Make-Ahead Family Dinners For The New Year

This may give you a few more ideas: http://food52.com/blog/2836-freezing-your-way-to-more-home-cooked-meals. Meatballs, meatloaf and baked pastas are all very freezable!

This thread -- read all the comments! -- may be of help, too: http://food52.com/blog/9482-our-guide-to-freezer-friendly-foods I'll add more suggestions here when time permits within the next few days . . . . ;o)

What fun to discover lots of folks cooking in advance. I did that for years about sixty some years ago and our family of four ate well every night. I made three weeks of meals every third Saturday and loved it.

I have a one-two-three-four rubric for my weekend cooking. After planning on Thursday (including an inventory update from the freezer) and shopping on Friday, I cook, generally during a focused, well-orchestrated 2 hour block of time, with a 30 minute block later, for straining/cooling/putting away: 1 braise, 2 stocks, 2 soups, 4 vegetables (at least, which may include roasting, or doing partial cooking/advance prep, etc. I try to wash and dry all vegetables for which it's appropriate as soon as I buy them. Sometimes simple prep happens at the same time.) I typically shape, let rise and bake a loaf of bread -- or start the dough, depending on my schedule -- during the 2-hour intensive. Double batches are the rule rather than the exception, whenever appropriate; one batch goes into the freezer. Weeknight meals are fun and relatively stress-free to prepare when you approach it this way. ;o)

Thanks! It is great to see how other people attack this! I am devoting some time to reading the recommended threads before doing my meal planning this week.