What's for dinner when you can't cook?

I love Patricia's ideas for meal planning. Having everything on a set schedule sounds heaven sent, but what happens if YOU aren't on a set schedule? Are you doomed to eating Taco Bell 4 meals a day? My job involves having a weird schedule, hands down. I usually don't get home until 9 or 10 o'clock at night, and I'm lazy and don't wake up until I absolutely HAVE to. So what's a girl to do when she wants to eat like a normal person, but not be banging pots and pans together at midnight?

Meet your best friend:

image from: http://www.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/freezer.jpg

Unfortunately, my freezer doesn't look like that. Honestly, my freezer is stuffed full of crap, including our chest freezer downstairs. Why? And what does this have to do with being lazy?

So, think back to your post-high school days... if you were anything like me, you probably lived off microwaveable frozen foods. Because they are easy. You know what else they are? They are just foods made and then shoved in the freezer to be reheated later. You know what you can do? Make burritos and shove them in the freezer. It's just that simple. No, they probably won't last until Armageddon like Totinos pizza rolls, but they are also much tastier if made with exactly the ingredients you like.

Personally, I do this with just about everything. Especially if you live on your own, this is a great way to cook without having to quarter recipes. I usually take a day on the weekend and cook a few different types of each meal, for example, I might make breakfast burritos, scones, and pancakes for breakfast, and then a few different types of lunch/dinner meals, like a soup, lasagna, or a chicken dish. This works great for taking your lunch to work, since you just have to pop something out of the freezer and it defrosts by lunch time. It's also great if you're lazy in the morning, because you can pop a homemade waffle in the toaster just as easy as an Eggo, and it's not full of terrible junk.

So last night, I can home and got in a cooking mood and made:

vegetable lentil soup.
Soup always looks terrible, but tastes so good.

Bacon Cheddar Scones



which turned out AMAZING. I'll post the recipe tonight. It was adapted from a metric recipe, so it's definitely a guessing game...

This morning, I paired one of those puppies with some fresh eggs, one of which had the most enormous yolk.

Thanks girls.

So don't be afraid of meal planning, even if you're a crappy planner, or "don't have the time." Cook it up as you get a chance, and pop it in the freezer! It'll save you a world of worry later (and you can choose from multiple things rather than sticking to a plan!)

**UPDATE**

Here's the recipe for the bacon cheddar scones, adapted from this blog.

1 1/3c flour
2 TBSP baking powder
salt & pepper
1/3 c butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 c buttermilk
1/3 grated cheddar cheese
BACON. The recipe calls for 4 slices. I used much, MUCH more. Like 1/2 lb.

In a bowl, stir together flour,baking powder,salt/pepper,cheese and bacon. Now pour in the egg,milk,yogurt and butter. Stir until JUST incorporated. With scones,you want to mix them as little as possible to keep them nice and tender. Over mixing = hard scones which is not good. So incorporate in the wet ingredients,and then turn out onto a floured board and shape into a circle using your hands. Slice the circle into 8 wedges. Brush each wedge with milk and sprinkle pepper on top. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown on top and cooked through.
Makes 8 scones.

You might need to adjust the liquid/dry ingredients depending. I used a LOT more cheese and bacon. Just play with it. It's baking, not rocket science!