Next I went on the hunt for recipes........
Katie over at Happy Money Saver has some ideas I borrowed
Chicken pot pie (2)Honey glazed pork chops
Lasagna
The ladies over at six sisters stuff had
Homemade chicken nuggets (these were good, but quite labor intensive)
Poppy seed chicken casserole (I omitted the poppy seeds. My kids aren't going to eat anything with black dots in it)
Easy cheeseburger casserole
Ricotta stuffed shells
Baked ziti
The mom over at moms budget has a plethora of useful stuff! There's so many recipes to chose from. I could link to a bunch of stuff but you can just go check it out for yourself. She also has these freezer meal list so you can keep track of what you have and what you've used. (This will be useful. Trust me.)
Can't forget queen Martha
She, of course, has all her shit all figured out. I hate to have to love her, but I do.
I used a few of my own recipes too. P.S. I'm not good at measuring, temperature for oven or length of cooking time. I always just kind of guess. So sorry, you're on your own with that part.
Pulled pork
Just throw a pork roast in a crock pot with a packet of french onion soup mix and a can Pepsi, Coke or Dr. Pepper with a little water as needed. Cook for 6-8 hrs or until meat pulls apart easily. Add BBQ sauce to taste. Eat some now and let the rest cool and place in freezer bag.
Enchiladas
Cook how ever much ground beef you want depending on much you want to make and mix with enough canned enchilada sauce to coat the meat. Toss in a handful of cheddar cheese and mix. Fill and roll tortillas and place in foil pan. An 8x8 pan holds 4 tortillas. Cover with foil and freeze. When you're ready to cook them, pour another can of enchilada sauce on top. When half way cooked, top with cheese and finish cooking.
Breakfast burritos
Put scrambled eggs, cooked sausage (whatever form you want), and cheese in tortilla and fold in half. I then put 2 in a foil pie pan, cover and freeze.
Breakfast burritos |
Chicken nuggets |
Chicken nuggets in freezer bag |
Chicken sans-poppyseed casserole and chicken pot pies |
Lasagna - Cheeseburger casserole - Baked ziti |
Some people tout this as something that can be done in one day. For me this was not a one day deal. I shopped one day, cooked the stuff made with ground beef one day and chicken the next. It helped to cook up a bunch of ground beef and chicken and set up an assembly line system. I also froze 1 lb bags of cooked ground beef and some chicken breasts as well as chopped peppers and onions. So if I come across a recipe that I want to make that day I have some basics on hand already prepped. Mom's budget also has some great marinades and sauces that you can make up and put in a freezer bag and add chicken or pork chops for an instant meal!
I bought the foil and foil pans at Dollar Tree. Best deal around for this stuff. One thing I learned is that the 8x8 pans are ideal for my family. I could either use one 9x13 and have leftovers (which never get eaten). Or two 8x8's and get two meals out of it. I ended up with about 38 dinners. 2 meals from each of the 16 recipes + the chicken tetrazzini and meatloaf each made 3. I figure we probably won't have freezer meals every night. We'll grill out and I'm sure the kids will still want pizza , macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets from time to time so this should last us at least 6 weeks.
So far it's been really freeing, although I do kinda dread my next marathon cooking session. I've considered looking into calling the Schwann's man. I'm not there yet but I may think differently after I repeat the process. But for now I'm kicking back and enjoying the less stressful afternoons!
Messy kitchen |
We look like we're stocked up, ready for the big bang |
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