Pre-Bake Prep

• Assemble the mushrooms prior to refrigerating. Remove the stems from the mushrooms with a sharp knife. Chop up the stems and saute with the sausage until well browned. Add a handful of bread crumbs and your preferred seasonings, flavoring the sausage mixture to your liking. Lightly butter the mushroom caps and set them in a baking pan, bottoms up. Add a tablespoon of the sausage mixture to the opening of each mushroom cap.

Cover and Chill

• Once the sausage-stuffed mushrooms are assembled in the baking pan, they keep for 24 hours in a refrigerator set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and below. Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator. When it comes time to bake, remove the plastic wrap and slide the baking pan into a 375 F pre-heated oven -- uncovered -- and cook until the top of the sausage stuffing is golden brown.

Freezing Alternative

• If baking the sausage-stuffed mushrooms within 24 hours is not an option, consider freezing. Evenly space the prepared mushrooms on a shallow baking pan. Cover the mushrooms and baking pan with a tight wrapping of plastic wrap. Overwrap the plastic wrap with a layer of aluminum foil and slide the baking tray into the freezer. Unbaked sausage-stuffed mushrooms keep for up to two weeks in a freezer set to zero F or below.

Freezer to Oven

• If you opt to freeze the make-ahead sausage-stuffed mushrooms, there is no need for thawing prior to baking. Simply remove the plastic wrap and aluminum foil from the baking pan and put it into the pre-heated oven. Baking the stuffed mushrooms from their frozen state adds about seven to 10 minutes to the baking process. If it usually takes 25 minutes for the sausage mix to brown, it will likely take 45 minutes -- give or take.