Sorry I've been absent from the blog lately. With the wedding coming up and everything else still on my plate, I've moved the blog to the back burner. But I promise I'll still update you guys from time to time on what's going on in my world!
I'm working to prepare for the wedding; at the ceremony, reception, and personal life. Freezer meals, as you guys know, saved my life last August. I was able to stress a lot less just knowing we could always have a hot meal on the table. Since my last big freezer meal day, I've been making a few freezer meals simply by doubling recipes and freezing the excess portion of the batch. Unfortunately, I don't always have time to cook twice the amount of food in the evenings. I had a really great time the last time I made freezer meals, so I thought I'd have another freezer meal cooking day!
I did this one on a Saturday afternoon, and it took me only 3 hours. That's right-- 9+ meals in just 3 hours!!! Totally worth it...
I've been planning this one out for weeks, mostly so I could watch store sales. I also reorganized my stockpile, so I made sure the list used as many ingredients I currently had in the house as possible, including meats. Actually, all I purchased on the day of my freezer meal cooking was an onion, mushrooms, and frozen potatoes. Pretty minimal, which was really nice.
Again, I began by piling everything I needed into one place. I can't emphasize how important this step is when you're cooking one dish and prepping another. The last thing you should be doing is running around looking for ingredients!
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| Mostly all of the ingredients--there were still a handful in the fridge |
I decided to start my freezer meal cook-off with the chicken dishes, because my chicken was more thawed than my ground beef. I found the chicken on a pretty good sale a few weeks ago at Albertson's; it was 3 lbs for only $4.99. I purchased two bags of it, but only ended up using one bag for these freezer meals.
I was pretty satisfied with the way the chicken pot pie turned out in my last freezer meal cooking session, so I made it again. I also have lots of Pillsbury pie crusts to use up because they were on a great sale for only $.99! The chicken pot pie literally took me less than 20 minutes to make--and the recipe makes two of them! This is one that could easily be thrown together on a weeknight or while watching your favorite TV show :)
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| Chicken Pot Pies--one with the pie crust, one without (only for the photo, of course) |
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| The Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake, before being baked in the oven |
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| This mixture is so delicious, I wanted to eat it all right then! |
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| I wrapped each one, following Keeza's instructions. |
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| After each wrap was wrapped up in plastic, I put them in a gallon- sized Ziploc baggie, with the instructions |
And then Goulash. You might be wondering what it is. Goulash is a Hungarian/German dish that can be manipulated to be several different things (soups, etc.), but in my family we've always made it as a pasta dish. I'll post the recipe (and hopefully some pictures) in a separate post.
I ended my 3-hour stint of freezer meal cooking with the following dishes (linked to recipes):
2 Chicken Pot Pies
1 Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake
4 Goulash
2 Tater Tot Casserole
18 Salsa Chicken Wraps
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| This photo is missing 2 Goulash dishes, but I would still declare this a successful 3 hours of Freezer Meal cooking! |
Questions for my readers:
- Do you make freezer meals? If so, what are your favorite recipes?
- Do freezer meals add to your sanity, or take away from it? That is: do you find the prep required is worth the results gained?
