I should also mention that my kids are crazy picky and typically say "I don't like that!" before the plate even hits the table. So, I've kind of given up on giving them what they want (since I'm not a short order cook) and just cook what seems reasonable for them to try and hope they eat more than just crackers and milk most days.
So, I've been wanting to try freezer meals for a while, but haven't ever had a deep freeze. Another blessing of our new house is that it came with one!!! And it was pathetically empty. So, I got down to business.
I really would have preferred to do this with friends, chatting while chopping and cooking, but we couldn't set a time right away that worked for many of us, and with my personality, when inspiration hits, I must run with it. Quickly. Before it's gone. Don't fear, awesome friends who are interested, we will do this together soon. I'm sort of geeked out by seeing the amount of frozen food in my house. I'm now a junky. ;)
So, many have asked how I got started, and to be honest, I have no idea if I did it the "right" way, but hey...it worked.
First, I started pinning blog sites and such on Pinterest and researching how these other women did it. After my first attempt, I cannot understand how they claim to make 50 meals in 4 hours or whatever. It took me ALL DAY and I ended up with half that. Perhaps if I'd tripled or quadrupled my meals instead of doubled, that would have done it, but I don't have the money for that. Or maybe I'm just slow.
My great friend, Keely, also let me borrow the book "Don't Panic..Dinner's in the Freezer." Several bloggers had also referenced this one, and I cannot recommend it enough! It even shows charts for each meal to triple, quadruple, etc so you don't have to figure out ingredient amounts. Hallelujah.
So, I compiled my list of what recipes I thought we might like and charted out how many meals I would need to make during this two week pay period. I always do this, taking into account that we always do pizza on Sundays and we eat at church on Wednesday nights, plus any cookouts or parties we have on the calendar. We usually eat out once or twice and Saturdays are typically 'easy' meals like breakfast for dinner or fish sticks or something gross like that. So, thankfully, that only leaves me with around 8-9 dinners to deal with.
This time, instead of just dealing with ingredients for this two week period, I doubled or tripled all the recipes, plus threw in ingredients to make my own spaghetti sauce and a couple of pies, since I had a crazy amount of apples I needed to use up, that cookbook has a recipe for Dutch Apple Pie that is to die for.
I made a master list for the grocery then set to work. I do most of my shopping at Aldi, so that was my first stop. I also got all my freezer bags there.
Meier was having a sale on chicken last week, so I got that, plus what was left over on my list there. Next stop, Dollar Tree for aluminum pans, and I was ready to go. Also, I made sure I had plenty of aluminum foil and clear plastic wrap for packaging.
On cooking day, I did just that. I packaged ingredients in bags for crockpot meals. I cooked and shredddd and chopped, and I labeled all the bags or containers with what was in it, and any instructions. I did run out of containers at the end of the day, but it's easy to flash freeze meals...just line your Pyrex dish or whatever container you will cook the meal in, put in the food, cover it and freeze it for about 45 minutes. Then pop it out of the dish, and put it in a freezer bag or double wrap it. That way, your dishes aren't being used up in the weeks between cooking day and serving day. Always double wrap containers with Saran Wrap and foil.
I also took into consideration how much we actually eat, and how bad we are with leftovers. So, for instance, instead of making one big lasagna, I divided it into three smaller containers. Boom! Three meals!
I typically spent around $175 every two weeks on my big shopping trips. Like I said earlier, that would take care of those 8-9 meals plus extras like toilet paper and whatever. This time, I only spent about $55 extra, but ended up with triple the meals! I have no idea how that happened! Definitely dividing meals up into reasonable portions made a difference.
I'm hooked. If we so choose, I could use these meals up and not have to really cook for about 6 weeks. Of course, there are things lie cooking rice and veggies for sides on those nights, but the main stuff is done!
Here are the things I made:
5 meals worth of spaghetti sauce (one serving was used in my lasagna, two will be used with the manicotti)
Three bags of taco soup
Three lasagnas
Two meals of Hawaiian chicken
Two meals of beef stew
Two meals of manicotti
Two meals of chicken parmesan pesto shells
Three meals of cheesy chicken bundles
Two Dutch Apple pies
Three meals of chicken enchiladas
Two meals of chicken/stove top casserole
Here are some links to blogs to get you started:
I have these plus more on my Pinterest board for freezer meals if you want to 'follow' that.
Hope this helps!! Have fun if you give this a try. It seems to me to be well worth the initial start up costs and the time it took to get it all done.
So, who wants to join forces with me soon and stock our freezers?!
Girlfran! I'm down next time you wanna do this! I had planned on doing it before the new baby comes, just have not got around to it! Now I'm afraid I'm out of time! Anyway, let me know next time! Much more fun with company, right?!?
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