Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / The Beauty and Benefits of Freezer Cooking for Busy Moms, with Trisha Pull

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The Beauty and Benefits of Freezer Cooking for Busy Moms, with Trisha Pull · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to have Trisha Pull, leader of Homeschool with Confidence, back on the show.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Tricia has more than 12 years experience teaching at home and is currently educating her six children.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: She's used a variety of teaching approaches and believes that school customized to the individual student is one of the great strengths of homeschooling.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Tricia, welcome back.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Karen.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on today.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I always love to come and share with your listeners.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we're just so glad to have you back.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I know today you're going to talk on the topic of feeding families, specifically related to freezer cooking, and a resource that you have.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So please jump right in and share.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have a brand new resource at Homeschooling with Confidence titled Freezer Cooking and Menu Planning Made Simple.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we hope you'll stop by our website at hswithconfidence.com to check it out.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you a little taste today.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: My husband would be really proud of that pun.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: That is a good one, Tricia.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Of what's inside that resource today.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think lots of years of being married is finally rubbing off on me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to talk about five benefits of freezer cooking.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But before we get rolling too far, I want to define what freezer cooking is.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: For any of your listeners who might not be completely familiar with that term, freezer cooking refers to the practice and process of preparing meals in advance.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't mean like preparing your meal at one o'clock and eating it at six o'clock.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the practice of setting aside a day where you prepare a lot of meals and you put them in the freezer for and you store them until later you're ready to reheat them or cook them.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so now that we've defined it, let's talk about the five, I think there are probably more, but I'm gonna I'm just gonna outline five benefits of freezer cooking.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Benefit number one, it answers the four o'clock problem.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, the problem where you look up from the work you've been doing all day, whether that's chasing kids or sitting at a desk, full-time desk job, and you realize I've got no plan for dinner.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you've got food in the freezer because you've stored it there in advance from freezer cooking, then you've always got an answer to the four o'clock problem of what's for dinner.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Benefit number two, it saves money.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think it saves money in two ways.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, when I freezer cook, I buy things like meat and dairy and my spices in bulk.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when you buy in bulk, usually it's cheaper.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: But another way I think it saves our families money is that we don't end up eating out as much because we because we have no plan for dinner.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Four o'clock comes around, we have no plan for dinner, we'll just get pizza tonight.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, you say, What do I have in my freezer that could work?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth of the matter is that the meals that go in my freezer, um, if I've got one to two hours notice, which four o'clock is about two hours notice in our house, um, then I've got dinner that can be on the table at six o'clock.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Benefit number three, it blesses our community.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this again is multifaceted.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one way we bless our community is that in our house when we freezer cook, we almost always do it with people who are in our community.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we bring friends over and it's kind of fun because we can have a day together, but we're also being really productive at the same time.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so we I have had friends over the years who are cooking challenged, I'll call them.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, cooking is not their thing.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't come natural to them and they really struggle.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, another way it blesses our community is that my friends who are cooking challenged, they grow in that area and then their families are blessed with meals that they might not otherwise be able to put together themselves.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: But we've also done things like fill friends' freezers when they're gonna have a surgery or a baby, or a lot of times when I'm a part of a meal train where we're providing meals for someone who's in need, um, I take a freezer from my meal and I put, or I let me say that again.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: I take a meal from my freezer and it goes from my freezer to their freezer.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It gives them a chance to eat up some of the fresh food that others have provided and maybe to store away a meal for a day that's hard when the meal train has ended.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a there's a lot of beauty in freezer cooking as it pertains to our community.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Benefit number four.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it helps us be hospitable.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hospitality is an important discipline for the Christian, and I've noticed that freezer cooking helps me carry out this command with a little bit more ease.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: There can be a lot to deal with when we have company over.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: We have to plan the menu, we have to go grocery shopping, we have to tidy the house.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: If your house is anything like my house, it needs a lot of tidying.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And on and on the list goes.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I freezer cooked, I can simply throw in one of the meals from our freezer and I spend less time cooking.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it just makes the whole process more enjoyable and less stressful for me and my entire family.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I've learned over the years that when I make hospitality easier, it's more likely to happen.
• 5:38
  unknown: Yes.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Last benefit it gets my kids involved both on the prep day when we put all those meals in the freezer and on the days when we when we put those meals into our oven or into our crock pot.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Having them involved is really important in two ways.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: One is many hands make light work.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so they are really helpful in speeding up that process.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, freezer cooking can really be time-saving in that way.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: But the other way that it's really great that kids can be involved in this process is that it trains them for their lifetime.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: My kids are learning how to measure and how to uh prepare a meal and how to um multiply out meals, um, make those measurements multiply out.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing all these things that I think they're, I hope they'll always be preparing food.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they'll always be eating.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're gonna need these skills as they grow into adults.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so long after they sit at my table, um, freezer cooking with my kids is providing tools and skills for them when they're no longer here.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are interested now or intrigued, if you're kind of convinced you should at least check it out, I hope you'll pop over to our website at homeschooling with confidence.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's hswithconfidence.com and check out our freezer cooking and menu planning made simple resource there.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I've got today, Karen.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any last thoughts or questions as we head out?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll say I'm sold.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to check out this resource.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, I've been doing freezer meals for so long, but to actually do it yourself and to know that you know it's a healthier option as well and a less expensive option.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, those benefits sound wonderful.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sold, Trisha.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I love to hear.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, thank you for being here, Trisha.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's always a pleasure to have you.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And listeners, thank you for joining us.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to check the show notes for links to Trisha's website and to that resource.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And come back next week for another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: Have a blessed week.