Freezer Cooking: The Discord and the Cupboard

This week has been busy crazy. Jeff’s job interview on Monday went well and we went through a lot this week to prepare for a potential short-term and part-time relocation so he could work in another state and the kids and I travel back and forth between the two cities. We found out Thursday afternoon that he didn’t get the job. I’m very disappointed because despite the challenges it presented, it also presented some advantages that I believe we would have thoroughly enjoyed. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up, but it’s hard not to when something that you feel would be an adventure and a tremendous opportunity is dangled in front of you.

My kitchen is in complete disarray. We went ahead with building the cabinet in case he would be leaving town for that job. You can’t see the counters. Plus we tackled some other needed projects around the kitchen, yard and house. The only things added to my freezer this week were some cooked quinoa, lentils and navy beans. I started all three sprouting last week in anticipation of a recipe testing session but the sudden crazies meant I had little time to cook. I cooked them once they were done sprouting and popped them into the freezer until I could have the mental space to decide what to do with them.

Somehow I managed to avoid us eating anything out of the freezer this week except a few of the chicken and veggie nuggets. I’m still not sure how that happened. So everything stays the same. I wouldn’t have had room for it anyway, thanks to the myriad of paint brushes and rollers (and ice packs) that lived in my freezer on and off through the week. We’re both tired and sore.

All work and no play has made Jeff and Jeffrina a dull married couple this week. We need a break and a little sleep this weekend before we dive headlong in the new Menu Mailer launch scheduled for January 30th.

Here’s hoping next week will be better. Onward and upward, better days are ahead. I must convince myself of that.

Here’s a pic of the new shelf. It goes almost to the ceiling. The top row holds pints, three deep. The next rows hold quarts, also three deep. Then there’s three rows of half-gallons, two deep- we’ll move out the canisters, I just sat them there to clear my stove so I could cook. The bottom holds jugs and a gallon of raw honey. Then there’s a special shelf designed to hold boxes of ziplock bags and parchment paper plus a carton of our fresh eggs.

None of those jars are in their final resting place, I just had to clear some space to cook so we sat them up there. I still can’t see my counters, but we’ll get to that next. I am doing my meal prep work on the dining room table for now. This weekend, I’ll drag out the little bags in my pantry holding spices, clear my baking center out of a cabinet, pull out my ziplock bags that keep my herbs and assemble it all. We will label the shelves to help the kids to remember where to put everything. My daughter is convinced everything in the house needs a label, so I’m hoping that will encourage her to help keep it organized.

We went ahead and painted it light-blue to match the colors we’ve picked out for the remodel.  This weekend I’ll putty in the nail holes on the trim and give it a final coat of paint. I’m thrilled with this shelf as it solves a lot of my kitchen storage problems. Now, if we can just get to that remodel…

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