I need a new refrigerator.  Okay, I know I often toss the word need around carelessly, but in this case there is a need.  The large beach towel that resides in the place where the vegetable crisper once lived is an indicator of that need.  Today I found that unless you lean into the freezer door, and I mean L.E.A.N., it won’t seal.  Seals are important to freezers.  I know of what I speak.

I do need a new refrigerator.  I’ve put off this purchase because I have an option that is no longer offered — a beverage tender.  This door opens down to reveal a small area perfect for milk, juices, sodas, and when it opened it creates a shelf for pouring glasses.  Wonderful. Love it.  It’s no longer around.  

I found the PERFECT replacement for my obsolete dinosaur of a frig.  It’s the FRENCH DOOR refrigerator and in the words of Don, the appliance man, no one does it better than SAMSUNG!  I fell for her. She didn’t sport the beverage tender, but she has so much more.  No longer would I need to  stand on my head to find the lost lemon or get stuck in a deep kneebend squat cleaning out the bottom shelf. 

As beautiful as she is, she just didn’t fit into our I-just-lost-half-my-salary budget.  I could have gotten a lesser refrigerator, but my heart belongs to this Samsung dream.  I held out.

And today I learn that TwitterMoms  and Samsung are hosting a blogging sweepstakes!  I could almost hear the angels singing the Hallelujah chorus.   All I need to do is offer three tips for getting dinner ready in a flash.  Well, I can do that!  And then I need to put in a link to the sweepstakes so each of you can enter too!  But if you don’t want to, that’s okay by me.  Just go buy you a Samsung French Door Refrigerator.  (Remember, I’m earning at half capacity — not that I’m trying to play the sympathy card or anything.)

Three Tips to Getting Dinner Ready in a Flash

1.Plan and prepare ahead.  Now, this isn’t something that I excel at but on the rare occasion that I do plan ahead, it makes things so much easier.  Pre-cook and freeze your hamburger meat for spaghetti, vegetable soup, lasagna, chili, etc.    When you need a fast dinner, just pull together your ingredients and add the meat.  You can have a pot of spaghetti in 20 minutes from start to serving. 

2. Have some FAST meals to fall back on.  Have a few fast dinner options in your recipe bag o’ tricks.  It can be as simple as cooking eggs & bacon for dinner.  Who says that eggs are only for breakfast.

3. Freezer meals.  If you are a true planner, you may consider the once a month cooking.  I have friends who spend two days a month cooking — two full days, but that’s it.  They plan all their meals, prep them and put them in the freezer.  I love this idea, but I never moved from the loving the concept to the making it an actuality in my life.  Still love the concept! 

I really have more tips, but I will stop here I don’t want to overwhelm anyone and not everyone buys my ‘cereal is a great dinner option’ idea.

I will keep you posted on the Samsung French Door Refrigerator Sweepstakes — it just feels like it’s meant to be.