NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Freeze it!

by

(Please sing the title above to Michael Jackson’s “Beat it.” Ryan and I did. Four times.)

We’ve been getting lazy about cooking at home lately. Well, mostly, I’ve gotten lazy. I get home from work or school and I don’t feel like cooking/don’t have anything defrosted/would prefer to go out. So, we go out.

I knew June was going to be a busy month because I have evening classes twice a week until 10 p.m. So, it felt like the perfect time to try out some freezer meals, and fill up that chest freezer we bought in March.

I was pushed over the edge from inspired to “I’ve gotta do this… now,” by a guest post by Bekki at Tatertots and Jello. (And, if you are at all interested, go check out Bekki at Little Red Hen.)

It took a lot more planning and coordinating than our usual “meal planning.” But, I hope that it will be worth it because we now have about 32 ready-to-go (or nearly ready-to-go) meals.

And, here’s what was in our freezer by the end of the day:

  • 6 lbs. of ground beef in 1-lb. packages (for tacos, taco salads, Sloppy Joe’s, etc.)
  • 5 bags of shredded chicken in 3 cup packages (for chicken lasagna, chicken fajitas, etc.)
  • 2 pans of baked pasta 
  • 1 pan of manicotti
  • 1 pan of chicken enchiladas
  • Marinara sauce
  • 10 individually-wrapped breakfast burritos (to attempt to curb my love for McDonald’s)
  • 8 hamburger patties
  • 2 meals – Pork Sante Fe Chili
  • 2 – Pizza crust for homemade pizza
  • 2 meals – grilled Greek chicken marinade
  • 2 meals – Pork Chop marinade

The freezer is almost completely full! I wrote the meal and any instructions right on the bag. I tried to double wrap everything, if possible.

It took most of a day to complete everything, but it went pretty smoothly. I began by cooking the chicken and ground beef/onion. Then, I made and we ate the breakfast burritos for breakfast and I froze the remainder of them. I put the pizza crust in the bread maker on the dough function. Then, I made the hamburger patties and the meats with marinades. Next, I did the more complex meals – baked pasta, enchiladas and manicotti.

The only thing I didn’t have that I wished I had were more containers. I only have 1- 8×8 Pyrex dish. And, I could have easily split up the enchiladas and manicotti if I had more of these dishes. I couldn’t find anything at the grocery store that is both oven and freezer safe. So, I just put them in 9×13 dishes, which is enough for 2-3 meals. It definitely would have been more convenient to store them separately.
I bought the jumbo packs of Ziploc freezer bags in different sizes – these were perfect for almost everything. And, I still have lots more left. (I used a tip from Grey Umbrella to freeze the bags flat on a cookie sheet. Worked like a charm.)

While I don’t know that I would do this every month (it’s tough for me to give up almost an entire weekend day), I would definitely like to continue pre-cooking the beef and chicken for meals because it’s a big time saver. 

As the month goes on, I’ll try to share the new recipes that I tried. (I don’t want to share until I know how they taste.) So far, we’ve eaten the manicotti, the breakfast burritos and the burgers – all were delicious. Those recipes are coming soon. Recipes that I’ve already shared, and just used for freezer meals this time are linked above.
Do you freeze meals?

Comments

  1. I don’t usually freeze whole meals, but if I had your schedule, I would. I do freeze cooked meat though, which is a great and easy time-saver.

  2. Thanks for the great post! I don’t suppose you want to share about how you get the shredded chicken? *hint, hint*

    take care!

  3. i do this but not in this quantity! way to go! have you tried snapware? we buy the box at costco for less than $30 and it is freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe. i LOVE the stuff!!

  4. I just did the same thing like two weeks ago, after reading those posts! It makes things so much simpler!

  5. That’s a great idea! We freeze some stuff, but not a lot because we only have a regular fridge. But I do want a deep freezer, I bet that would help a lot! I was thinking the other day how much I wished I had some cooked frozen chicken. (Wow my life is sad!)

  6. Perfect timing- I have a boom of friends having babies, these are perfect “welcome home” gifts. I like to freeze meals for myself but forget to eat them or get sick of them quickly. Homemade chicken soup, chili, pesto, and stromboli all freeze well.

  7. That is an awesome stockpile. When I cooked freezer meals before our baby was born, I would often just cook an extra meal with dinner and freeze the one. That way I was building up a stash and not so overwhelmed.

  8. I buy 10 lb. bags of chicken breast, 5 lb. bags of 1 lb. ground beef, and preformed lean sirloin patties at Costco. I don’t think it’s any more expensive than buying fresh at the grocery store and it’s much simpler. I also buy half a salmon and tilapia or catfish fillets in bulk and freeze them in individual bags. No ready made meals, though. That would take planning and follow through and that’s not gonna happen…

  9. Soooomeone has her act together. Honestly, I never knew I could get so jealous of someone’s freezer ;).

  10. Holy wow! That is amazing. I made a lasagna this weekend and froze it for my friends with a newborn, and that felt like a lot of work. I can only imagine making all of this food in one day!

    I wish we could share a freezer, because I’m in the same boat with night classes twice a week and a crazy work schedule for the next couple of months.

  11. I’ve been befriending my freezer lately, too! I am experimenting now with with meats that are on sale. I’m cooking it all when purchased (crock pot only… everything else just seems like entirely too much work), then splitting it up for use in other meals throughout the week. I really like the method you’ve described here. I am really thinking I’ll give this a try!

  13. We like freezer meals too! It’s a good bit of work to begin with, but always worth the effort. Another thing you can do that isn’t as time consuming is when you do have time to cook, just make 2 of what you are cooking and freeze 1 for later.

  16. Holy Schmoley Kim! You rock! I totally need to get this kind of motivation….it would certainly help my dinner time malaise. After playing all day with two little boys the urge to cook is completely finito. I did read a great tip on freezer cooking I’ll share (not that I’ve ever done this). When you put together something like a lasagna, first line the pan with alumnium foil..enough to go up the sides, etc. Then after it’s completely frozen you can pop it out of the pan and keep it in the freezer that way. Then when you’re ready to cook it you can pop it back in that pan. This way your pan isn’t tied up in the freezer for eons. I’m excited to try your freezer recipes!!

  18. this is really amazing and i’m completely impressed. what a smart idea on every level! good for you. i hope it works well.

    in the future couldn’t you just do a little every night or every other day instead of everything on one day? then you wouldn’t have to sacrific a whole day. if this system works the way you want it to.

    either way… great, great job! i just cook for one… myself… (for dinner at least) and i think a system like this would help me eat healtier/better. and save money!