For about a year now I have been thinking about making "freezer meals". With a husband, three boys, exchange student, sporting activities, cub scouts, practices and my new real estate career, it makes sense and would make my life easier on those busy nights when we barely have time to order take-out.
I have a cookbook about it, I have endless "pins" on my pinterest boards about it, heck I've even sort of half way done a few times. Today, I am finally putting myself to work.....making some freezer meals, of course I am only finally doing it because I am leaving town in a little over a week. So, it won't really make my life easier ~ but it will make sure my family is still eating good food while I'm gone. Hopefully, I can work this in to my regular weekly or bi-weekly routine and eventually make my life easier as well.
This is going to be a small insight into how my brain works............. it might be scary!
There is endless amounts of information about freezer meals online. It is somewhat overwhelming, just to decide how in the world to start! I think that is why I have not ever just had a "cook-day", I couldn't ever figure out where to start, I also abhor changing my routine and I have been menu planning for YEARS. So, this is what I found worked for me. I make a menu every week, on Wednesday nights. My kids don't like half of the food I make, but we can't possibly live off of pizza and hamburgers so I shoot for making foods they like at least twice a week. (I know, I'm terribly mean).
I have menu making down to an exact science...several steps are involved. I have a list of foods we enjoy (most of us), and I have them broken into categories ~ Soup/Salad, Casserole, Pasta, Breakfast, and "Stand-Alone" (this means a meat main dish that will need a side, usually potatoes and green beans). Then, I have a chart, so Monday ~ Stand-Alone, Tuesday ~ Soup, Wednesday ~ Leftovers, Thursday ~ Breakfast, Friday ~ Casserole, Saturday ~ Soup/Salad, Sunday ~ Pasta. Next comes the grocery ad, I go through the ads every week (pretty easy here, we only have 2 grocery stores) and find the best sales and deals. Of course this also involves me making a list (I REALLY like making lists). Then, I pick out meals from my chart that are made with items on sale (I also stock up on things we use a lot if they are on sale). This is where I used to try to fit coupons in also, but really that was an awful lot of work and I would usually end up buying things I didn't need or use. I still occasionally will add some digital coupons to my card, but only AFTER my grocery list is made. Yes, then I make a grocery list from my menu, I put it in the order that I will walk down the aisle, until recently I thought most people make their lists this way ~ apparently not.
So, this week I followed my usual plan, but when I made my list I doubled some of the ingredients. When I make one meal, I will make double and Freeze the extra. By the end of the week I will have 4 meals frozen for my trip, plus a lot of my prep work for the week done. And really I only spent about $10 more than usual at the store. Each week, I shoot for spending $100 or less at the grocery store, this feeds my family of 6 every night, lunch on the weekends, plus lunches for my husband , youngest son and myself the rest of the week. (I spend an additional $40 - $50 at a big-box store for snacks, drinks and breakfast foods). If all goes well, I really hope to keep freezing meals, and maybe even start a "freezer meal" group in my area (because all moms need something to make life easier).
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