I love to eat at home, but I hate cooking. When I’m really upset that I can start baking like a mad woman. But to me that’s different. Baking something sweet always makes me in a better mood. Its the soulful act of measuring the sugar, flour, and chocolate that starts to sooth my mind. Then the best part happens when I get to take the goody out of the oven and indulge with a fresh cup of home made coffee. What I hate, is the cooking each night after fighting traffic for an hour. I’m tired, grumpy and have started wishing that there was a live in robot that cooked and cleaned for me like the Jetsons promised. Then I stumbled onto freezer meals. I spent months talking about freezer meals and gathering recipes. I can bet that all my friends and family were probably tired of hearing about it. So one night I just deiced to rip off the bandage, and get the show on the road. My first night I made six meals in less then 3 hours. I was definitely tired, since I walking out of the kitchen around 11 pm. But man, did it feel good to get that accomplished! I made two meatloaf’s, two baked ziti’s, and two chicken enchiladas meals. I’m actually getting ready to do it again with my friend Danielle on our girls night in. Once I created my first round of meals it was addicting! I even started making freezer breakfast (crock pot Oatmeal) to help with getting a good meal for Ben and I first thing in the morning with no prep. Having the option to pull a cooked meal out of the freezer and throw it in the oven for dinner has really made a difference in my nights. It gives me the time to get other things done while the prepped meal is cooking. Making it easier to get to bed at a reasonable time that night and the best part is that i get to spend more time with Ben!
Tips from the housewife for better freezer meals:
- Get your meals printed out ahead of time
- Organize your needed grocery items and make one bulk trip
- Make sure you have enough reusable pans, ziplock bags and alumin foil for the event
- Plan on it taking a few hours
- Try and plan ahead of time where you can use your crock pot (For Example: If you are making anything with ground beef in it. Put the meet in the crock pot ahead of time with NO seasonings to cook for you. )
- Test out the meals before you make them in bulk! (I tried a new meal in bulk without cooking it ahead of time and now i wish i didn’t. It didn’t come out the way i wanted and now im stuck with five meals that i have to doctor each time I cook them. )
- Save really good recipes that are tried and true for future reference
- Make notes! How did you cook the meal? How was the defrosting process? Did it need more sauce? Cheese?
- Is it possible to make freezer meals all the time? Can a recipe be doubled, one for the freezer and one for the stove? ( I like this method since it helps keep my freezer prepped with a variety of meals)
