Once you’ve decided that you want to start “freezer cooking,” you’re probably wondering where to start. First, you’ll need to sit down and choose the month’s worth of recipes. You don’t need 30 different recipes though–10 should be enough to keep the variety while keeping the complications to a minimum. You’ll only have to repeat a recipe 3 times during the month, and chances are you do that anyway if you already cook at home and have certain family “favorites” that find their way into the menu at least once a week.

There are certain things that don’t freeze well, though, so you might want to reconsider recipes that include pasta, potatoes, mayonnaise, flour, or cornstarch. Pasta and potatoes get mushy when frozen, while mayo, flour, and cornstarch will separate and develop a strange texture. You can also modify the recipe so you can add these items during your final cooking process, if you wish.

Choose your recipes based on that week’s grocery store sale items, as well as things that have a lot of common ingredients, to speed up your cooking process. Once you have your recipes selected, make a list of necessary ingredients, and go to your pantry to find what you already have. Cross off what’s on hand, and go to the store and buy the rest.

Once you have all of your ingredients, you’re ready to start cooking. Set aside a day that you can spend several hours in the kitchen, focusing on meal assembly. (Seem like a lot to ask? Think of those 29 nights off you’re about to get!)  If you need a lot of browned ground beef, brown it all at once to save time and keep from dirtying too many pans. Chop all of your vegetables at once and put them into bowls so they’re handy for the assembly process. Don’t cook things like casseroles and stews before you freeze them, though, or they won’t turn out as tasty as you might be expecting.

Assembling the recipes is the next step. You may need to buy some extra freezer and oven safe casserole dishes to make your freezer cooking process easier. Buy the same dish, so they’ll stack neatly in the freezer. After recipes are assembled, label them clearly with the name of the dish and the date it was frozen, and don’t forget to “rotate” your freezer inventory to reduce waste. First in, first out.

Now, you have a whole month of meals in the freezer for your family. All you have to do is defrost, and pop them in the oven, skillet, or pot, and dinner is done.