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I remember when my parents decided to buy a stand-alone freezer. They rolled the enormous ice box into our garage, and my sister and I promptly began listing all of the ice cream flavors we wanted to stuff inside. My parents had other ideas. The new freezer was to be a savory-food-only zone—a place to stash my mom’s big batches of crawfish étouffée and gumbo, my dad’s steaks and stews. No more cramming containers into our fridge’s little drawer. It marked a new era, an Ice Age of freezer-friendly meals to pull out and thaw on busy weeknights.
Now, I don’t have space for an extra freezer in my tiny New York apartment (heck, I’m thankful my kitchen is big enough for a dishwasher), but that hasn’t stopped me from following in my parents’ footsteps. I like to make soups and sauces and trays of baked pastas whenever I have time—it sets me up for a delicious dinner whenever I need it, no cooking required.