joy = things that work well

What makes me joyful? Things that work well, which is why I love Shannon’s Works-For-Me-Wednesday. Today, small portioned casseroles work for me.

I finally have a menu for the rest of the month (first time I’ve made a full menu since baby was born), and it includes a lot of casseroles.  My goal is to make 3 casseroles every time I make one and keep the extras in the freezer for future weeks.  Additionally, we really don’t like reheated left-overs, which is hard when there are only two of us eating a whole casserole (baby isn’t quite there yet).

So here’s what works for me… I make casseroles in loaf pans.  One casserole fills 2-3 loaf pans, depending on the recipe.  It’s a 1 qt dish, so if the casserole would normally be in a 2qt pan, I just use two of mine.  Each of my pans makes one dinner (and sometimes a left-over lunch portion for hubs) for us, with no left-overs to reheat.  When I cook one, it’s the first time it has been cooked.  Today, I made three Sausage and Potato Dinner casseroles.  I cooked and ate one of them, and we have five more dinners in the freezers, plus five more lunches for hubs.

This also works great if you have an unknown amount of people eating on different days…just take out the number of pans from the freezer that you will need that night.  I’ve been able to accommodate unexpected guests by just taking out an extra pan to defrost that afternoon.  I feel like I can always say, “no problem…there is plenty of food for more; come on over.”

I especially like these glass pans by Anchor Hocking.  They are hold just over a quart, come with a rubber lid, and are less than $4 at Wal-Mart. I still wrap them in foil to include cooking instructions, and just to provide another layer of air-tightness.

Be sure you write the name of the dish, the date you made it, and cooking instructions on every single dish.

Works for me!