Fighting the High Cost of Food (Part 2)

In my last post, I admitted frustration over our family's increasing food budget.  If you missed it, you can read it here.  

On my journey of finding better, yet easier, ways to feed my family, I decided to start with some freezer cooking.  Don't ask me how I landed on this specific decision, but part of it is my relentless quest to become more adept in the kitchen.  So with a little help from a few websites, I devised a plan to stock some ready meals in the freezer and be rid of the incessant phrase [insert teenage drama tone here] "There's nothing to eat in this house." 

The first site I started with was Money Saving Mom.  If you're looking to save and want some great ideas, this is a great site to visit.   The series of posts to fill the freezer piqued my interest.  I have never tried to freeze meals, even though we have the space to do so.  Most of the time, I do buy in bulk and I'll freeze ground beef, chicken, or spaghetti sauce into meal-size portions.  I also frequently stock up at the bakery outlet and freeze bagels, tortillas, and multiple loaves of bread.   

So in my typical fashion of big ideas (finish degree while working full-time, take a minimester graduate course, run a marathon), I planned to spend a Saturday filling our freezer.

I spent five hours in the kitchen that day, and here's what I learned:  

1.  I was smart enough to put a roast in the crock pot for dinner before I did anything else.

2.  The more cooking I did, the less I wanted to snack.

3.  I should never get tied up at home for hours with no Diet Coke.

4.  The only thing I can competently do with a rolling pin is roll out muscle soreness in my legs from running.

5.  Reading the directions all the way through is very important! 

I wasn't able to finish everything I planned on Saturday, but I did a little more Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

What went into my freezer (by Monday evening):

The rest of a double batch of waffles from breakfast (there weren't many)

1 Lasagna Casserole

3.5 lbs of Barbecued Meatballs

1 batch of Pizza Pockets (the remainder after the kids hit them for lunch)

Southwest Rollups  

Was the freezer cooking worth doing again?

While it has been nice to have things on hand, I don't like spending hours in the kitchen at one time.  I am going to try to become more efficient with my cooking though.  For instance, Monday evening while chicken enchiladas were in the oven, I made the Southwest Rollups.  These have been a handy lunch item to have on hand, and cheaper than sandwiches.  Next time I will make them without chicken to decrease the cost per item even more.    

Meanwhile, I'm still searching for more ways to eat better for less.  If I can only master homemade pizza dough...