Save the Celery

Any time I see a prepared veggie tray marked down to half price at the grocery--the kind that's all veggies, because we don't use the dip anyway--I buy it. Nearly 2 1/2 pounds of fresh produce are washed and ready to eat (or cook) and delivered to my fridge for under $5.

I picked one up this week. Pip ate the peppers, and I enjoyed the snap peas. The tomatoes went into salads. I cooked the broccoli as a side for one meal and I tossed the carrots into the slow cooker with another meal. And then there was celery.

Sometimes Pip likes to snack on raw celery, but this wasn't one of those weeks. Chris and I usually don't choose it, either. Rather than watch it wilt in my fridge, though, I went ahead and chopped it up.

I put it into an zip top bag and tossed it into the freezer. And now it's prepped and ready for the next time I make soup. I won't even thaw it out; I'll just throw it right in.

Ready ingredients can make meal preparation easier and less daunting. What items do you like to prep in advance?