Don't worry... this is not going to turn into a food blog! But when I posted this picture on Instagram yesterday and started talking about not having to cook for a month, I got a few questions.
I wasn't going to write a blog post about it but then I realized that less time cooking = more time to sew. Yay!
I decided to do a trial run of slow cooker meals made ahead of time a few months ago. This is the site that I started with. It was a success so I went for another round. Since school started this type of cooking has been a life saver for me! I put something in the crock pot in the morning and when we get home all I might have to do is to make some brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, etc...
Up until yesterday I was making all slow cooker meals but I decided to branch out yesterday and make some freezer dishes that freeze well to be thawed and baked in the oven later on. It gives us a little more variety and also some individual servings for when Steve travels or Chaney isn't home and I don't want to make a giant crock pot meal.
Here's what I made:
- slow cooker white chicken chili (2 bags)
- slow cooker black bean taco soup (2 bags)
- slow cooker shredded Mexican chicken tacos (2 bags)
- slow cooker chicken tortilla soup (2 bags)
- slow cooker beef fajitas (2 bags)- slow cooker beef stew (2 bags)- slow cooker beef stroganoff (2 bags)- slow cooker chicken fajitas (2 bags)
- slow cooker corn & potato chowder (2 bags)
- freezer chicken spaghetti (2 pans)
- freezer black bean, spinach & chicken enchiladas (2 pans)
- freezer healthy spinach and chicken pasta rolls (10 rolls)
- freezer meatloaf & mini-meatloaf muffins (36 muffins)
- freezer chicken parmesan Italian loaf (2 small loaves)
- freezer chicken pot pie (2 pies)
- freezer breakfast burritos (10 turkey sausages/egg/cheese, 10 black bean/egg/cheese)
We are a family of 2 adults and 1 kid so I split the ingredients into two gallon size freezer bags/pans so we have 32+ meals that will still leave leftovers for me to take for lunch in my cute lunch crockpot.
Some of these meals will also create leftovers for another family meal... like the shredded Mexican chicken. Leftovers of this meat make a great chicken enchilada soup the next day.
I also stretch the ingredients by focusing on more vegetables as ingredients and less on meats. Healthy vegetables and non-meat proteins are often better for you and I tend to think that the American diet has their meat portion sizes way too big. Just my opinion though... ;)
Pros:
- These meals are from scratch so I know exactly what's going into our meals which is important with my allergies.
- Nothing is from a box so none of those nasty preservatives.
- Lots of vegetables & healthy carbs
- Flexibility. I have adapted some of the recipes to use whole wheat pasta, brown rice, red potatoes instead of russet potatoes, turkey instead of ground beef, etc. I haven't had one of these modifications turn out bad with any of these recipes.
- And the obvious... saving time. All of this took me about 4 hours. Steve helped me some and my feet were killing me at the end but that's better than cooking for 30-45 minutes every evening after work. :)
Cons:
- Initial time investment... it's a long day in the kitchen.
- Grocery shopping is on a larger scale since you are stocking up for meals for a month or so.
- A giant mess in the kitchen after cooking all this! A big thanks to Steve here!
- You have to plan your freezer space out well. Lay your bags flat to freeze and they stack nicely though.
Tips:
- Cut all your vegetables first. It's easier to grab what you need to fill your bags instead of stopping to cut veggies with each recipe.
- Kitchen safety. Rinse your meat. Pay attention to your utensils and the meat you used to touch them. I do all my chicken meals first, clean the counters, put those utensils in the dishwasher and then move on to my beef and turkey meals.
- Here are some tips on freezing pans of food so your dishes aren't tied up in your freezer.
- Several of the recipes call for chicken broth. Use the broth made from the recipes that call for boiling and shredding your chicken.
- Label your bags/pans. You might be able to tell what it is before it's frozen but let's just say that we've had some surprise dinners in the past because what I thought was one thing turned out to be another meal.
- If there are special instructions for cooking/reheating, write them on the bag. You might think you will remember but that's not always the case, especially if a few ingredients are added after the dish cooks all day.
- Buy your ingredients on sale and stock up when you find a good sale.
- Pinterest is your best friend. I found every single recipe on that site. If you follow me there you can find all my favorites under my "food to make" tab.
The math:
- I spent approximately $170.00 supplies, ingredients and sides to go with these meals.
- 32 dinners {feeds 3}
- 32 leftover lunches {feeds 1}
- 20 breakfast burritos {feeds 1 per person}
That's $170.00/84 meals = $2.02 per meal {not per person}
So not only does less time cooking = more time sewing... less $$ spent = more $ to spend on fabric. Not bad at all!
Let me know if you have any questions. I'm not a pro by any means but I'll do my best to answer them...
*Edited to add... the most frequent question I'm being asked is if I'm cooking the meals before freezing or after. Both. :)
It depends on the recipe... most of the slow cooker recipes {in bags} are cooked in the slow cooker after freezing the raw ingredients in a bag. Just like a lot of stovetop or slow cooker recipes that aren't frozen, you combine all the raw ingredients and cook them all at once. As a general rule the only meat I pre-cook before putting it into freezer bags is ground beef but only because it won't form into that ground beef texture cooking in a slow cooker.
Some of the recipes that are frozen in a pan have parts that are pre-cooked and then frozen and then some have been mostly cooked and are ready to be put in the oven after defrosting.
I know the question of putting raw ingredients together will probably come up but if you do some reading here you should get most of your questions answered. I did a lot of research on this and came to a comfortable conclusion because all the ingredients are being frozen at the same time and cooked at a high temperature at the same time as well. We have been eating meals like these for several months and we have never had an issue. :)