For this month, we focused on 3 strategies to replace TV dinners. Not only has this been a great opportunity to reduce single-use plastics in our kitchens (and food), but it seems to have had a positive impact on the budget as well. From doing the 3 alternatives to TV dinners, there were some key takeaways that I wanted to share. In case you are just joining us today, the 3 strategies were: homemade freezer meals, shelf stable ‘meals in a jar’, and emergency 15 minute meals.
Key takeaways and tips for using the strategies
- Keep a notebook on hand for jotting down recipe ideas that will work for your bulk cooking and freezing sessions. That way, when you do your meal planning for the month you’ll already have a head start.
- Personally, I think the freezer meals and ‘meal in a jar’ strategies work best in conjunction with the 15 minute meal strategy (see my combos below).
- Dinner is where I want more variety so that’s where focus my meal planning. I just need a few go-toes for breakfast and lunch.
- Because I have a small freezer, I find it best to use the ‘meals in a jar’ to compensate for meal components. Otherwise, I prefer the ‘meals in a jar’ for lunches rather than dinners.
- The more you use these strategies the more streamlined they will become.
- My list of cookbooks and resources that were helpful for this month
Key takeaways – the 3 strategies work best when used together
I prefer having more variety for dinner and I’m able to achieve this with a combo of the 3 strategies. For example, I can make an easy 15 minute meal with a ‘meal in a jar’ soup mix and a tuna melt sandwich. Or, I could make a pita pizza instead of the sandwich. I usually include a side salad as well.
Another combo example is what’s called bangers and mash, which is basically sausage with mashed potatoes. The sausages fall into the 15 minute meal strategy because they cook quickly. Then I use either the ‘meal in the jar’ strategy by using a jar of mashed potato and veggie mix. Or, I can use the freezer meal option and reheat a mashed veggie from earlier.
It’s also more sustainable to have all 3 strategies in motion. Didn’t get to the store when you intended? Don’t worry, you still have freezer meals! Ran out of freezer meals sooner than you thought? Don’t worry, you still have ‘meals in a jar’! And thank goodness for stocking up on the ’emergency’ 15 minute meal essentials. Now you can mix and match the strategies as needed for your meal.
Another key takeaway – working with a small freezer
I probably could fit an entire months worth of meals in the freezer if I didn’t care about having variety. But since I do care about variety, I have to be strategic with my freezer space. This means figuring out what works best as a freezer meal and what can be made with shelf-stable storage foods. ‘Meals in a jar’ work really well for soups, stews, chili, and tomato sauce add-ins. So, when I come across these recipes, I think how to make them with freeze-dried foods to store in a jar in the pantry, instead of in the freezer.
I have an article about freeze-dried food if you are wanting to learn more about how it can be a good addition to the sustainable pantry.
Foods I like to freeze are things that go well on rice or pasta. Things like curry, teriyaki, chana masala, stroganoff, egg muffins, and cooked meats. I go over this topic in more depth in my freezer meal article.
The other way ‘meals in a jar’ helps save freezer space is with baking mixes. As much as I would love to do all my baking in one day and freeze everything, I just don’t have the freezer space for that. So making my own baking mixes has been the best solution. While I still have to spend the time baking something later, having everything measured out makes things go a lot quicker.
Reflections on this month’s plastic free challenge
This month, I was trying out a slightly different format for how I did the plastic-free challenges. The goal was to focus on using different strategies. I really like how this month went! I feel like the new format kept things more cohesive and more applicable.
As for the plastic free challenge itself, this has been my favorite month so far. Replacing TV dinners cut down on quite a bit of single-use plastic while also providing lots of other benefits. I still have to crunch some numbers, but I’m pretty sure I saved some money in my budget doing this challenge. Not only did I not buy any TV dinners this month, I also only had take out twice. The result of having quick, well balanced, and filling, meals already waiting at home.
Even though I don’t really like to cook, there’s still something very gratifying about having meals you made yourself. It’s like a little self-care confidence boost in every meal, which might be one of the other key takeaways from this challenge. And last but not least, because none of the replacement foods needed to be heated in a plastic container, there’s less risk of plastic chemicals leaching into your meal. That’s a definite plus!
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