KEY POINTS:
Parents know it as "arsenic hour". As much as we might love our children, most parents will openly admit that the worst part of the day strikes somewhere between 5 and 7pm.
It's all happiness and love when you pick your little darlings up from school or daycare. But walk through the front door and the mood disintegrates quicker than you can say: "Hmm ... now what's for dinner?"
Battle-weary parents know that waiting for a chop to fry or a potato to boil is asking too much from tired, hungry kids.
But help is no further than your freezer, says Susan Austin, author of Frost Bite: Freezer Recipes for Toddlers to Teenagers.
Austin's book is filled with recipes that can be frozen and quickly reheated.
"Parents need to realise they have this great appliance at home but most of us don not use it to its full potential," she says.
"Lots of parents use the freezer for a few basic recipes, like bolognese, but they are always surprised at how many different things can be frozen."
With recipes ranging from wontons, vegetable fritters and salmon patties to risotto, chicken stroganoff and creamy tuna bake, Austin says pulling a pre-cooked meal from the freezer is the quickest and healthiest solution for hungry mouths - no matter what age.
Austin is a working mother, with three young girls under seven.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than half of Australian mothers with children under 15 years work (61.3 per cent from the 2006 census figures).
"If you can throw together a meal that is tasty and nutritious in a couple of minutes then you've got a good chance of retaining some sanity through their early years," she says.
Before children, Austin says she had a preconceived idea that her whole family would sit down together and eat the same meal.
She laughs about the idea and says reality is a lot different.
"Young children need to be fed at 6pm," she says.
Austin says using the freezer has made her less frazzled at mealtimes.
"I can cook children's meals when it suits me, not in the middle of the six o'clock rush hour," she says.
"My husband can quickly defrost something for himself or the girls if I'm away.
"Also, it's really satisfying watching your children eating home-made food, and I feel like a better mother when I know I have cooked for them."
STAYING COOL
* Label food well.
* Don't be afraid to experiment. In researching the book, Austin threw just about everything into the freezer to see how it coped. The biggest surprises were slow-roasted tomatoes and meringues.
* Avoid freezing boiled eggs, strawberries, mayonnaise, cottage cheese and salad. Potatoes become spongy, but are OK if mashed.
* Defrost slowly. Austin suggests taking a meal out in the morning and letting it defrost in the fridge during the day.
* Never re-freeze raw meat.
- AAP
