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)
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...
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteThis might help? And congrats on your marathon :-)
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/29/killing-your-1000-grocery-bill/