So many of us experience such a scarcity of time in our daily lives. We feel stressed out, and although there might be several soothing hobbies or activities we may turn to at these crunched moments, rarely will that soothing hobby be cooking. In fact, it will often be anything but.

Yet this doesn't mean that we don't want good food. We just want it to appear for us out of the blue. We want a Foody Godmother.

So we stop off at the gourmet deli department of our neighborhood grocery store (because they all have such departments nowadays) and spend too much money for too small a portion of something that almost tastes good, but doesn't quite and isn't exactly what we want to eat. And it leaves us yearning for some truly homemade food. What I'm here to remind you is: a) cooking is possible, and b) it can even become a soothing hobby that you totally enjoy and relax with.

As I said last month (and keep repeating because it's so important) if you develop just a few habits, good home-cooking can become a reality in your lives on a regular basis. So let's continue to build that list of good habits to cultivate, adding to what we started last month.

You can greatly increase the likelihood that you will actually cook (and enjoy it) by preparing the following items and storing them in your freezer:

Minced garlic and ginger. Prepare several tablespoons of each at a time and wrap tightly in plastic wrap in a little log shape. Whenever you need some, just take it out and slice off the desired amount.

Chopped onions, cooked beans, fresh berries, pitted cherries, sliced peaches or apricots, grated cheeses, and parboiled vegetables. Spread them out on a tray and freeze until solid. Then transfer to a sealable plastic bag, and return to the freezer. This way the pieces will stay separate, so you can use as much or as little as you want at a time without having to defrost a whole clump.

Pie crust. All rolled out and in the pan, or still in a ball. Either way, wrap airtight in plastic. No need to defrost the crust before assembling that spontaneous quiche!

Bread and pizza dough. Let them defrost during the day while you're at work. Shape and bake when you come home.

Biscuit or cookie dough. Make a log shape; wrap tightly in plastic. Then you can "slice n' bake."

Most chilis, vegetable soups, and soups made from legumes (split pea, lentil, etc.) freeze beautifully. Make a big batch on the weekend and freeze in several smaller containers. Take it out of the freezer before you go to work and it will be defrosted and ready to heat n' eat when you get home.

Check back next month for additional Freezer Inspiration, here on the Monthly Messages page. I'll be going into more detail and will include some recipes. See you then.