THE CHILLER WAS A THRILLER

I get some of my best cooking ideas by perusing the freezer section of the grocery stores.

This week, I was on a scavenger hunt searching for my free digital coupon promotion item. It was in the frozen food section of the store.

I don’t often purchase prepared frozen meals. On this trip, I was having difficulty finding the free item. I looked at every shelf of every freezer case. It was time well spent.

One “find” on my scavenger hunt is a new product by Progresso Foods. It is a line of frozen foods called “Create-A-Meal”.

Progresso offers several varieties of sauces such as lemon garlic, traditional tomato, a sweet and sour and a few more. Sauces were on the top shelf.

Moving down a shelf, there were Progresso packages of frozen rice and frozen pasta.

Continuing down the shelves there was a shelf dedicated to frozen vegetables by Progresso.

Next down, there was the protein shelf, which contained mostly precooked chicken of various spices and flavors.

On sale, each package is $1.99. The marketing idea is to “grab and go”, take what you would like to create dinner. You can use one item from each shelf or mix it up. There were countless ways to create a different meal every night for the family.

I did eventually find my free digital coupon item. What I also found was that with some preparation at home and using my own freezer, I too can “Create-A-Meal” at a fraction of the cost.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Pre-cook rice and penne pasta and store in individual or family size plastic Ziploc bags in the freezer. When preparing a chicken dinner, save a breast or two for the freezer. Shred some carrots, save in the freezer.

A lemon garlic sauce is as easy to make as adding cloves of crushed garlic to warm olive oil in a sauté pan; squeeze the juice of one lemon and a dab of real butter. Now add some chicken stock. You have assembled your own “Create-A-Meal”, ready at your disposal for a fraction of the price. You will be thrilled with your savings

                                      ISLAND CHICKEN FOR TWO

                              WITH THE ADDITION OF TWO TENDERS

                                            

 

ORIGINAL SERVING FOR ONE