Along the captain obvious lines, on weekends I make huge batches of stews, soups, braises, and casseroles. Then we portion it out into square Ziplock containers and label/date it. We have a 24 cu ft freezer in our basement that holds all our leftovers. On week nights, we rummage through the stacks and decide what we are in the mood for, (Mexican, Italian, comfort food,etc), pull the container, loosen the top and let it spin in the microwave. If you use small enough containers, you can even eat out of them.
This process does not work well with meat that has been grilled or baked. The microwave turns it into inedible rubber. But that is where sous vide fills that gap. So we can now cook a bunch of steaks, chicken, or fish, and then portion it out in vacuum bags and then reheat in a water bath. Sometimes we will sear it ,sometimes not. But we still save time during the week by eating out of the freezer.
Above all, you can save money by buying stuff on sale, cook it, portion it, and eat it later. Sometimes much later...as in last friday's dinner -chicken soup from 12/2009. You just have to do a better job of rotating the stock.
