I was lucky enough to be included in a retreat this past weekend with a handful of amazing women from my church.

If you have never been on a road trip or retreat with a group of people who are ordinarily responsible for their own families or other small groups, I highly recommend that you start planning one immediately.

You know who loads the dishwasher on a trip like that? Everybody.

You know who cooks the meals on a trip like that? Everybody.

You know who helps straighten the living room before checkout? Who cleans out the fridge? Who checks the showers for forgotten bottles of shampoo?

You’ve got it. Everybody.

It’s such a joy to be part of a group where everyone is looking out for everyone else.

It was also a joy to be part of a group of women of varying ages.

Age-wise, I was in the middle of the pack, with several women a decade or so older than I am. A couple were my age. And a few of them were young, so young that they were single or had children still in diapers.

Listening to these sweet young women reminded me that I’ve developed a few hacks over the past two decades to help ensure that dinner gets on the table at night, every night, even when I really, really don’t want to cook.

The secret, my friends, is the freezer.

These days, I can store tons of food in my chest freezers.

Yes, that’s deep freezers, plural. We keep tomatoes frozen for several months until the weather grows cool enough to cook them and can them.

And, of course, we bought a freezer to house the beef we bought in Arkansas.

However, I spent many years of early motherhood using only the freezer that came with my refrigerator.

I didn’t have the resources to buy a freezer, much less the space to keep one.

So I learned how to keep a few tricks up my sleeve – that is, a few foods in the freezer – using a modest amount of space.

This week’s food column isn’t a recipe in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s a loose guide for anyone who has limited freezer space but wants to use it to keep themselves out of the drive-thru on a Tuesday night when the baby is sick or someone has to work late or a game ran long.

I freeze all of these proteins in quart-sized zippered plastic bags. Freezing it flat saves space and allows for a quick defrost.

What’s in the bag? Precooked ham chunks.

I purchase a whole, bone-in ham after holidays like Christmas and Easter. I have purchased spiral-sliced types before, but whole hams are cheaper and actually taste better for this. I slice off the outer layer, dice it, and fry it up as one would fry bacon. I cut the rest off the bone and toss the bone into a slow cooker with dried beans.

Then I cut the ham into bite-sized pieces. For my family of five, I fill a quart-sized bag with ham cubes. The average ham usually gives me about five bags full.

How do you use it? Add them to a baked potato or a pile of mashed potatoes. Serve them mixed into or next to macaroni and cheese. Toss them in an omelet. Add them to a pile of lettuce, cheese, and dressing and call it a chef’s salad.

What’s in the bag? Ground beef crumbles seasoned with taco seasoning.

I cook up five to six pounds of ground beef at once, adding a little water to the pan when I add the beef; adding water early on causes the beef to crumble into very small pieces, which I prefer. I drain the fat and add seasonings plus a little more water. Then I separate the cooked beef into bags, placing about two cups of cooked beef in each bag.

How do you use it? Heat the meat through directly from the freezer in a covered saucepan set over low heat.

Put it in a hard taco shell or a flour tortilla with your favorite toppings. Or make loaded sheet pan nachos with a bag of tortilla chips, the taco meat, and cheese or cheese dip. Add cool toppings like tomato and lettuce after you heat the nachos through in the oven.

What’s in the bag? Shredded pork.

I buy Boston butts when they are on sale. I rub them down with a smoked salt or regular salt plus a bit of liquid smoke and cook them in an electric roaster or slow cooker on low heat all day. When the pork is easily shreddable, I separate it into quart-sized bags, add a little cooking liquid to protect from freezer burn, and freeze.

How do you use it? Like the cooked beef, heat it through directly from the freezer in a covered pan over low heat.

Add barbeque sauce and serve it on buns for a sandwich. Or make it into a Cuban panini: place the pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, and pickle slices between slices of bread and cook as you would a grilled cheese sandwich. Or make loaded barbeque nachos using tortilla chips, cheese sauce, sauced pork, and any other toppings you like, such as corn or black beans.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.

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