Freezer Meals in the Freezer!

Happy Tuesday!   Check it out TWO posts, back to back!   Yea me!   I have one full week off in-between jobs, which I mentioned about here, so I am going to use it my full advantage.  My Honey-To-Do list is a mile long...or more and I have only a short amount of time to complete the "chores" while The Mister is at work and the kids are in school.  

Yesterday the first task I wanted to complete was getting some freezer meals in our freezer.  I had started making these on Sunday night, but quickly ran out of steam; so this was one of the first things I finished yesterday.  With the new hours that I am going to have at work, which is later than I am currently working, I wanted to make sure that we were completely prepared in the meal time department since The Mister is now officially in charge with getting dinner on the table prior to our evening activities and at a decent time.

I went shopping on Sunday for our normal shopping trip and then I got a lot of extras to make some freezer meals.  Needless to say, our bill was larger than it normally is, but it'll average out and pay off in the end.

I have found some recipes over the years that have worked out really well for our family.  With having 6 of us, that makes for 6 opinions of likes and dislikes when it comes to food choices.

Here is a list of the freezer meals that I made:

Burger Patties
BBQ Meatloaf
Marinated Pork Chops
Exuberant Chicken
Amazing Chicken
Sweet & Sour Meatballs

I ended up making 19 meals total.  I am so excited when I open up the freezer and see this:

This also means that this is 19 meals that I don't have to think about making.

Helpful hints to freezer meals:

• Make Multiples at one time
• Wash and Chop all your veggies before hand
• Write the name of the meal, the date you packaged it, and the cooking instructions in Sharpie on the outside of your bag, prior to filling it with your food.  
• Add ideas for side dishes on the outside of your packaging.  This really helps when planning your grocery shopping & making sure you have the right amount of veggies for the week.

For example, if I know that my family just really LOVES the Marinated Pork Chops meal, I am going to buy in bulk so that I can make at least 4 of the meals at one time.  (Which is what I did)

Sometimes, I will do this while making one of the meals for dinner.  So I will plan to make the pork chops on Thursday night and while make 1 batch for dinner that night, I will be prepping 3 more for the freezer.  Since I'm already in the kitchen prepping and making dinner, it doesn't feel like I'm spending any more time in there than necessary.  Plus I've been able to add to my "stash".

"Hi, my name is Katie, and I'm a food hoarder."

Every week I am going to add a little bit more to our freezer stash until I feel like we've got a good enough supply.  Maybe I'll even wait till the whole freezer if full?  Who knows.   I'd love to be able to only buy produce for the week and pull all meals out of the freezer for a full week.

Are you doing any freezer cooking?  If so, what are some of your favorite meals?  I'd love for you to share with me.