The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy (Paperback)

by Nanci Slagle (Author)
Key Phrases: nutritional info, lean meat, freezing directions, Day Gourmet, Dietary Fiber, Other Carbohydrates (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Beginners and experienced freezer cooks alike love this book!
Mary Purpura, Family Fun Magazine

The 30 Day Gourmet system gets a meal factory going in the kitchen! A great idea whose time has come.
Karen Smith, Amarillo Daily News

A must-have cookbook. Our library copies are literally worn out. This book is extremely popular!
Diana Lehr, Librarian, Plainfield, Indiana

My name is Heather and I purchased your 3rd or 4th 30 Day Gourmet Freezer Cooking Manual several years ago. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for continuing to have an updated website and a member's only section. I STILL use my handy-dandy password to log in and look at recipes and revised recipes. I have used your recipes over and over to keep my freezer stocked with healthy foods. I am always excited when I have a free moment to check the website to see what's new. As a mother of 3 ( a nine year old and six year old twins), your cooking methods have been a God-send for me! Even though I'm back to work now (full-time), I use my free time (ha!) on weekends to keep your fantastic meal ideas going into my freezer. Thank you so much for your dedication and customer service! --
Heather

Thanks for writing a book for freezer cooking that really works, I researched a lot and most programs require you follow their list and set menu, at least in the beginning. That would not work for us. My picky eaters have loved all the recipes we have tried so far, especially the Frozen peanut butter bars and the Cheddar Broccoli Soup! I love the no stress nights at dinner time! Thanks again:) --Candace

Try inviting another working mom to cook with you one weekend. The benefits outstrip the effort, proponents say. Not only do moms avoid the drive-through window, but they don't have to think about what's for dinner. It's waiting for them at home, says Nanci Slagle of Indianapolis, author of The Freezer Cooking Manual. --Working Mother Magazine

You wouldn't be tempted to order takeout if there were a hearty chicken stew or lasagna in your freezer, ready for the microwave. So set aside one Sunday per month for a marathon cooking session with a friend. Split the cost of the groceries and crank out 14 freezer meals for your families. Check out The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet. --Good Housekeeping Magazine

Product Description
Best of the freezer cookbooks! This comprehensive cooking system teaches busy cooks how to fill their freezers with nutritious and great tasting foods! Spend a few hours or spend a whole day.

This hands-on manual includes time-saving worksheets, step-by-step instructions, healthy tips, money-saving ideas and practical advice. Nutritional information and member access to hundreds of additional online recipes included.

The manual also features: demonstration photos
easy-to-follow steps
worksheets
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

Why choose 30 Day Gourmet?
we have a website and will answer your questions
we TEACH you how to be a great freezer cook. We don't just give you recipes and hope that you can figure the rest out.
Our cookbook is a manual. It teaches you how to freezer cook and it provides the tools that are necessary for you to do it any way you wish. Our worksheets (available free online with a book purchase) help you do all of the calculating. We also give you instruction in how to incorporate your own recipes into the system.
Our recipes are always multiplied out in the same way. We have saved you a bunch of time and headaches by doing this work for you. It helps you make multiples in an efficient way. Our recipes also are based on 6 servings per entree. It's hard to plan your cooking when some recipes have 4 servings and some have 12.
30 Day Gourmet gives you great help along with tons more recipes on our website. Our message boards offer help, stories, recipes and the expert advice of hundreds of seasoned freezer cooks.
The 30 Day Gourmet yahoo group is now #3 in the Cooking and Recipes groups with over 11,600 members. Join for free and we will send you a newsletter every month filled with tips, info and more freezer recipes.

Still not sure?

Read what our cooks have to say:
My friend and I are having a great time with this. Our husbands are proud of us and our kids aren't hungry anymore. We're not running through the drive-thru or making a meal out of soccer field food. Thank you for inspiring us! It's well worth it and we're hooked.
busy mom from Missouri
The best part about 30 Day Gourmet cooking is how much my husband brags about our full freezer to all of our friends. As a working mom, this has been a godsend. My kids love the recipes.
teacher from Iowa >BR>Although we are a small family, I was glad to see that is not a problem because your system isn't just geared to "large" families. This is a true FAMILY cookbook. Thank you for easy to follow instructions and ingredients I can pronounce.
dual career family from New York
Just awesome! I'm a whole new person come 6 pm.
home school mom from Florida
My 18 year old son and I made several meals for him to put in single serving sizes and take to his college apartment. He finds this to be a quick and easy way to have home-cooked meals.
working mom from Ohio
This cookbook is the best money I have ever invested!
frugal family from Washington
I recently compared my budget from a before 30 Day Gourmet year to an after 30 Day Gourmet year. What a surprise! I had cut our grocery spending by almost $1000!!! Thanks for the wonderful book!
computer analyst from California

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: 30 Day Gourmet Press; 5th edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966446747
• ISBN-13: 978-0966446746
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,842 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 193 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed the way I cook!, June 14, 2000

By	Soozie4Him (Chicago suburbs) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy (Paperback)

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!

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm saving money AND eliminating stress!!!!!, August 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy (Paperback)

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!!!!

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kitchen Organizing 101 - What an Inspiration!, January 24, 2000

By	D. Williams "Host of By the Book Radio" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy (Paperback)

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.