Broccoli Beef Roll-Up

Originally uploaded by nodigio

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30747767/

“Processed food firms increasingly unable to ensure items are pathogen-free”

All the more reason to prepare your own foods from known sources. The problem with food manufacturers is that they buy food in bulk through food brokers who have combined foods from many sources. It only takes one contaminated crop from one small farm to contaminate an entire bulk order. Food manufacturers don’t want the responsibility of knowing where their food sources, and they don’t want to spend the funds to source their food purchases or to take the steps to check the food before they buy it or to decontaminate it before producing whatever products they make like pot pies, TV Dinners, or frozen entrees or sides.

Fortunately for us, making our own pot pies and frozen dinners, entrees, and sides is a lot easier than food manufacturers would have us believe. It does entail a small investment of time to make our own convenience foods, but that loss in making our own foods is more than made up in the time we save by not getting sick and by having meals we really like eating instead of ones we settle for because that’s what was available.

There’s a how-to on making pot pies in canning jars that’s very yummy and easy (http://www.instructables.com/id/Pie-in-a-Jar/). You can’t cook the pies in a microwave and obviously not on a stove-top, open flame, or up against any direct heat source, but they do quite well in a conventional or convection oven to cook. Pot pies in jars are very simple to make, simple to store, and simple to prepare.

Now, this instructable doesn’t specify clearly a few things (unless it’s been updated since I saw it). Use wide mouthed 8 ounce canning jars. A 2 crust recipe will make enough crust for 6 – 8 pies (depending on how thick you like your crust). Drier fillings work best and don’t boil over. Take the lid off before baking and place the pie on a baking sheet before putting it in the oven. Bake at 375ºF for 60 minutes – cover the edges of the pie with foil for the 1st 45 minutes and without the foil for the last 15 so you don’t burn the crust. If you bake more than 1 pie at a time, add 5 – 10 minutes’ baking time per additional pie. I tend to make thinner crusts for entrée pies than for dessert pies.

Making your own TV dinners is equally simple. You’ll need a container that can go from freezer to oven. When I don’t mind the foods mingling, I use a flat, square 2 – 4 cup container with a lid – plastic or glass. The square shape helps re-heat the meal faster in a microwave. When I use the microwave (at work), either glass or plastic works fine. At home, I prefer to use the glass containers. You can make a traditional dinner – entrée, 2 sides, a bread and a dessert – this way and freeze it all in a single container to reheat later, or you can make casseroles, soups, or stews and freeze them. You can get divided plates for making TV dinners, too and these are really nice. The round ones go through a dishwasher without warping better than the rectangular ones, but if you handwash, the rectangular ones stack better in the freezer and take up less space so you can make more of them.

If you are a single person or part of a couple, most recipes are designed for 4 people. Putting up the extra servings as TV dinners makes sense. That way you don’t have to worry about leftovers – instead, you have lunches or quick dinners ready to go. If you have a larger family, simply double or triple the meal and portion out the extras into freezer meals for later. They say that you can keep the meals in the freezer for a month, but I’ve had them do well for up to a year, the flavor and appearance don’t seem to degrade very much at all.

Meatloaf, smothered steaks, lasagna, spaghetti, chili, pot roast, pork chops (deboned), ham steaks, deboned chicken (thigh or breast), and grilled kabobs or steaks make great focal points for a TV dinner (assuming you’re omnivorous), adding your favorite veggies (mashed potatoes, au gratin veggies, green beans, mixed vegetables, peas, carrots, corn, etc.) or mac and cheese as sides. If you’re a vegetarian/vegan, substitute a protein entrée of legumes and grains and add a side or two with it. Bean loaves make great loaf or smothered “steak” type entrées.

Always label and date your freezer meals because they’ll all look the same in the freezer. Use a sharpie pen and freezer tape because other types of pens and tapes can’t hold up to freezing temperatures as well – and you want it to be readable.

When you first start making your freezer dishes, you’ll have to spend time planning and preparing them, but once you have a store of them, it gets easier because you won’t be cooking as often – perhaps only once or twice a week. The rest of your meals will be reheating your extras.

You’ll need to buy enough containers to give you at least a month’s worth of meals and I prefer to have 3 months’ worth on hand. Each time you cook, make more than you will eat and when you plate the meal, plate the extras into freezable containers. After you’re done eating, the freezer meals will be cool enough to freeze, so label and date them and put them in the freezer. . You’ll have good, inexpensive lunches for work and quick meals to eat at home on busy nights. You’ll have a variety of meals for unexpected guests, too.

For TV Dinner ideas, check out cookbooks like Emeril Lagasse’s Prime Time With Emeril, http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Time-Emeril-Americas-Favorite/dp/0060185368/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242417217&sr=1-4 , Emeril’s TV Dinners http://www.amazon.com/Emerils-TV-Dinners-Recipes-Essence/dp/0061871699/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242417217&sr=1-3 , Buxton’s Dinner is Ready http://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Ready-Meals-One-Day/dp/097877650X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242417745&sr=1-6 , Azzolini’s There’s a Chef in Your Freezer http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Chef-Your-Freezer-Mediterranean-Inspired/dp/1581126549/ref=pd_sim_b_50, and Taylor-Hough’s Frozen Assets http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Assets-Lite-Easy-Month/dp/1402218605/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242418464&sr=1-2 , which contains a section on preparing freezer meals for vegetarians.

There’s no reason to give up convenience for safety, and no reason to keep supporting a food industry that doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Food shouldn’t be a Russian Roulette game and that’s what food manufacturers are turning it into.