Too funny, Jessica! That is one great swap package! I gave my mini fp to my sister and have been missing it since! It's on my Christmas wish list though. I've never seen those scrubbie thingies and think I might have to research them as they look pretty functional! That meat tenderizer is something else! Nice job Cathy!

I'm the Queen when it comes to cooking this way. The trick is to think about what you're going to do with it, and do the prep from the grocery store to the fridge/freezer. For example, I often pound chicken breasts flat and freeze them, so when I forget to take something out, these will actually thaw out by the time I need them. Whenever you throw something on the grill, throw something else on as well, and freeze it to use later. I almost always have cooked hot dogs, turkey burgers, chicken or beef in my freezer ready to put in some kind of casserole. I preprep my veggies ahead for the whole week. Last week when I made a Broccoli & Beef stir fry, those were already cleaned and cut, which helped the process immensely. Cleaning vegetables is like mopping the floor to me, so dealing with them all at one time when my energy is high is a huge help for me. For pizza: Sausage is pre-browned and frozen in packages for two pizzas (One sausage link will cover two for us.) Veggies are pre-cut, and my sauce is already made from the pizza I made last week. The one thing I could do that would help to cut down the time is to pre-cut my parchment pizza rounds. Whenever I make a casserole, I make two. It doesn't take much longer to make an extra when you're making one anyway, and I ''bank'' the casserole in the freezer for those days I don't feel like cooking. I'll take a bag of potatoes and make twice-baked potatoes from the whole thing. I add broccoli (and sometimes bacon) along with cooked onions, and stuff to make the potatoes creamy, sometimes with a little peppercorn dressing, topped with cheese. Those potatoes are a complete meal for us, and So Delicious! When I make soup, I always freeze half for later. A quart jar is a perfect size to put the leftovers into. I often make tomato/meat sauce for lasagna and freeze it for later. Sometimes I'll boil ground beef to cook it (if you're looking to get rid of the fat) and put it in the freezer, ready to use for a meat sauce. And often, it's the extra pan of lasagna that's frozen, which I need to cook. Once it's cooked, I'll freeze slices of it, so it only need to be nuked. Whichever way, it's always delicious. When I make cookies, I roll them into balls and freeze them so I can make them when the urge strikes. There's nothing better than a warm cookie. I always have a loaf of garlic bread, sliced and in foil, ready to go in the freezer. One of my favorite appetizers is a Broccoli Ball made with stuffing mix and parmesan cheese. I always freeze a double batch, so I can take how however many I need and bake them. (I often pair these with barbequed meatballs which I prepare the same way.) I try to freeze packages flat, so they thaw in less time. I'll go ahead and slice some things when I get them home from the store, before I prepackage them for the freezer. Freezing things in ice cube trays, then repackaging them for meals really does help matters. Right now I have little blocks of chili sauce to pair with kosher beef hot dogs. Forgive me, please; I think I got a little carried away!

One 3rd yard sale food saver. ALL worked just fine! First one... sealing gasket was a bit shot. Washing/drying well and turning over gave it a little longer life. Second on is a real bare bones model and I have NO complaints about it. BUT last weekend hit the mother lode at 2 years sales. At LEAST $60 worth of bags, including a package of maybe 30-40 8" bags and a box of 4 rolls, both UNOPENED! AND a food saver that is a serious upgrade from what I had... tho seems to be discontinued. Spent a whopping $10 for everything. FS has an attachment that vac seals lids onto wide mouth mason jars. NOT for canning, but great for things like rice, beans & small pasta. Have found a messa their cannisters, but more often than not, they lose their seal?? I'm cooking for one & always lookiing for bargains in the meat/chicken area. A regular sized package of ground beef or boneless chicken breasts is just TOO much for me to cook for just me. I repackage, vac seal and freeze. A portion for 1-2 servings only takes about 20-30 minutes in room temp water to go from rock hard to ready to cook. A few times a year, my freezer get to avalanche stage & needs a reorganization. I NEVER find freezer burned stuff buried at the bottom any more.

This one has the marinade and the recipe for the shrimp. Spicy Buffalo Grilled Shrimp Can be made into kabobs also 3Tbs Hooters wing sauce (hot) 1Tbs Vinegar white 1Tbs Frenchs mustard 1tsp jar type minced Garlic 1 sprig finely chopped fresh parsley 1Tbs wishbone carb options olive oil vinaigrette dressing A sprinkle of lemon pepper (to taste) 1lb fresh peeled and deviened shrimp (nice big ones) 1carton fresh mushrooms cleaned *Optional ingredients if making kabobs Chunks of zucchini, onion, yellow squash, small whole tomatoes (cherry) Or veggies of your choice. Mix the first 7 ingredients in a big zip lock bag. Mix it up well. Add the shrimp and coat well in the bag. Put in fridge for 1/2 hour. Then add mushrooms and other veggies to the bag and mix up well. Put in fridge for additional 15 mins or so. If doing kabobs skewer ingredients out of the bag If grilling only shrimp and mushrooms put in grilling basket or some type of grilling pan. Put on grill and baste occasionally with remaining marinade. Cook until shrimp are pink and done and veggies are tender. About 20-25 minutes depending on size of shrimp. If doing kabobs turn during cooking. Basket cooking stir or shake during cooking. This can be done in a large wok style no stick pan on the stovetop also if grilling is not an option. Just saute and cook till shrimp are done and veggies are tender. Or put the kabobs on a broiler pan in the oven set at 350 turning during cooking till done. Serve over a plate of fresh baby spinach leaves with a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles. (If desired) Serves about 4 or 2 real hungry Cajuns!