A couple months ago, our large freezer out in the garage was discovered to have been partially open on a really warm day (probably courtesy of a certain 2 year old, but it's our fault for not buying a freezer with a lock or putting a bungee cord around the damn thing or something) so we lost all of the food we'd had stored in there. This was quite a blow, because I tend to cook in big batches and freeze things for later preparation. For instance, when I make meatloaf, I'll make a quadruple-sized batch, then take the other three uncooked servings, put them in Foodsaver bags, press them flat into slabs (so that they'll thaw really quickly) and vacuum seal them. I have a number of soups that freeze very well, particularly my broccoli cheese soup, and I make a truly badass spaghetti sauce that works really well in lasagna or on top of any pasta you can dream of.
Anyhoo, we lost a whole bunch of stuff. I was pissed. I've managed to restock most of the meats, but we have no soups, no spaghetti sauce, no meatloaf, nothing. Which means I'm SOL when we have a day where I don't want to or don't have time to put a great deal of effort into dinner prep.
So this weekend, the plan is to head to Costco and get a whole bunch of the ingredients I'll need in bulk and early next week before the weather gets warm again, do big batches of some soups and sauce and whatnot. Last time I made meatloaf, Tristan was thrilled to help me chop the red and green bell peppers and onions and garlic in the food processor, so I'm sure I will have a very eager helper underfoot unless I can convince Mr. Ambrya to get him out of the house.