Taste of Home: Freezer Pleasers Cookbook [Paperback]

Taste of Home (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 29, 2009

The 325 dishes in Freezer Pleasers help today's family cooks spend less time in the kitchen, save money, and still serve homemade foods. From entrees and sides to snacks and desserts, you'll learn how to stock up the freezer so that something delicious is always on hand. This handy cookbook is divided into four easy sections: * "Now-and-Later" recipes explain how to make a double batch. Serve a casserole tonight and freeze one for later. * "Made-for-Later" dishes are those that come together easily and can be stored in the freezer for future needs. What a great way to take advantage of sales at the grocery store! * "Single Servings" are dinners and treats that are stored in single-serving portions. They're perfect for after-school snacking, late-night meals, and more. * "Creative Leftovers" help cut back on grocery bills. Store last night's extra food in the freezer, and then turn it into a fantastic new dish with the addition of a few kitchen staples. In addition, it provides: * Dozens of tips to help readers freeze foods and understand safe freezer storage practices. * Hundreds of full-color photos. * Great recipes, nearly all of which are submitted by home cooks. * The guarantee that every recipe was tested in the kitchens of Taste of Home, the world's #1 cooking magazine REVIEW

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Launched in 1993, Taste of Home is the most popular recipe magazine in the world, with nearly 4 million paid subscribers. The delectable, practical recipes-more than 75 in each issue-are family favorites contributed by Taste of Home readers. The dishes, all beautifully photographed, capture special flavors of the season and are made with ingredients that home cooks are likely to have on hand or can readily find at a local supermarket. New recipe contests are announced every issue, and readers are encouraged to send their best recipes for Taste of Home's regular features, like "A Complete Meal in a Matter of Minutes," "Cooking for One or Two," "My Mom's Best Meal," "Super Snacks & Appetizers," and "Just Desserts." The magazine's unique staff of field editors is made up of more than 1,000 experienced home cooks located in each state and Canadian province, who regularly share recipes, well-liked menus and kitchen tips. Taste of Home is published six times a year and has three sister magazines, Simple & Delicious, Cooking for 2, and Healthy Cooking. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest; Original edition (October 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898217113
• ISBN-13: 978-0898217117
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

138 of 140 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed December 31, 2009

By Karen Summers

Format:Paperback

I was looking for some make-ahead meal ideas so I can stock my freezer, but I don't usually have time to do a full-day cooking session like "Once a Month Cooking" calls for. That is why this book appealed to me. I liked the idea of the "Now and Later" section, where you make two batches of something at a time-- one to eat now, and one to freeze for later. I love Taste of Home magazine, and have always been pleased with the TOH cookbooks. I eagerly tore into the package when this one arrived, hoping to start making a list of recipes to try. I was surprised to actually be disappointed with a TOH cookbook. :( Here's my list of gripes:

1. Almost everything is very heavy-- high fat, heavy on the meat (lots of sausage, ground beef, ground pork, etc). I'm not a health-food freak by any means, but I don't cook with heavy cream, half and half, or Velveeta cheese, and I found those ingredients in many of the recipes that caught my attention. I guess fatty foods freeze better. Bummer.

2. Too many very specific pre-packaged convenience foods in the recipes. Besides the aforementioned Velveeta, there were also rather odd-ball ingredients that I don't keep around. Here are a couple of specific items called for in various recipes: 1 package (6.4 oz) lasagna dinner mix (what is that? like Hamburger Helper?? Or is it a frozen thing?); 2 packages (8.8 oz each) ready-to-serve long grain and wild rice (I've never seen this-- is it in the frozen food section? Or is it like those tuna pouches in the regular isle?); 2 packages (7.2 oz each) rice pilaf (is this a mix? is it seasoned? not seasoned? is it dry? is it already cooked?); and then every condensed soup known to man. Condensed tomato bisque, beef consomme, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, cheddar cheese, cream of onion, and cream of potato, to name a few. I have NOTHING against cream-of-whatever soup. I actually cook with it semi-regularly, but I was hoping for more pantry staples instead of prepackaged stuff in everything.

3. Many of the desserts are ice cream, which makes sense for a freezer cookbook, but some of us don't own an ice cream maker, so it's kind of a bummer when you're excited to make a recipe, only to find out you can't because you don't have an ice cream maker.

4. Many of the "sweets" that aren't ice cream were jams, spreads, and butters, which really aren't anything I can't get off of the box when I buy the pectin that is called for in the recipes.

Those are the gripes. On the positive side, it was inspiring to look through and think "Hey, if that works in the freezer, then my recipe that's almost like it will probably work too!". So pretty much what I ended up with was a list of my own recipes that I already have that I'm going to try freezing and see how it goes. And yes, I did find a handful in the book that don't require funky ingredients and look good that I'll probably try out. The Breakfast Burritos sound interesting. I've tried freezing those before with poor results, but their instructions were different and I'm looking forward to trying this one. Also a muffin mix that you store in the freezer and pull out as needed for quick muffins, and a couple of cookie doughs that you can freeze in rolls, Pillsbury style. And the Creative Leftovers section has some good ideas for preparing one mix of ingredients and using it for various things. I'll try some of those.

Anyway, it's inspiring, and has some good ideas, but not anything too exciting. I was hoping I could recommend this to my busy working mom friends, but I'll keep looking for a better one.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful and well-done make-ahead cookbook November 4, 2009

By Cilla VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Taste of Home has finally added to the arsenal of make-ahead cookbooks available. Their contribution is an attractive and well-organized volume with pictures of many of the recipes. It stands out for the special section on "single servings," for freezing dinners and treats in single serve portions, and for "creative leftovers," to help you turn leftovers into new dishes. I have almost every other make-ahead cookbook available. I like this book because it is based on double-batch cooking, where you make two dishes, eat one now, and freeze another. This works better for my family than other freezer plans that have you make multiples of dishes for freezing. I have children off to college so my needs for stocking the freezer have changed. The single serving idea works well for me because I need quick meals and snacks for kids in sports and music. The double-batch meals do depend heavily on cheese and meat, but there are a few meals that are vegetarian or could be adapted for vegeterian/vegan lifestyles(like the veggie calzones). There are several recipes for making rolls where you can freeze the dough or the rolls. For the newbie, there are a few pages with general freezing information, such as what containers to use, what foods do and do not freeze well, and how long foods last in the freezer. Many of the freezer dishes are casseroles, which lend themselves to use for pot-lucks and gifting to new moms or convalescing friends. There are drinks, appetizers, main meals, side dishes, breads, and desserts. The variety works well for planning easy entertaining, where you can make some items days ahead and have less stress on the day of the event. The focus in on comfort food, so many of the recipes are not low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar, or low-sodium--but some could be adapted to specific dietary needs, or could be used as a suggestion of a type of dish to look for and try that could fit in with your diet. The abundance of pictures makes the dishes appealing and is unique for this type of book. I have waited eagerly for this book to come out ever since I heard about it, and it didn't disappoint. This book would work for families of any size, and also for people cooking for just one or two.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best cookbook on my shelves! January 23, 2011

By A. Lyders

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have collected MANY cookbooks through the years. My goal was always to find one that I could plan on preparing at least 5 recipes from that book before I bought it. In our family, I cook multiple meals on the weekend, enjoy a meal when prepared then put leftovers in serving-size freezer containers that can be grabbed to take for lunch, or pulled out and microwaved for a meal at that time. This cookbook is amazingly great. It exceeded my initial interest in it at the store. Once I got it home and read through it, I could see that there are very few of the 300+ recipes that I don't see me fixing in time. Every one I've fixed has been good, easy and just what I expected from Taste of Home recipes. I like the fact that one can either cook a recipe exactly as given, thus have an extra meal to freeze or give to someone, or cut the recipe in half and have a meal for then. Directions are easy to follow, directions for freezing then thawing the extra dish are excellent, the comments from the contributors are helpful and the results even look like the pictures. I was so impressed and liked it so much, I've purchased 3 more to give as gifts!! This is truly the best cookbook I have!