So I have come to a scary realization over the last few days that in the not so distant future I am pretty sure that I will be more of a taxi driver than a stay at home mom :) With school activities, church activities, cub scouts, maybe girl scouts, sports teams, music lessons, etc etc and all of my kids will be coming into those years at pretty much the same time I am pretty sure that lots of things will change around here. As I thought about that I decided that I need to start making some changes now to our daily routines in order to not sacrifice the really important things - i.e. a home cooked family dinner! I love love love love love to cook - I cook when I am sad, happy, excited, nervous, anxious - you name it and I will find a reason to cook for it. I love to take care of people with food so I have embarked on a new mission of 'freezer cooking'. The basic idea is that you make your meal plan and then you take 1 or 2 days to make as much of it as can be done ahead of time and essentially pull something out of the freezer in the morning and it is all ready to throw in the oven at dinner time. This does require a lot of effort from me up front since I plan/shop for 2 weeks of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts at a time, but I am determined :) Over the last 48 hours I have made/prepped for the freezer:
- Chocolate chip cookie dough
- cranberry oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough
- 1 tater tot casserole
- 2 quiches
- 2 family servings of sloppy joes
- 1 family serving rice pilaf
- 1 batch cinnamon rolls
- 2 meatloaves
- 2 loaves Challah bread
- 2 loaves whole wheat bread
- 1 turkey and rice casserole
- chicken and rice filling for chimichangas
- 1 family serving mexican rice
- white enchiladas
- red enchiladas
- 1 shepherds pie
- 2 loaves pumpkin chocolate chip bread
- 1 batch cranberry orange rolls
- garlic herb spread for garlic bread
- 4 balls of freezable pizza dough
- 2 loaves banana bread
- prepped the chicken for homemade chicken nuggets
- 24 sausage and cheese muffins
- 4 quarts of chicken noodle soup
- 1 batch chocolate chip sweet rolls
- 1 Andes chocolate cake
- Cinnamon palmier cookies
- 2 batches of dinner rolls
There are some meals that just can't be done ahead but I am feeling pretty good about what has been accomplished so far. I also have a few cuts of meat ready for the crock pot. I will report back in at the end of the week on how it went :) Let me know what your tips and tricks are for keeping a busy family fed at home without filling your freezer with over-priced low-quality junk food from the frozen section at Walmart!
10 comments:
Oh. My. Goodness. How much did all of that cost? And, did you ever leave your kitchen? I would really love to do a huge cooking weekend like that.
You rock, Megan! Now I just need all of your recipes please. :) I need to get on board with the freezer cooking idea too!!
@ Ally - I price match and coupon shop so generally our meals average out to $4-$6 per meal (that includes the main dish, 1 or 2 sides dishes and usually a bread of some sort).
@ Beth - I am going to start putting up recipes each week so stay tuned :)
Wow Megan, I am so impressed! I would love to do something like that. We have limited freezer space for now, but even a few would help. I definitely am with Beth and would like some recipes. Also, what sort of containers do you find are the best to stores things in? Thanks for sharing! :)
Hi Megan,
It seems like yesterday you were "little". Now you have such a cute family. You "grew up" great. This is such a good idea. I bet it's hard being so far from your family.
Wow! That is really impressive and a great idea! Next, you need a big freezer. I used to prepare components for meals, ie: chop onions and freeze, fry pounds of hamburger and freeze, make all the sauces, etc. Same kind of idea. Look forward to hearing more about it.
oh I am so happy you are my sister, this idea of yours is saving my family while I am in school and working!
WOW- you are Mom hear you roar! I think this is great, how about you do all that work and mail it to me :)
Way to go missy!
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