15 Freezer Meals- A Compilation
So, apparently I'm completely insane and thought it would be a great idea to make 15 different freezer meals in preparation for our newest addition (coming in October). Jerod seems to think I'm nesting already, I maintain I am just being realistic about the amount of housework and cooking I will be doing after the little man has popped out! Anyhoo- this took a lot of planning and researching of compatible recipes. I was thinking about a few things when I chose these:
*Is there anything in the recipe that won't freeze well?
*Is there anything in the recipe that won't defrost well?
*How much preparation is involved?
*How much work is involved besides defrosting and cooking?
After scouring my recipe board on Pinterest, my recipe binder, recipe file, and a couple of church cookbooks, I think I have found a chunk of recipes that will work and passed all my test questions with answers of: no, don't think so, not much, and barely any. Then, I had to create my grocery list, which I like to categorize by sections of the grocery store because then I'm less likely to forget something and have to trek all the way back to a section to nab it. When I can see exactly which refrigerated, frozen, canned foods, etc. that I need, I can just glance to make sure I have it and that's it! This does, obviously however, require reviewing every recipe you choose so that you don't forget any ingredients and you can think about whether you'll have an ingredient that could be used in a couple recipes to prevent waste.
My list is highlighted because I shop at different places to get better prices. Sam's club is great for creamed soups, bulk meats, and some bulk dairy products (you can get 4lb. pack of butter for $8.88 which is a steal at $2.22/lb.). I always look in HyVee's ads before shopping there, choose what deals are best that I need, and then go to WalMart and ALDI for most of my other ingredients. Bread and other meats I get at Fareway because it just tastes better! If you're thinking to yourself, "Visiting 5 grocery stores sounds so exhausting," you would be right. I'm not going to lie about that. But, if you go in organized and know exactly what you need to get from each place, it makes it SO MUCH easier. Also, I did this shopping with my almost-two-year-old daughter in tow, and we did just fine (I may have let her play an app on my phone on our last store visit!).
After shopping, this is what the Durango looked like:
Good thing this baby's still cookin' because there was no room for anyone else in the car! Once we got home I decided to sort things out by recipe and, since it was nap time, to just let Daddy take care of the munchkin and dig in to preparing some of the recipes. I should mention also, that in addition to groceries I purchased some disposable pans to freeze things in. I have used Chinet Bakeware before and I love it, but it can get pricey if you're making as many meals as I am and have to buy it all in one pop. I got mine at HyVee where it cost about $5.50 for a pack of 3 8x8 bakers with lids, I also purchased a 3 pack of ovular shaped bakers that hold about the same amount as an 8x8 for the same price. The 13x9 pans came in a 2 pack for the same price, but I needed 8 of them and couldn't justify spending over twenty bucks on disposable pans so I got aluminum ones but neglected to notice they didn't come with lids. Therefore, anything in an aluminum pan has been double wrapped in foil and stacked with sheets of cardboard in between to prevent them from squishing down onto one another.
Since I plan on doing freezer meals more often now, I think I can justify purchasing some reusable 13x9 pans with lids. I found some cheap ones at WalMart for about $4 each. Cheap enough I don't feel bad buying several, but sturdy enough they should last me a while and I won't feel bad about getting rid of them when they eventually crap out on me.
My kitchen was a disaster area when my little bubba girl finally woke up, and we were on our own since Daddy was at baseball again. She tried to be a great helper, but it was evident that my cooking time was coming to an end now that she was awake.
The meals seemed to turn out wonderfully, though. I stacked things in pans and used a box from Sam's Club to put in meals that were held in Ziploc bags to keep them mostly upright and prevent them from getting punctured. We have a HUGE deep freezer that the previous homeowner's left in the basement, so I have lots of room for these meals. I made sure to write prep instructions on the lids/foil/bags so that I wouldn't have to look up the recipes again to make the meals. I can also gift these meals to other families easily.
I have not prepped ALL of these recipes yet, but I did do all but 5, which I'm pretty stoked about! I'll get to the rest this next couple of days. Here's a list of all the recipes I'm using and, if applicable, they are linked with the website to find the recipe on.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Lasagna
Stealing some of these! Thanks for the ideas Mary! :)