1. My kids know every night of the week which fast food restaurants have deals. Monday, Little Caesar's pizzas are $3.99. Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at Taco John's. Wednesday is cheap Happy Meal night at McDonalds, etc, etc....sound familiar?
2. I simply needed meal time to be more organized. I work full-time, my husband works full-time and opposite shifts as I, so I typically am also the parent running the kids to tumbling, sports, church, etc.
3. I needed to control our food costs. Thanks to #1 in this post, a lot of our monthly budget goes to food. And crappy food, at that.
4. We need healthier food choices in our life, the kids and my husband and I. Did I also mention that my husband is Type 1 diabetic?
5. I work in a grocery store, for cryin' out loud, it should be easy to have food in the house to plan a meal around, right?
So, I originally set out to simply figure out a way to organize myself so that our meals would be easier. And as I started to look for recipes, I stumbled upon more and more blogs and websites referencing freezer cooking or OAMC, and it seemed like something that could really work for me. It became immediately obvious that in order for this to be successful for me, I would have to be organized. I found great organizational tools at 30daycafe.com. Here is the link: http://30daycafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/oamc-free.pdf. There are recipe planning pages, pantry checklists, shopping lists, ingredient prep lists, etc. I created my list of recipes that I wanted to make from internet searches and from my own go-to list of family favorites. I also planned them around what was on sale at the grocery stores. I have never shopped from a grocery ad before in my life, and I have to admit, it was kind of fun?! I planned what day I would be doing my cooking, then did my shopping two days before. I prepped a few items ahead of time, such as cooking chicken in the pressure cooker and picking it for casseroles, and making homemade chicken broth from the bones. Don't scoff at me, I know someone out there is, these are simple things to do to make your cooking day easier, and they only take a few minutes of time. And homemade chicken stock is SO much healthier, because it doesn't have as much sodium as canned. AND it doesn't cost anything. Double bonus, right? Cooking day: do all of your prep work FIRST. Chop all of your vegetables first thing, then as you work your way through your recipes, they are ready to go and you can just assemble away! Be sure to keep a freezer inventory and log meals as you put them in the freezer, and cross them off as you pull them out and use them. My first major cooking day, I completed 20 meals. Not necessarily 20 recipes, I split a large recipe of lasagna into 2 smaller ones, so that counted for 2 meals, and some recipes I doubled and split those, as well.
I will post recipes here as I pull them from the freezer and know if they have succeeded! Here is a link to the first: Cheeseburger Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes from Rachael Ray: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/cheeseburger-meatloaf-and-mashed-potatoes
There are many different "styles" of freezer cooking. You can simply double a recipe and put half in the freezer for a future meal, there is the once-a-month method, once-a-week or bi-weekly, etc., etc. Next month, I am thinking of focusing on meals for the slow cooker or CrockPot. By that time, fall (my favorite time of the year, by the way) will be upon us and I think we will be ready for some cooler weather meals.
Ingredient prep done!!
A freezer full of fresh, homemade meals!!
Update: hubby just finished off the last of the leftover cheeseburger meatloaf, a good sign!!!
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