Friday, January 28, 2011

Freezer Filled UP

(Ok, so I haven't quite completed my freezer cooking this month as I want to put up some regular pancakes and pizza pockets--but those items have been put on hold and I'll just make excess when I decide to make them :)

With much assistance from my husband and my tiny little helper, we put away the makings of plenty of dinners, breakfast foods, lunches & snacks!  (Oh and the photo?  The only one my husband captured happened to be of me blending up smoothies in my mis-matched sweats...awesome :)

This time around I took an in-depth inventory of everything we had on hand in our pantry, fridge & freezers.  I took that inventory and figured out what I could cook with purchasing just one or two ingredients.  Example: I had two boxes of cornbread mix, cans of beans & chilli seasoning.  So, I put up a pound of cooked hamburger in the freezer & am one step closer to chilli!


So what are we going to be eating for awhile from our freezer?

Taco Kits & Taco Rice 1 2 3 4 
Enchiladas & Taco Rice 1 2
Cooked Chicken in bags (for quesadillas or fillers) 1 2
Chili & Cornbread 1
Lasagna 1 2
Biscuits/Gravy + Hashbrowns 1 2
Bacon Roll-up +Beans/Fries 1 2
BBQ Beef Sandwiches 1
Pizza Pockets 1 2 (making more...)
Chicken/bacon Subs 1 2 3 4 5 6
Smoothies 1 (I've already eaten most!)
Chicken/bean Burritos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 (lunches for Jon)
Pumpkin Pancakes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 (breakfast)
Hashbrowns 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

That's 19 meals in the freezer (not including burritos, pancakes, or pizza pockets) and I have ingredients in the pantry/freezer for 8 additional meals...most of which have to be cooked the day of (Spaghetti, Chicken & veggies, chicken/rice casserole, breakfast for dinner, spanish chicken skillet, etc...)  The freezer meals help out on busy nights...or ones where I'm just tired & my husband is working late (a lot of which happens during the end of the month/first week of the following month with his wok schedule)
 
We're already planning for our next cooking which will be a short one towards the end of February to get us meals to hold us over for a month.  After that I'm hoping to have a BIG cooking session near my due date and really fill up our freezer and cupboards before baby arrives.
 
The one thing we're working on is buying groceries throughout the month.  While we had only spent about $20 in groceries for 3 weeks before we bought food to fill up our freezer, we spent most of our monthly grocery budget in that trip.  Now we're going to get back into the habit of stocking up throughout the month (and have already started)---especially on chicken and beef!

5 comments:

  1. Love all your details. Would love some of the recipes too!! ;) I really want to get into meal planning, or even freezer meals. It's SO hard right now becuase I don't have much of an appetite or want to cook- so maybe I need to get on this for my guys!? I could def cook a couple of times a month!

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  2. Hi Rachel! I was on moneysavingmom and read your post about buying a box of pamper swaddlers for .53! I am an expecting mom and I was wondering if you could tell me what the 1.50 coupon code is? also when you bought the diapers was the price 20.39? if you could answer me I'd greatly appreciate it!

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  3. Wow, that is super to be so stocked up on freezer meals! Such a great feeling, right? Anyway, hopping over from MSMom and wanted to say hi!

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  4. :) This has become a lifesaver in our home! As for recipes, it's REAL basic cooking...but maybe I'll share some! The shredded BBQ Beef has turned out awesome...as have the pizza pockets...subs....maybe I'm just hungry!

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  5. johannamara--

    The price for me was actually 23.99 initially. 7.20 came off for using subscribe and save, 4.80 came off for using the 20% off I had gotten out of my magazine, 10.00 came off from another magazine, and the 1.50 coupon was right on the page when I was ordering.

    I went back in this morning and can't seem to find the 1.50 coupon? Maybe because I've already used it. Try searching for Amazon Coupon Page--or see if it shows up when you are looking at various Pamper products. Sorry! Wish I could be more help with a direct link!

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