There are times that everyone loves a convenient meal. Whether you want a quick dinner for the family between work, school and the children’s games or if you need something that you can heat for lunch in the break room microwave oven, a gourmet frozen meal can be a tasty time saver.

There may be times when you have no choice but to grab a frozen meal from the grocery store, but many times, you have another option. If you have a chance, make your own frozen meals.

One advantage of making your own meals is that you get to know what is going into the food. You can choose to leave out ingredients that are not your family’s favorite or increase the spice a little here or there. In addition you are in control of the salt shaker and the sugar that is added to your food.

While many people just prepare the meals they know their family likes to eat, others like to experiment. If you are tired of the same old family favorites, here are some ideas that freeze well. Vegetable soup, beef stew, chicken curry, corn chowder or broccoli beef.

Pasta and rice do not do well in many of the freezer recipes. The double cooking of the meal tends to over cook these starches. If you are using recipes with these ingredients, freeze the sauces and cook the starch separately. A rice cooker is a quick easy way to cook rice and fresh pasta cooks in boiling water in only three minutes. You can find fresh pasta in the deli section of most grocery stores.

If you want to stock your freezer with gourmet meals, just start cooking two or three times your normal size meal. Remove excess food to the refrigerator as soon as the food finishes cooking so that you are not tempted to over eat and the quality of the food is preserved.

Another way to stock the freezer is to have a couple of days per month that are set aside for shopping or cooking. Shop the first day and cook the second. In a short amount of time, you can prepare several meals that have been doubled or tripled and fill the freezer.

While there are many containers that will work in the freezer, one of the best is a vacuum sealer. Choose the sealer that has a heat seal to preserve the quality of your food. These bags will stand up to microwaving or boiling in a pot of water.

If all of this sounds like a lot of effort, take heart! There are actually renowned chefs who prepare frozen gourmet meals.

Don’t count on your local grocer to carry truly wonderful food that you can love. Instead, take a look online for a high quality gourmet foods delivered to your door, frozen and ready to heat, serve and enjoy.