Propping Open Your Freezer Bag

A common technique that you'll often see in Lazy Day Gourmet freezer prep instructions is this: Prop open a 1 Gallon freezer bag. If you are not familiar with Once a Month Cooking or with making meals ahead, you may have never propped open a freezer bag as part of a recipe's instructions before. 

Most of the recipes that you will find on Lazy Day Gourmet are also known as "Dump" Recipes or "Dump" Cooking. This style of cooking gets its name from the fact that most of the time you are propping open  a freezer bag and dumping ingredients directly into the bag, and using the bag as both your main way of mixing your ingredients as well as your freezer storage solution.

I personally don't think there is anything "Dumpy" about any of these recipes. So, I do prefer the terms Lazy Day Gourmet Cooking, Once a Month Cooking, Once a Week Cooking, Freezer Cooking, Freezer Meals, or Make Ahead Meals.   But to each his own. If you want to Dump, then DUMP!

Now, back to the freezer bag propping. Propping a freezer bag open, and getting it to stand upright on the counter while you fill it up can be a little tricky. So, in order to make it easier, place the freezer bag inside of a mixing bowl and then prop it open.  And if you want to double your recipe and make two yummy make ahead meals for the freezer at once-- prop two freezer bags open in the same mixing bowl! Now that's Lazy Day Gourmet!

Comments

[Kelly]

I went to a meal assembly place once and they had a great idea for keeping your bags open to dump stuff in. They took those really large cans (that you can get lots of things in, like ketchup or a huge can of green beans, etc.) They had you put the bag (empty) into the can and then fold over the sides (the zipper part) so that the bag was standing up inside of the can. This holds the bag open, makes it easy to dump things in, and then the zipper part of the bag is clean for easy sealing!