Save and Refill TV Dinner Plates

Even though the kids are grown and away from home, I figured out a way that I could save a lot of money and we could still eat the meals that we've grown to love over the years. When TV dinners were on sale, I purchased a number of them. We used these dinners when we were in a hurry rather than eating fast food.

When done, I washed and saved the "plate". Then, whenever I fix a roast, I create TV dinners with some of the leftovers and create a beef stew or a casserole with the rest. The trick to doing this is to have a variety of dinners on hand (turkey, roast beef, chicken, or even left over casserole).

My husband figures we've saved a lot of money by not having to pay for fast food. There's also the energy savings because I don't have to heat the oven every day and the A/C doesn't have to work as hard as it does when the oven is on. If I don't want to fix a meal or if we're in a hurry, all we have to do is take out a homemade TV dinner and we can eat a good balanced meal that is seasoned the way we like them.

Just because the kids aren't here now, doesn't mean that we can't eat the good meals that my husband loves all the time. For example, if I fix a large roast beef for dinner, I'll fix perhaps 4 or 6 TV dinners with sliced roast beef and then get another 4 to 6 meals from the leftover beef when I fix it as a Beef Stew or Shepherd's Pie. That saves me from having to cook a minimum of 4 additional meals. It is a little extra work, but in the long run, it's not that much extra work.

Just make sure you place the "plate" in a freezer bag and make sure it's flat in your freezer to keep everything on the "plate" and reheat in the microwave just like the TV dinners you purchased at the store.

By Bobbie from Mesa, AZ