BOSTON -- The annual back-to-school stress that is almost as predictable as cooler fall weather can be as tough on parents as it is on students.

Tuesday NewsCenter 5’s Liz Brunner reported that easing the tension can be as simple as spending a couple of hours ahead of time in the kitchen.

VIDEO: Easing Back To School Stress In The Kitchen

“Mornings are crazy. And afternoons are, too,” said Suzanne McNitt, owner of Green Olive Catering in Woburn.

McNitt knows her way around a kitchen. A caterer for 13 years, she is now expecting her first child, and sharing her nesting tips with parents, who could benefit during the upcoming back-to-school chaos.

“What I have here is a combination of turkey and beef,” McNitt said. She cooked a pan full of ground meat, then packed it into small plastic containers, and stored it in the freezer. Parents who do the same would be able to defrost the meat base as needed, for quick use in any number of meals. “Tacos, sloppy Joe's, marinara sauce, lasagna, chili,” McNitt said. “Try not to leave too much air in these things because they'll get freezer burned after about six months.”

The same meat mixture can be placed into mini-loaf pans for mini meatloafs. Cook them fully at 350 degrees and then freeze.

McNitt also makes a large pot full of her favorite spaghetti sauce, then portions it out into plastic containers and freezes to be used as she likes. Once out of the freezer it can be warmed up in a pot over low heat in only about 30 minutes.

Once frozen, she said, “The nice thing is the fat rises to the top so it has really nice protection on it and it will not get freezer burned.”

She also recommends braising pork ribs or other meats, then freezing those, too. To braise pork ribs, she places them in a casserole dish, then adds broth, garlic, seasoning, water and peppercorns, then bakes at 325 degrees for two hours or more.

“They're going to fall off the bone,” she said. Then McNitt bastes the ribs with barbeque sauce and packs them in plastic bags before freezing. “I could take them out of the freezer a half hour ahead of time and I put them on a nice warm grill and they're going to be really delicious.”

If morning is the most rushed time of day for your family, prepare a large batch of pancakes then wrap them in wax or parchment paper, and freeze them. They can be pulled out individually and heated up in a toaster or microwave for a quick breakfast.

When kids get home from school, McNitt also says it’s easy to have healthy snacks ready, like fruit, prepared granola bars or applesauce cups, and trail mix full of nuts, raisins, dried cranberries with a few peanut butter or chocolate chips added for sweetness. “You can either buy trail mix in the big bags or you can make it yourself.”

Healthy drinks are easy to make, too. McNitt prepared a faux soda for parents who don’t want their children to drink real cola. She mixed cranberry juice or pink lemonade with seltzer water.

McNitt said that an average cook could stock a freezer full of easily prepared foods in about two hours.

“I like to keep it as simple as possible,” she said. “When all else fails there's always takeout.”