If I am going to make a mess in my kitchen, I might as well get two meals out of it. Here is a hack I rely on: make a double batch of a recipe.

Lasagna is an easy main dish for this kitchen hack. It really doesn’t take much more time to prepare a second pan of lasagna. Bake it now to share or freeze it for later. We all have times when life is busy, and being able to pull a homemade meal out of the freezer is such a help.

When preparing a meal for the freezer, use a foil baking pan or freezer-safe baking dish. Wrap the top tightly with foil and label it so you’re not left guessing when you pull it out.

The frozen meal will need a bit more baking time, so plan for that. Or you can thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before cooking.

My husband Jim’s aunt Velma took this hack to the next level. She was known for keeping all kinds of homemade desserts in the freezer. Guests would come over, and she would casually pull out a delicious cake or other tasty treat.

This hack also comes in handy when sharing food with a family welcoming a new baby or a church member needing a hand or a neighbor recovering from surgery. Having an extra dish ready to go makes it easy to bless someone with a home-cooked meal.

Just make sure you prepare it in a disposable aluminum baking pan, which you can find for a few dollars at low-cost variety stores. That way the person you’re blessing doesn’t have to worry about returning a pan. And it’s an easy clean-up on their side too because they can simply throw it away when they’re done.

In the end, cleaning up one mess is worth the effort when it means having something ready to share on short notice. Aunt Velma certainly knew—and routinely wowed guests with her desserts!