Friday, July 29, 2011

30 Day Freezer Meal Friday

Dinners are somewhat rough around here. I have a picky husband (whom I love dearly!) and his lack of desire for variety often clashes with my love for it. When I cook something he doesn't like, which happens often, I am left with the two choices of cooking a separate meal for him, or letting him fend for himself. Neither of which are ideal.

Freezer meal cooking has been my rescuer! Even though Karl still doesn't eat most of what I cook from the freezer, it has freed me up to cook him a separate meal if I need to. I had been cooking up an extra serving here and there, but after talking with my friend Jessica from Feeding the Family for less, we decided to get together via Skype and have a 30 Day cooking frenzy! The day was a fun and furious mix of chatter and cooking and at the end my freezer was well stocked:


Ok, fine, so that isn't really my freezer. Mine looks more like this:



but at the end of the day I had bagged 41 dinners and as soon as everything is frozen solid, the freezer will be organized.

There are a few things that I could not have done without during my first 30 Day Freezer Meal frenzy. The first was Jessica. She was my pillar of strength when my feet were burning from standing. More importantly though, she introduced me to 30 Day Gourmet's BIG Book of Freezer Cooking and to the software that goes with it! The cookbook gives you over 150 recipes and the software does everything from a grocery list to telling you what order to prep and cook! It was WONDERFUL!

What made the day so easy was having directions on what to do when. Starting out with chopping all of our veggies for every meal that we were going to make:



I had a hard time taking photos while we were cooking, but the software gave us instructions every step of the way!

Wondering what I did with the kids while we cooked? They did a bit of food art! The bottom end of the cut celery stalk makes a great stamp! You can also get neat patters with onions, a stalk of celery, potatoes and just about any other firm fruit or veggie. Oh, and grandpa took them out to lunch for about an hour and a half.





Her uncle is in the USAF and she loves wearing his hat in case you were wondering.

A few things I learned through this process:

Have a plan
Shop ahead
Do as much prep work as you can ahead of time (cook meat, chop veggies)
Do the dishes as you go

So there it is! My fun freezer meal day with Jessica. Even though my kitchen still looked like this at the end of the day:

it was fun and I now have 41 yummy dinners/lunches in my freezer! I am actually looking forward to adding some breakfasts and maybe even deserts!

Do you do freezer meals? I would love for you to share your freezer meal posts with us. Just add your post to the linky below! Look for this meme at the end of each month!




10 comments:

Rachel E. said...

You all get the gold medal for commitment. I would have quit after 15 meals. Way to go. It must feel wonderful to know your house has a month's worth of dinners in it.

Thosetwogirls said...

It was one of the most tiring things I have ever done, but today when I sat down to start thinking about menu planning for the month all I could do was smile over not having to prep a single meal! I am sure it is going to be worth it. Even if my feet are still hurting!

~Jamie~ said...

I want to do it.....but I am a terrible cook and I hate standing in the kitchen any longer than I have to. Isn't that horrible?! :) I envy your patience! Go girl!

Rachel E. said...

It's funny your husband is picky. My husband isn't that picky, but there are things he doesn't like. I miss eating a lot of things I like. But I know he will eat whatever I cook. I try my hardest to blend those veggies he doesn't like, into sauces or pasta. He will eat it if he can blend flavors. :-)

Rachel E. said...

It's funny your husband is picky. My husband isn't that picky, but there are things he doesn't like. I miss eating a lot of things I like. But I know he will eat whatever I cook. I try my hardest to blend those veggies he doesn't like, into sauces or pasta. He will eat it if he can blend flavors. :-)

Rachel E. said...

By the way, thanks for following my blog!

Elizabeth Herr said...

I salute you dedication!! WOW. Wish I could do that, but I don't have space for 10 dinners in my freezer :( Well done. (Hope your feet feels better :) }

Blessings,

Erin said...

I really, really want to do a month's worth of freezer meals. I did a 2-week patch once a long time ago, and loved how it freed up my entire evenings! Great job on getting 41 meals put up!!

Anonymous said...

I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wishing you the best of luck for all your blogging efforts.

Freezers

stainless steel kitchen equipment fabrication said...

stainless steel kitchen equipment fabrication : UAE s best stainless steel kitchen equipment fabrication services by industry Experts Professionals offering equipment full fabrication