Saving Money with a Full Freezer and Recipes Needed!

A couple of days after my major shopping day, my hubby went out to the freezer to get something for me and he came back in the house(we keep our upright stand alone freezer in the garage!) explaining that the freezer was stuffed full and he challenged me by saying "You seem to have trouble with an empty freezer! I bet you can't empty that freezer!?"

I explained to him all the benefits of having a full freezer:

1. being energy efficient because it does not run as much to keep everything cool and frozen.
2. having a stocked freezer is saving us money by not having to run to the store every day!  
3. we do not need to empty a frost free freezer to defrost it, that is the main reason we spent the extra money for the frost free freezer, and
4. if we lose power in a spring storm we won't lose too much frozen food because the food will take a while to have everything thaw.

These reasons didn't seem to change his mind that we need to empty it.

I am now on a mission to get us an empty freezer(or nearly empty freezer) in a month.  My hubby did not give me a time frame to empty it but the week after spring break I have another monthly Sam's run planned so that is why I am aiming for the freezer being empty in a month. 

I have just about completed my freezer inventory! In the stand alone freezer, I have several pounds of butter and margarine for baking, many bags of frozen veggies, a little over 10 lbs french fries, and several boxes toaster strudel. I do not have much in the way of meat so I will need to get more before the month is up. I also have plenty of food in my fridge freezer!! Looks like several burger meals on the horizon!!

To empty my stand alone freezer is going to take some(or maybe I should say, a lot!) motivation on my part. I have not had motivation to bake from scratch for a while, but I know that there is at least 8 cups shredded zucchini, 20 mashed bananas, and about 3 pounds of blueberries that I put in my freezer last summer to use by making up muffins, quick breads, and ??? over the winter months. The winter months are over and those items are still in there!

So I need your help by giving me some tried and true recipes to use up all that zucchini, bananas and blueberries.  What can I make or bake with these items except muffins??


This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

OAMC: The Wrap Up to a LONG day!

Monday after accomplishing several items in the morning:

• a double batch of banana bread muffins
• browning 3 1/2 lbs ground beef

making a loaf of french bread for dinner

getting the first batch of honey oatmeal bread in the bread machine and rising

getting a batch of spaghetti sauce in the roaster for dinner

I finished my afternoon break and got to work at getting another round of bread in the bread machine.  I also worked at getting the rest of my dinner ready by making some chicken parmesan and started cooking the noodles so they were just an easy reheat for dinner. While the noodles were cooking, I received a phone call from my father.  He called to tell me that he had just "whited out"/fainted and my mom had called 911.  I hung up the phone and called my sister who was just pulling into our parents' driveway along with the first responders.   My sister stayed there while the first responders were checking dad's blood pressure and just monitoring him for a bit. He stabilized to the point of refusing to go via ambulance so my sister drove him and my mom to the emergency room.   Meanwhile, I worked at getting things finished up enough in my kitchen where I could make a run to the emergency room so I was there if I needed to sign papers or anything with being my dad's power of attorney and not knowing the extent of his condition.

As I was finishing up the noodles, my sister called me again to let me know that she could not stay with our parents any longer at the hospital because she had prior commitment that she could not break.  She asked if I was on my way there and I told her I would be heading that way in about 20 minutes.

So I gathered my kids and sent them down to the neighbors that I had called earlier to let know what was going on.  Once I knew they were with the neighbors, I left for the hospital---forgetting that I had dough in the bread machine that needed to be out to rise, and forgetting that I had bread rising that was ready for baking

I came back home 3 hours later to dough lifting the lid of my bread machine, and the dough that I had left rising deflated!  I went ahead and  baked the loaves of bread that deflated.  They taste fine just do not look very pretty.

The dough that was lifting the bread machine lid, I made into homemade buns and since they had already done LOTS of rising after I made the dough balls I only let it set for about 5 minutes before sticking them in the oven to bake. They came out wonderful and they will be a nice compliment for using with chicken club sandwiches later in the week.

So when life happens it takes one 12 hours to get their baking day finished!  One of the things I learned on Monday was that no matter how much I planned ahead for a smooth & successful day, the Lord had other plans for me that He wanted me to do and still be able to declare the day smooth and successful.

I am planning on working more on my March Baking Plan next week!

This post is linked to: 

• Freezer Cooking Day: Final Tally at MoneySavingMom

OAMC: March Baking Plan

It is that time again!  Crystal aka MoneySavingMom and Jessica over at Life as Mom are teaming up again for freezer cooking days!  So that means it is time for me to put together a monthly plan of the items that I want to bake for March. I much prefer to bake over cook!  February's baking plan really did not get done like I had initially planned due to me needing to cook some meals for my parents.  I did get some items done for my family but the majority of my baking/cooking in bulk was for my parents. 


So for March, everything that wasn't made in February plus a few more items are going on my list.  Hopefully I can get many of these things done over the next few days so that when I start back up with my homeschooling routine on Monday (after two weeks off due to vacation & sickness) there will be easy breakfasts and snacks for the week.   


When I make up my baking list, I put the number of eggs that it is going to take to complete one batch of the recipe, this way I know how many different things I can make with the number of eggs I have on hand!  Eggs were on sale this week so I have 9 dozen eggs on hand!  Not all will be used in baking as I need to keep at least 2 dozen available for a couple of breakfast meals in the next couple of weeks. 


 Here are the items I am planning on baking:

1. Cinnamon Rolls (2)
2. Banana Muffins--without nuts (4) & with nuts (4)
3. Pancakes (3)
4. Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles (2)
5. Zucchini Muffins (3)
6. Pumpkin Choc. Chip Muffins (4)
7. Double Choc. Muffins (2)
8. Orange Juice Muffins (2)
9. Honey Oatmeal Bread (0)
10. Choc. Chip Coffeecake (3)
11. Peanut Butter Cupcakes (3)
12. Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists (0)
13. Bacon, Egg, Cheese Biscuit Cups (7)

I also am planning on making some cookies for the freezer. I have several Betty Crocker cookie mixes(double chocolate, sugar, peanut butter, and oatmeal) that I got on the cheap that I need to use up this month. I usually do a couple of mixes at a time so it takes 2 eggs each batch.  I am going to also try to get some Snickerdoodles made this month as well. 

As for the cooking portion of my list, I work at cooking meal components rather than making whole meals to freeze. The main reason for not doing whole freezer meals is that my family of picky eaters really does not like the texture differences.  So I find that cooking meal components keeps me from feeling like I live in my kitchen. 

Here are the meal components that I will be doing for the month:

• 8lbs of ground beef will be made into: 3-1lb bags of browned meat for use in chili, spaghetti sauce, and tacos. Two meals of 6 ct. burger patties, and 1 meal of meatloaf patties.
• 2 lbs pinto beans cooked up for refried beans and baked beans. 
• cook 2 lbs of bacon
• divide up stew meat into 2 meals  already did this, we ate one and the other was put in the freezer!

I am sure that there is other things that I will be putting together either for my family or for my parents in March but this list will get me focusing on a goal!


If you do freezer cooking or batch cooking, what are your plans for March?


This post is linked to: 

• Freezer Master Plan at MoneySavingMom!

Baking Plan for February PROGRESS Part 2!

WOW Its Friday already!  I crashed Wednesday night after all the cooking and baking I did that day and didn't really touch the computer on Thursday to remember that I needed to come back and give my final results!

SO the final results are...

I got the bone in chicken breast cooked and deboned.  I also got about 2 cups of broth to use in making them soup or gravy. I was able to get about 3 meals from the chicken breast for meals for my parents.

I cut the thick cut pork chops into thin cut pork chops and put half in the freezer for another meal in the next week or two for my family. The other half were made into our Wednesday night dinner.

The mini loaves of honey oatmeal bread was baked and so was the batch of  honey oatmeal rolls that we enjoyed with our Wednesday night dinner!   The rolls I made in such a way where they could have been mistaken for a homemade hamburger bun!  When the rolls were fresh out of the oven I took a margarine/butter stick and smeared it on top of the rolls to make the tops soft rather than being a hard crusted roll.   Oh they were melt in your mouth delicious and the leftovers didn't last very long in my bread basket.

For our Wednesday night dinner, I made a new recipe to us with the pork chops.  I made my friend's, SnoWhite at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, recipe of Easy Italian Pork Chops.  I loved the recipe!  They were easy to put together along with being a quick cooking dish.  The flavor was great too.  The italian seasoning was not too overwhelming and having cheese on pork chops was yummy.  I used yellow mustard for part of the mixture that you dip the chops in because that is what I have on hand.  I liked them enough to make them again, however, the majority of my family did not like them as much and would rather I did not waste my time again to make them.  So I will respect their wishes and not add this dish to my main meal rotation list.

The overall results for the day was 13 meals for my parents, along with 6 meals(well meats portioned into meal size portions) plus two double batches of bread for my family.  As for the orange juice muffins and the Mom's Mcbiscuit sandwiches, well those did not get done on Wednesday!  I made the Mom's McBiscuit Sandwiches yesterday(Thursday) and the orange juice muffins hopefully will get made today!

Oh! I should mention too that I was able to get a load of laundry dried and other load of laundry washed and dried while doing the work in the kitchen.  I guess that would help to understand why I crashed on Wednesday night after doing all that work.

I consider Wednesday a successful day in the kitchen!

Baking Plan for February PROGRESS!

Busy as a bee day at my house today!!  I have been busy in the kitchen working with the meat that I got from my parents' freezer that needed to be cooked up and made into meals because my Mom keeps "forgetting" that she has the meat available to use.

So far I have accomplished for my parents:

• Pork chops cooked into BBQ Pork and separated into FOUR bags for meals.  They have bags of steak fries and buns at their house available to go with this meat.
• Pork sausage cooked into sausage gravy and separated into TWO bags for meals.  When I went shopping for them yesterday I picked up a couple tubes of Grands Biscuits that were on sale so they just have bake the biscuits and heat up the sausage gravy for a great breakfast or dinner.
• Package of three boneless/skinless chicken breasts have been "butterflied" so I had six chicken breasts and cooked.  Then three of them I left whole and put in a bag for them to be thawed for sandwiches or cut up to use in a chicken helper box dinner. The other 3 chicken breasts I diced up and made into chicken taco meat for taco salads.

As for the items I have done for my family: 

• The almost 6 pounds of ground beef has been made into three 1 pound cooked meat to use in quick meals.  I also made 8 ready made burgers(not pictured due to already putting them in the freezer before picture).
• One batch of mini loaves honey oatmeal bread rising!

As I was getting my parents' items ready for the freezer I realized that I hadn't gotten any freezer bags or containers from them to use so I made a quick run to the Dollar Tree for some bags and few containers! 

Next up....bone in chicken, a batch of honey oatmeal rolls and pork chops!

Baking Plan for February Revisited!

At the end of January, I made up a baking plan for February not realizing that I would need to be making up meals for my parents.  I am having to rethink my baking plan to include some actual freezer meals for my parents.  My Mom has gotten to a point where she doesn't want to cook, she would rather have a small bowl of cold cereal and not actually cook something warm for her and my Dad.

I went grocery shopping for them yesterday and got several already made freezer meals to get them started but I don't want that to be their sole source of meals.  I also got them some fresh meat yesterday but I know that my Mom will not cook it but just leave it sit in their freezer to get freezer burned or forgotten about in the fridge.  I brought the meat home along with the fresh/raw meat that was in their freezer that I had just done up in meal portions.

I am still planning on making the majority of the baked goods I listed in my initial baking plan just not going to get them all done in one day!  I also am adding the following items this month to my plan:

For my parents:

• Eight Pork chops made into single serve portions of BBQ pork.
• Four bone in chicken breasts needs to be roasted and de-boned for use in soups or Chicken Helper meals.
• Three boneless/skinless chicken breasts cooked and sliced for sandwiches or chicken tacos. 
• One roll of pork sausage browned and made into single serve portions of sausage gravy.

For my family using the bulk meat from my February Sam's run:

• 4.29 lbs thick sliced pork chops--need to be made into thin cut chops and divided into 2 meals(1 for freezer and 1 for dinner tonight).
• 5.92 lbs ground beef--need to brown about 3 lbs for the freezer and the rest of the meat made into ready made burger patties

If there is time and energy left after doing all of the above: 

• Bake Orange Juice Muffins.
• Make 2 batches of Honey Oatmeal bread dough.(1 batch into rolls, 1 batch of mini loaves)
• Mom McBiscuit Sandwiches (I have leftover biscuits and bacon so I just have to make up some eggs for the sandwiches)

I'll be back later with an update with my accomplishments....

Something More than Restaurant Meals!

My friend, Kate, at Cooking during Stolen Moments posted her top 10 freezer recipes today so I thought I would explain and share what I have done in the past to help my grandmother and my parents have healthy meals in the freezer to eat rather than eating nothing or eating out at restaurants every day.

I make sure that I had some freezer containers that are acceptable for the freezer and could be used in the microwave. My best bet is getting some Rubbermaid type containers because those probably will last longer than getting just Gladware or Ziploc brand plastic containers. I get various sizes and types of containers, so that you can have some for soups, and some for a full meal(maybe look into getting one that is divided into compartments). I also get some quart size freezer bags for those food items that don't need to go into a plastic container. I get enough so that I can do a week's worth of dinner meals. Now I have my containers I can fill them!!

What are good things to put in those containers?:

• beef stew
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken rice soup
• spaghetti
• chili
• stuffed shells
• pork chops
• chicken pot pie
• salisbury steak
• Meatballs- either with tomato sauce or with a brown gravy
• crustless type quiches
• pot roast with veggies
• lasagna
• shepherd's pie

Things with a cream or milk based, I have not had good success with freezing them. Also anything with noodles in it, I don't cook the noodles all the way. That way the dish doesn't end up with mushy, broken down noodles.

Other items that could be put together...

For sloppy joes, and BBQ pork or beef, I put these into individual serving type containers. Then I put the container and a hamburger bun in a ziploc bag so that the person I am making the meals for would know that the two things go together.

For the meatloaf, I make them into individual mini loaves and cook them and then once cooled wrap in foil or plastic wrap and then stick in a freezer bag labeled "meatloaf". That way they could take out the individual loaves and heat up rather than a big loaf. I would also do up some burgers by cooking them and then individually wrapping them and placing them into a quart size ziploc bag.

As for other meals, like breakfast type things, I do up pancakes, french toast, breakfast sandwiches(english muffin or biscuit, cheese, eggs, and a meat), and breakfast burritos. Wrap the sandwiches individually and place in the ziploc bags. For the pancakes and french toast, I would just put wax paper between the layers or flash freeze them and place them in a freezer bag.

Don't forget to add some baked goods to your meals! Homemade breads, quick breads, cookies, coffee cakes, and cakes freeze very well! I even take the time to slice and wrap the breads and cakes into individual servings. Then I put them in a ziploc bag with a label.

The main thing to remember with doing freezer type cooking is that some meals will have a bit of texture change with being frozen compared to being fresh. So I do not make up too many meals ahead of time. Also make sure that you get your containers back so that you can do "refills" for your loved ones!

This post is linked at:

• Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family!

Once A Month Cooking(OAMC)---MY Way!

This past week, I did one of my bi-monthly shopping trips where I stockpiled meat. This is what I do with the meat when I get it home...

For 15-20lbs of ground beef I take and make burgers and meatloaf with the raw meat and freeze them. The burgers get stacked with wax paper between them in a freezer bag. Each freezer bag has the number I need for one meal. I also make meatballs but I cook them and then flash freeze on a cookie sheet and then transfer to a freezer bag. I also brown some of the ground beef and put in plastic containers/freezer bags the amount that I need for a meal of spaghetti, chili, goulash, and sloppy joes.

For chicken meals, I normally just get the Quick frozen boneless chicken breasts/tenders because they are usually on sale more than fresh chicken. So I just take a bag out the night before for the dinner meal the next day. This week however, it was fresh chicken that I had gotten at Sam's in 6lb packages. When I get home I clean and de-fat them and put them in a freezer bag in the number I need for a meal(usually 5-6 breasts do it for my family of 7). Lately, the fresh chicken breasts from Sams have been averaging a pound each and have been thick! So I have only needed to use 3-4 breasts for each of our meals. With the breasts being thick I butterfly them to make the meat stretch a little more. It also helps to butterfly them when you know that you are grilling them because they will cook a little more evenly! I also will cut up the raw chicken to pull out for using in soups and such. I didn't get any whole chickens this week, however, when I get a couple of whole chickens on sale, I like to have them to pull out of the freezer for the next day for a drop in the crock pot and forget type meal! LOL



For pork chops...I get one of those half boneless pork loins and bring it home and slice it into pork chops(or you can have the butcher at the grocery store do it too!) and once again make sure that I put wax paper between the chops and divide it into the meals in freezer bags. OR I get the really thick already cut chops at Sam's and bring them home and butterfly them into thinner chops to get more meals out of them.

The other thing I do is have a baking day where I get a bunch of quick breads/muffins, cookies, and other snacks in the freezer.(This I did a couple of weeks ago before I went shopping) The quick breads/muffins can be used for breakfast along with some scrambled eggs. The cookies are just nice to have for that sweet tooth! LOL

Another thing for breakfast that I have made ahead for my boys is "Mom's Egg McMuffins" toasted english muffin with scrambled egg patty, sliced american cheese, and bacon or ham or sausage patty. Wrap the individually with plastic wrap and then put in a bread bag. When you want one take it out microwave for 20 seconds and then turn it over and microwave for another 20 seconds, if still cold in the middle microwave for 10 more seconds. Let set for 2 minutes and eat! You can use croissants or biscuits for the same type of sandwiches. These can be frozen too!! After making them, just let them cool and double wrap! You can put a frozen sandwich in the microwave and heat for 30-40 seconds! or you can let it thaw in the fridge and then heat up.

I found doing things this way I am not tied down with the precooked meals in the freezer. If I want to try something different/new for a meal I can without having to go to the store to get other meat to use. I also found that doing my meats ahead and putting them in freezer, I have been able to cut the time in the kitchen preparing the meal in half! Most of meals I can get done in an hour or less, unless of course I am using my crock pot! LOL I have found too that it makes planning out my meals for the week a lot easier. After writing down menus, I post them where my dh or dc can see what is going to be for dinner and they can help me make sure that the next day's meat is out thawing the night before we needed it! I also found that when I had a new baby I was able to nurse baby and put down for a nap and then prepare and eat dinner before baby would need my attention again. If I am using my crock pot I would just put the items in the crock pot when I had about 5 minutes in the morning before lunch.

The results of this week:

• 27 burgers made for 3 meals
• 18 pork chops made for 2 meals
• 4 bags browned ground beef for 4 meals
• 6 bags chicken for 6 meals

It has been too hot to bake this week, so I premeasured some fruits and zucchini to freeze for breads or muffins for when the weather is cooler. I have:

• 4-2 cup bags of shredded zucchini
• 2 bags mashed bananas
• 6 containers of blueberries

This post is linked at:

• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

Baking Day Accomplishments!

I did not get everything done on my list today. However, I did get much of it done and there are at least two more days this week that temperatures are going to be around the 70° mark so I should have plenty of time to finish the list and maybe even add a few more things to the list!

Here is more of what I got done today...
A box of brownies from the pantry!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins! Thanks to Crystal-MoneySavingMom for sharing the recipe! These are soooo yummy!! My kids are inhaling them and even making comments like "I am going to have one before they are all gone!". I did change the recipe some in that instead of 1 1/2 cups oil I only did 1 cup oil. I also used 1 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice instead 1 tsp cinnamon.

After making my mini loaves of bread today, I kept the bread machine humming with another batch of dough to make these yummy honey oatmeal rolls! I use my honey oatmeal bread recipe and the dough setting on my bread machine and then when the cycle is done just make as many dough balls as I can! Today there was a total of 17 rolls out of 2lb loaf recipe.

I wanted to take the time to show you the way I freeze my homemade mini loaf bread. Once the bread is cool, I wrap the whole bread loaf in just foil and then I stick two mini loaves in a gallon size ziploc bag and suck the air with a straw and label the bag. This way I can stick in the freezer and not worry about freezer burn on the bread. Also this way allows me to take the bread out of the freezer and the plastic bag and right to my oven to warm up to go with a meal. Or to thaw without the bread getting mushy from water with it being frozen. I also like doing the bread this way because it is easy to take out just one loaf to use as well.

So this is the end of the baking day! Even though my initial list did not get completed I feel like I accomplished a lot of baking along with watching my five children and making sure that they were fed throughout the day.

This post is linked at:

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!
  
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace!
  
• I am Blissfully Domestic at Blissfully Domestic!

Baking Day Progress!

Earlier today, I made a list of goodies that I wanted to get baked today and either in my freezer or available for us to munch on throughout the week.

While the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are baking I thought I would show you pictures of my progress so far!

This picture is everything I made this morning before lunch! I did two chocolate chocolate chip cookie mixes and one rainbow chocolate chip cookie mix from the Betty Crocker cookie mixes that I have stashed in my pantry!!!

This is the amish friendship chocolate bread! I had two cups of starter in my freezer that needed to be used up so I made this yummy bread!

I had NINE bananas that needed to get used today so that the fruit flies wouldn't find them and become a nuisance in my kitchen! I decided since we love banana bread I would make some in a variety of sizes! I made triple batch of banana bread and ended up with 21 minis, 12 regular, and 6 big muffins along with two loaves of bread.
The 6 big banana muffins is the batch that I put chopped walnuts in the batter. My hubby and oldest son like the muffins with nuts so these will be a nice morning breakfast for them with a side of eggs.
Then finally so far is the 4 mini loaves of honey oatmeal bread! These will be nice addition to our meals this week or for me to do some mini sandwiches for the kids.

There is still brownies, jello cake, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, orange juice muffins and the cherry muffins. The pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are baking now! Off to go check on them!

**You can see the rest of the day here!!!**

Baking Day

The temperature outside is only in the mid 60s today!! NO more 80° or 90° days for a few days, so I am taking advantage of the cooler weather to get some baking done to stock the freezer with goodies!

On my list today:

• Banana Bread and Muffins--bananas that need to be used!
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Chocolate Bread
• Jello Cake
• Honey Oatmeal Bread
• Rainbow Chip Cookies(mix from pantry)
• Double Chocolate Cookies(mix from pantry)
• Brownies(mix from pantry)
• Cherry Bread or Muffins(new recipe, using fresh cherries that need to be used!)

Stay tune....I'll post recipes and pictures as the day progresses!

Works for Me Wednesday---Sharing Leftovers

Every once in a while I will fix a meal that my picky eater kids really do not prefer to eat but my hubby and I enjoy for some thing different. 

Such was the case last week when I fixed homemade chicken pot pie for dinner.  I asked the kids if they were willing to try it again and they assured me that they would try the pot pie.  I had one say that they would prefer it as soup over pie. So I set aside some of the filling for that one child and put the rest into a 9x13 pan with a pie crust top.  I know not a true potpie but it allows those that do not want to eat the pie crust the option of just setting it aside. 

Dinner was served. My older two boys really enjoyed it.  One of them even commented that they liked it better with the crust than without it.   I still had several "hold outs" in wanting to eat it, however the rule is at my house that you have to eat was fixed--no cafeteria menus are available.  

With several just eating the small portion that they were served there was much of the chicken pot pie left as leftovers.  Knowing that my kids would not eat the leftovers of this meal, I decided that I would put the leftovers into individual serving containers rather than in one big container. Putting the pot pie into individual servings allows me to put them in the freezer for hubby's lunch later or to be able to share the extras with my elderly parents, or my elderly neighbor, or hubby's co-workers.  

This works for me because I do not have to worry about the leftovers going to waste and others are able to enjoy someone else's cooking and not go hungry!

For more Works for me Wednesday, head over to We are THAT Family!

Thursday Thirteen--Freezing Meals

After talking about fixing and freezing individual meals for the elderly, I decided to give you thirteen guidelines to think about when putting together freezer meals.

1. Don't thaw frozen raw meat and then re-freeze it without cooking it thoroughly first.   This is why when I get purchase my meat in bulk, I take the time to cook or divide it into meal size portions. 
   
   
2. Hard boiled eggs tend to get rubbery after thawing.  If you are going to freeze them, chop them into very fine pieces and they should be okay.
   
   
3. Cornstarch-thickened sauces, cheese sauces, and gravies made with milk tend to separate when being reheated after freezing if they are frozen by themselves. However, if they are mixed with other ingredients they are fine. 
   
   
4. Don't freeze raw vegetables(except for diced onions, green pepper and celery) unless they have been blanched. Blanching is a short period of cooking that seals in color, texture, vitamins and flavor.   I like to just buy already frozen vegetables to stir into my recipes after the recipe has cooled and is ready for the freezer. 
   
   
5. Cured meats like ham or bacon should be eaten within a month of freezing.  After that they seem to lose color and flavor. 
   
   
6. Be aware that some seasonings change in intensity and flavor when frozen. Salt, green pepper and celery seem to lose some of their flavoring while black pepper, cloves, bay leaves, onions, sage, and artificial vanilla become more intense in flavor. 
   
   
7. Deep fried foods will not stay crispy after thawing and re-heating. 
   
   
8. Egg and milk substitutes freeze well in most recipes. 
   
   
9. Fully cooked pasta, dry beans and rice tend to turn mushy when frozen in liquids or sauces. Undercook them by half the time if you plan on stirring them into a sauce or broth before freezing.
   
   
10. Salad vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes don't freeze well.  Actually they freeze well it is the thawing of them that does them more harm!
    
    
11. When freezing a new recipe, only freeze one meal to see if it freezes well. You will not be saving yourself time or money if you freeze a meal that doesn't thaw and reheat well enough to be liked by your family. 
    
    
12. Don't put hot foods into freezer bags....completely cool the foods first!
    
    
13. In the event of a power outage, don't throw the food out because the food may still be safe to use. Without power, a full upright or chest freezer will keep everything frozen for 2 days. A half full freezer will keep food frozen for 1 day. However, anything over 6 hours it would be best to put blocks or bags of ice in the freezer until power is restored. 
    
    

For more lists, head over to Happy to be at Home.

URS: Freezer Friendly Meals

Instead of sharing one recipe today that would be freezer friendly, I thought I would explain what I have done in the past to help my grandmother and my parents have healthy meals in the freezer to eat rather than eating nothing or eating out at restaurants every day. 

I make sure that I had some freezer containers that are acceptable for the freezer and could be used in the microwave. My best bet is getting some Rubbermaid type containers because those probably will last longer than getting just Gladware or Ziploc brand plastic containers. I get various sizes and types of containers, so that you can have some for soups, and some for a full meal(maybe look into getting one that is divided into compartments). I also get some quart size freezer bags for those food items that don't need to go into a plastic container. I get enough so that I can do a week's worth of dinner meals. Now I have my containers I can fill them!!

What are good things to put in those containers?:

• beef stew
• chicken noodle soup
• chicken rice soup
• spaghetti
• chili
• stuffed shells
• pork chops
• chicken pot pie
• salisbury steak
• Meatballs- either with tomato sauce or with a brown gravy
• crustless type quiches
• pot roast with veggies
• lasagna
• shepherd's pie

Things with a cream or milk based, I have not had good success with freezing them. Also anything with noodles in it, I don't cook the noodles all the way. That way the dish doesn't end up with mushy, broken down noodles.

Other items that could be put together...

For sloppy joes, and BBQ pork or beef, I put these into individual serving type containers. Then I put the container and a hamburger bun in a ziploc bag so that the person I am making the meals for would know that the two things go together.

For the meatloaf, I make them into individual mini loaves and cook them and then once cooled wrap in foil or plastic wrap and then stick in a freezer bag labeled "meatloaf". That way they could take out the individual loaves and heat up rather than a big loaf. I would also do up some burgers by cooking them and then individually wrapping them and placing them into a quart size ziploc bag.

As for other meals, like breakfast type things, I do up pancakes, french toast, breakfast sandwiches(english muffin or biscuit, cheese, eggs, and a meat), and breakfast burritos. Wrap the sandwiches individually and place in the ziploc bags. For the pancakes and french toast, I would just put wax paper between the layers or flash freeze them and place them in a freezer bag.

Don't forget to add some baked goods to your meals! Homemade breads, quick breads, cookies, coffee cakes, and cakes freeze very well! I even take the time to slice and wrap the breads and cakes into individual servings. Then I put them in a ziploc bag with a label.

The main thing to remember with doing freezer type cooking is that some meals will have a bit of texture change with being frozen compared to being fresh. So I do not make up too many meals ahead of time. Also make sure that you get your containers back so that you can do "refills" for your loved ones!

For more freezer friendly recipes, head over to Life As A Mom.

**originally posted January, 2008

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

I love buying in bulk because it saves me money and time. But I don't like dealing with those big packages on a daily basis. So when I do my Sam's run or my grocery shopping and come home with those huge containers of items, I take the time to do what I call "divide and freeze" or "divide and store".

Here is a 5lb bag of pepperoni. It is the only topping other than cheese and sauce that goes on our homemade pizzas!
I took the time to divide it into five-1# bags for the freezer. By doing the dividing, I can just pull out the one bag and not worry about defrosting more than I will need for one meal(which is 3 or 4 pizzas). The 5# bag costs $12.57 so that is $2.51 per lb. In the grocery stores, I usually can't find pepperoni for under $4 per lb.

I have talked before about my version of once a month cooking but I wanted to show you one of the ways I handle dividing up my packages of ground beef! This is 4.32lbs ground beef from round that I got on markdown last week! I was able to make 13 decent size hamburgers from that meat!

I took the 13 burgers and put them into one gallon size freezer bag. I put them into two different "stacks" one at the bottom of the bag and one at the top. Then I labeled the bag with the number that was in each "stack". This way, I can pull the bag out of the freezer and get out just one "stack" for a meal and cross off the number that I used. I used the gallon size bag rather than a quart size bag so I wasn't using LOTS of bags. Doing up the burgers this way saves me lots of time especially on those nights when I need to do something quick and have no meat thawed! I can pull out a "stack" of burgers and pull them apart and put them on my "indoor grill"(similar to a George Foreman grill) and have dinner done in a 1/2 hour!

These are just a couple of ways that I save time with my meal preparations. Looking for other "shortcuts" to meal prep, check out Fishmama's post here! She gives some great tips!

For other kitchen tips, head over to Tammy's Recipes!

Homemade Frozen Hash Browns

Back when it was just the two of us, I would take the time to make homemade hashbrowns. I would just shred raw potatoes and cook them. Well that got to be really time consuming once we started having children so I would just buy Ore-Ida frozen hash browns by the 6 lb bag at Sam's every month!

I have been buying them for years! And it seems now that there is 7 of us eating I end up being short for one or two times I want to fix them at towards the end of the month.

So instead of going to the store just for hash browns and since I currently have over 20 lbs of fresh potatoes in my food storage. I took the time to do some research to find a homemade hash brown recipe.

Well what I found were recipes where people cooked their potatoes whole either with the skins on or off, then let them cool for several hours or overnight and then shredded the potatoes for hashbrowns.

So over the weekend, I took the time to go through the peeling and cooking of the potatoes. I peeled them and boiled them whole for the smaller ones and cut the bigger ones in half. Once they were tender-just enough to stick a fork through them. I drained the water and let them cool til after the kids were in bed(about 5 hours). Then I shredded them on a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper and put them in the freezer to do a flash freeze of them. Once they were slightly frozen I left them on the wax paper and stuck them in a container back in the freezer where I can use them a "sheet" at a time or all at once.

HAH! Frozen hash browns!! The potatoes being cooked there is no browning or anything of them! They look very similar to store bought frozen shredded hash browns!

You can do this method for diced potatoes as well. I would par cook the whole potatoes, cool, dice, and put in freezer bags. :)

You can do this homemade french fries too...par cook then slice then deep fry for about 5 minutes(just so they are a little crispy on the outside--not brown) and cool and freeze.

For other kitchen tips, head over to Tammy's Recipes!

Also go check out this new to me blog, Blessed with Grace that hosts Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays because there is more kitchen or food goodness! Also go to Freezer Food Friday for other freezing recipes!

**updated to answer questions that was left in the comments**

A Glimpse of a day in Sonshine's life...

In an effort to keep things real and show that I do more than sit in front of the computer daily. Here is a glimpse into my day! Just the basics and doesn't include diaper changes, wiping runny noses, or being "referee".

~~showered and dressed by 8:30am (that is an accomplishment in and of itself since usually it doesn't happen til lunchtime!)

~~breakfast for all (cereal & bagels)

~~checked email and made sure direct deposit was in

~~checked to make sure all library books had been gathered.

~~went to the library for an hour

~~lunch for all (chicken nuggets & tater tots)

~~went to the DMV to renew my driver's license and had to wait 45 minutes before waited on. ALL total was in there for 50 minutes!

~~went to the grocery store and spent approx. $80 for the week's worth of groceries. I still need to make it to another grocery store for about another $20 then my grocery shopping will be done for the week. :)

~~took care of the groceries.

~~made up burger patties for the freezer.

~~cooked 1# of bacon for breakfast sandwiches.

~~cooked/browned 2# hamburger for the freezer.

~~made a batch of brownies

~~made dinner for all (homemade pizza & breadsticks)

~~made breakfast sandwiches (4 sausage,egg & cheese and 6 bacon, egg, & cheese)

~~made a batch of M&M cookies(I cheated and used one of my bargain cookie mixes so I just had to add softened butter and 1 egg to mix them up!)

~~did 3 loads of laundry(wash & dried) they are now waiting to be folded!!

~~kids did school today too. (I didn't work with my kdger. though!)

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Last week, I posted about getting back into the groove of freezer storage and cooking.

One of the things, I like doing for some of my freezer cooking is finding "manager special markdowns" on meats! I love to get the markdown meat and bring them home to either cook up or just stock the freezer.

One of the meats that I like to find on markdown are beef roasts, or top round steaks or other lean cuts of meat that I can cut up in cubes and brown. Then once it is cooked thru taking the meat and dividing it up with the juices in the pan and sticking in my freezer.

Last week, I found some top round steaks on markdown that were not very big. I think the two of them totaled around one pound. Even though that would not have been enough for a meal for my family of 7 to keep them whole it was enough to cube up into 1/2 inch cubes.

Instead of putting it in the freezer, we had it for dinner. I took a can of beef broth along with the juices that the beef produced and had a meal of beef gravy over egg noodles with peas and bread as sides. A filling meal without alot of meat!

While I was cooking up the meat, I started thinking that I should have taken the time to get more and about what else I could have done with the meat had I stuck in the freezer.

The types of meals that I do up with the beef cubes are: beef gravy, beef/steak tacos, veggie beef stew. I am sure that there is more I could do with the beef cubes but this is what the family enjoys! I love having a meat that can be frozen that ends up being so versatile!

At any rate, the kitchen tip out of all that rambling is....when doing freezer cooking and storage it is okay not to actually have full meal entrees ready to go but to have various meats to a certain point where you could make a variety of meals within a matter of minutes. Also thinking outside the box for uses for certain cuts of meat can add to your advantage of feeding your family for less.

For other kitchen tips, recipes and more; head over to Tammy's Recipes!

Freezer Storage & Cooking

My friend, Kate, has inspired me with all the freezer cooking she has done this past week! If you want any of her recipes you can find them here! She even has a trick for freezing homemade tortillas that I am going to try the next time I do some up!


Anyway, she has inspired me to get back into the groove of freezer cooking but first some rearranging of the items in my freezers is in order to see if there might be any room to stick in some more homemade goodness. Right now this is what my freezers look like. Yes, it is full of all the good deals that I have snagged in the last few weeks or those freezer items from my monthly Sam's run with a few homemade goodies added to the mix.

As you can see the freezer over my fridge is pretty stuffed! It doesn't help that we have an ice maker and ice container that takes up 1/4 of the shelf! Despite the size of it, I don't want to get rid of it because it is a nice "convenience" for having ice on hand at all times. This is where I keep most of my use every day or open packages. Just yesterday I found two open bags of cinnamon raisin bagels in there that I combined into one for a little more room.

Some of the things that I have found to help me in my freezer storage...

I have found that using the same size plastic containers or using freezer bags is the best route to go when working at getting a freezer full of homemade goodness. You want things easy to stack and relatively easy to find!

It also helps if you need to rearrange things before putting more items into the freezer that you take the time to do an inventory of everything you have in the freezer. This helps with knowing what you have available for meals, hence less shopping and less waste.

I usually have no problems with freezer burn when I put my homemade goodness in freezer bags and stick them in the freezer. As long as I make sure that the foods are totally cold so that the moisture from the foods doesn't create ice in the bag when they are put in the freezer.

Also, if my freezer hasn't been defrosted in a while and there is ice accumulating on the shelves, my baked goods don't like that and will taste freezer burned. So having a freezer without alot of ice build up is a good thing, not only will it be more energy efficient but less of your foods will taste or have freezer burn. Having dollar store baskets available to stick your baked goods in and place in the freezer would be another alternative to keep those baked goods off the ice. As you can see from my pics, I have done away with the baskets!

The other thing I would recommend is to date your freezer bags or containers so that you know how long the food has been in the freezer. Around here homemade goodness usually does not last 3 weeks in the freezer, however, it can keep up to 4 months in the freezer and still have a "fresh taste". Freezer storage is great when you know how long items will last and still "taste" fresh!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday--Question Answered

Taking the time today to answer a question by a reader....

Megan writes:

I came across your blog from MoneySavingMom! I am absolutely amazed!! I wish so bad I could plan out what was for breakfast,lunch, and dinner each week. I wish I could make a bunch of things on Sunday and freeze them for the week! I know it would save me SO much money because, when I get off work it is just so much easier to run and go grab something but, I need to cook!! It is only my boyfriend and I so there should be no excuses!! Any tips you could give me I would greatly appreciate!!!

Megan, here is what I do for my cooking and menu planning system. It is not a flawless system, I still have convenience items in my pantry and freezer for those nights that are rushed or I don't feel like cooking. We also still eat out on occasion as well.

I have a system that works well in my house. It is multi-faceted and some times seems complex but it works well when everyone in my family participates! I have made up my own Master Grocery List in MS Word and I print it off each month and put it on my fridge. Then when we are low or out of something that I normally buy the item gets circled or highlighted by the person who is using the last of it or says they are taking the last one. This way, I know I need to get it from the store the next time I do my shopping.

I also have a blank monthly calendar page that I printed off of the computer that I put on my fridge where I write in pencil what the dinner meal was for that day. This is to helps me in two ways: 1. I know what the oldest things are in the fridge so they are used up before they spoil. And 2. I know what order of single serving leftovers to stick in dh's lunches.

I have also made up a MS Word document for my weekly meals. I take the time to plan out all of our meals and snacks for the week. If I didn't do this, my kids would eat the same snack item til it is gone! My kids would continue their incessant question("What's for ________?") before each meal! And I would be doing the 5'oclock rush/stress to figure out dinner and find that I forgot to pull meat out of the freezer so it will take til about 7'oclock or later before we are sitting down to the table for dinner or I just give up and order out. Ordering out though would not be good or healthy for us, esp. for dh who struggles with high cholesterol.


What I do while I am menu planning: I look at my calendar, if I am having a busy day then I make sure that lunch is something quick and the kids can get themselves, and dinner is not an elaborate meal. I look in my freezer and pantry to see what meals I can make from them. I look at the grocery ads for the week to see if there is any good sales or loss leaders that I need to purchase to complete my meals. I am one that likes to have a stocked freezer to choose meals from so that if there is a week that doesn't have good sales at any of the stores, I can just use my freezer and pantry.

There is one last thing that I have took the time to do when setting up my meal planning system is I made a "Menu Suggestion Lists". I wrote down every main dish, sides, lunches, and snacks that my family likes and then I just plug in the items on different days to make up lunch and dinner meals and snacks. I have recently started planning breakfasts too!

As for the cooking part of my system is rather simple because I would rather bake than cook! I don't like to cook so I try to do meals that either will go well in the crockpot or that I can do from start to finish in 30-45 minutes each night. In order for me to spend so little time in the kitchen, I do some prep work after each of my grocery shopping trips. It is similar to the Once A Month Cooking method but it works better for my family of picky eaters. You can read about my version here. I also make sure that when I am making up meals that I make extra to stick in the fridge for having leftovers during the week or the extra gets put in the freezer for a quick pull for later in the month.

I would love to hear your tips!!! Anyone else have the same problems as Megan? If so, what have you found to help you get meals on the table rather than getting take out?

To read other's tips, recipes and more, check out Kitchen Tips over at Tammy's Recipes!! Today Tammy tells us about her egg salad shortcut and asks for other shortcuts.