will never miss the most important meal of the day again. Pancakes, French toast, waffles, breakfast sandwiches and burritos all freeze well. Sicard’s favorite healthy freezer friendly breakfast is steel cut oatmeal which contains more healthy fiber.

The freezer can also help fill lunch boxes with tasty, healthful fare. Here are some lunchtime tips:

• Use the assembly line method to prepare a week’s worth of sandwiches. Lay out slices of bread, spread with butter, mustard, or other spreads. (Freezing the bread first makes spreading even easier.) Go down the line and add meats and cheeses, finish with top slice of bread, wrap and freeze (add delicate veggies like lettuce and tomato after removing from freezer). Packed frozen in the morning, the sandwiches will be thawed by lunchtime.

• Soups make healthy lunches. Keep individual portions in the freezer. Heat on stovetop or microwave in morning, pack in a Thermos and enjoy hot soup at lunch.

• The Thermos can also pack all kinds of other outside-the-box lunches like stir fry and pastas. Take from the freezer in the morning, heat and pack.

• Savory tarts, pies, quiches and frittatas freeze beautifully and can often be served at room temperature making for perfect lunchtime fare.

• Freeze drinks like juices to pack in lunchboxes. Not only will this help foods stay chilled, the kids will enjoy a refreshing slushy beverage with their midday meal.

About the Author:
Cheri Sicard (Los Angeles, Calif.) was the creator, editor, and publisher of FabulousFoods.com, now
owned by SheKnows.com. She has taught cooking classes for Williams-Sonoma and is the author of The Low Carb Restaurant Guide and Everyday American, and has written for The Boston Herald, Magellan, Canoe & Kayak Magazine, and The Armchair Reader, as well as TheFamilyCorner.com, iChef.com, ChefMom.com, and GardenGuides.com.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Easy Freezer Meals
ISBN: 9781615640645, April 2011, $16.95
Author: Cheri Sicard (Los Angeles, Calif.)

CHAPTERS

 

Freezing 101

Tools of the Trade

Shopping and Cooking Strategies

Cook for a Weekend, Eat for a Month

Traditional Breakfasts

Outside-the-Box Breakfasts

Appealing Appetizers

Satisfying Snacks

Let’s Do Lunch!

Soups and Stews

Meaty Mains

Poultry Pleasers

Sensational Seafood

Eat Your Vegetables!

Breads and Grains

Sauces and Accompaniments

Cakes, Cobblers, and Pies

More Delicious Desserts

*It also comes with a pantry checklist, menu-planning worksheet, and freezing timetable!

 

I tried 2 recipes from the book so far!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts (p.178)

This was easy to prepare and very tasty!

 

Barbecue-Style Pulled Pork (p. 165)

This recipe made about 8 large sandwiches!  I threw all of the ingredients in a dutch oven and cooked it slowly.  My kind of meal!

 

I look forward to trying many more recipes from this cookbook!

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals is available at Amazon.com.

Would you like to win a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to East Freezer Meals?

Here’s what you need to do to enter this giveaway!

Mandatory Entry:  What chapter (from the list above) caught your eye?  Be sure to comment below.  Don’t forget to include your email address in the designated email box in your comment.

Optional Entries (eligible after completing the mandatory entry above) You can do any or all of the following entries below for one extra entry each. The only thing you can do every day is tweet the giveaway! Please leave a separate comment (below) for each that you have done.
 
2.  Stumble this giveaway using the SU button at the top of the post.

3.  Follow me on Google Friend Connect.

4.  Subscribe to my blog via email and never miss a post!  (You’ll find it at the top of my sidebar.)

5.  Follow me on Twitter.   @JaneDoiron

6.  Tweet this giveaway using the button at the top of the post. (You can tweet once a day!)

7.  Become a fan of Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms on Facebook.

8.  Mention this giveaway on Facebook using the button at the top of the post.

9.  Follow me on Networked Blogs.

10.  Write a post about this giveaway on your blog. (Leave a link to your post.)
 
This giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 7th at 6:00 pm EST. THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! It is open to the U.S. and Canada only.  The winner will be chosen by random.org and will be contacted by email. Please respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. To be fair to everyone, the comments not meeting the requirements will be deleted. Good luck!

*I received a free copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals for the purpose of this review/giveaway.  The comments in this post are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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Comments

  1. 1

    Out of the box breakfast. While I don’t think of myself as a “dummy” when it comes to cooking I think this cookbook looks great!

    Reply
  9. 9

    I am interested in the chapter called Meaty Mains because the main dish is the most time consuming part of preparing a meal. I’d like to win the book and gain some some time saving ideas!

    Reply
  24. 24

    I am following you via GFC and twitter @yombeh
    Poultry Pleasers & Sensational Seafood caught my eye. Because i always want to freeze leftover seafood but always fails 🙁

    Reply
  46. 46

    “Cook for a weekend, eat for a month” is my pick! I am a working Mom. My husband stays at home with our children and does a fantastic job with our two-year-old and running the house. He takes care of everything from the lawn to the laundry, so I take care of meals. I enjoy cooking for my family, but would rather play with my daughter on weeknights than be in the kitchen.

    I am also an email subscriber, am a fan on Facebook, and am about to hit the share button at the top of this page!

    Reply
  47. 47

    Traditional breakfast caught my eye. My daughter is now in school so I am trying to find things that are easy to make during the week or better yet frozen then reheated. Thanks for the give away.

    Reply
  48. 48

    Cook for a weekend, Eat for a month!
    As a very busy and overwhelmed single mother, I would absolutely delight in knowing dinner each night was not such a chore. I suspect the cooking weekend could be a fun time knowing the payoffs will last an entire month and add such ease to a jam-packed schedule!

    Reply
  59. 59

    Out of the Box Breakfast- the only one who eats anything “breakfasty” is my husband, so he usually has breakfast duty. I would really love to find ideas on how to get the kids to eat breakfast!

    Reply
  74. 74

    Sensational Seafood caught my eye. We just moved to the coast and I could use some help. I also follow you on facebook!

    Reply
  83. 83

    “Cook for a weekend, eat for a month” caught my eye since I have 4 kids under age 8 and there is no time for cooking as it is. That would be a great help to me!

    Reply
  84. 84

    Cook for a Weekend, Eat for a Month … I’ve always wanted to do that but so many other things get in the way!

    Reply
  85. 85

    Let’s Do Lunch is the chapter that caught my eye. My husband and I have been in a lunch rut for a while, and I’d love to find more and more ideas to keep it fresh.

    Reply
  102. 102

    Hello! I love the idea of cook for a weekend & eat for a month! I love to cook, but working fulltime, keeping a house and raising a 15 month old does not allow me the luxury of cooking nightly. New recipes are ALWAYS welcome!

    Reply
  114. 114

    I would pick Cook for a weekend, eat for a month. Busy, busy here and need a way to keep a great meal on the table when we’re busy so much.

    Reply
  116. 116

    Out of the Box Breakfasts caught my eye but I really need the whole enchilada! As a Mom of three school age children working outside the home I could use all the help I can get.

    Reply
  127. 127

    I like the Let’s Do Lunch Chapter. I am always looking for all different kinds of lunch recipes to have on hand! I also subscribe to your emails and I “liked” you on Facebook!

    Reply
  139. 139

    As someone who would like to learn how to do freezer meals, all of the chapters would be interesting to me. I would definitely start with Freezer 101.

    Reply
  148. 148

    The freezing section and the lunch section. I’m always looking for “new” ideas for my daughters school lunch. How many times can she eat a peanut butter sandwich? And I HATE giving her “lunchables”.

    Reply
  150. 150

    I love the Soup and Stews section, fall is in the air here in Tennessee, perfect food for it. I follow you on
    Facebook, Twitter and RSS feed

    Reply
  157. 157

    I would really be interested in the Cook for a Weekend, Eat for a Month chapter. I try and freeze minimally, but would love to learn more recipes I could freeze.

    Reply
  158. 158

    Hi,

    This is Cheri the author of the book. I just wanted to say thank you for talking about the book and also it’s nice to find your blog as it’s a new one for me. I look forward to coming back often!

    Cheri Sicard

    (PS I don’t need to win a book, but ope whoever does enjoys it!).

    Reply
  165. 165

    “Meaty Mains” caught my eye first - which ways to prepare meat do well for home-frozen meals. Also curious about “outside-the-box breakfast”

    Reply
  176. 176

    Out of the box breakfasts! I do some freezer cooking for dinners, but breakfasts are a great idea. We have to be out the door by 6:45 during the school year, so I don’t usually make breakfast.

    Reply
  178. 178

    Cook for a Weekend, Eat for a Month ( I would be very intrested in this as I am about to have my 3rd Child)
    also a face book fan..

    Reply
  182. 182

    The Eat your Vegetables! chapter. I am always running into the problem of Veggies going bad before we get them all eaten. I would love to know how to freeze them to extend their lifespan! 🙂

    Reply
  189. 189

    Soups and stews really caught my eye, but all the chapters really sound interesting. I love recipes books and this would be on the top of the stack!!!

    Reply
  190. 190

    I so need this!!!! I am a mother of two, I work full time, I am a full time student and a Girl Scout leader as well. Nights are crazy!! I have always wanted to freeze meals but don’t know anything about it.

    Reply
  198. 198

    I’m very much interested in the concept of putting in a whole day cooking to store up lots of meals so the chapter, “Cook for a Weekend, Eat for a Month” really caught my interest. Of course then I’d be poring over all the other chapters planning which recipes to make!

    Reply
  203. 203

    Outside-the-Box Breakfasts and Let’s Do Lunch! caught my eye. I don’t have a lot of time to prepare breakfasts and lunches during the week and hopefully these chapters would help!

    Reply
  205. 205

    The chapter that caught my eye is Traditional Breakfasts. I never thought of freezing breakfast foods that I make each day. That would be a great time saver on hectic mornings to take a healthy, homemade frozen breakfast from my freezer & warm it up. Also would save us $ spent on fast food & unhealthy breakfasts eaten out.

    Reply
  213. 213

    Let’s Do Lunch! caught my attention since my son starts school again this week and I’m struggling to come up for lunches he’ll eat.

    Reply
  246. 246

    The Breads & Grains chapter would be interesting to me as I am trying to come up with how to do some of these and haven’t quite figured it out!

    Reply
  254. 254

    My family always wants good main dishes and “Meaty Mains” sounds like it would give you a central meal plan that you can fiddle with the sides.

    Reply
  255. 255

    “Outside-the-box breakfasts” sounds like something I would want to explore…getting the kiddos to eat in the morning is a challenge and being creative is a must.

    Reply
  256. 256

    I love any book that includes a pantry check list…makes the whole process easier and less time is spent going from pantry to store…one stop kind of thinking.

    Reply
  259. 259

    “Sensational Seafood” caught my eye. I’m the only one in my household of 5 that likes seafood, so if I can freeze individual servings for myself and satisfy my seafood addiction and give the rest of the family their “meat and potatoes” that would be fabulous.

    Also a fan on FB, love the recipes.

    Reply
  260. 260

    Tie. Shopping and cooking stratagies, Cook for a week eat for a month! Not only do I live a ways away from an actual grocery store, im the mom of 5 soon two be 6! I started making meal plans and doing big once a month shopping. Im having some trouble with getting things organized though! This would be so helpful!

    Reply
  266. 266

    Soups and Stews. I look forward to this cookbook. I’m a fan on facebook, follower on twitter. Mentioned the giveaway on facebook

    Reply
  267. 267

    I can’t choose one chapter, they all look good. If I have to choose, probably the strategy one is the most far reaching. I have been following you on FB, too.

    Reply
  271. 271

    I would love to see more about the “cook for the weekend, meals for a month”. I know there are days where it would be really helpful to have something easy.

    Reply

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