Freezer Cooking

I did it!!! I took something from Pinterest and I did it! I have been wanting to try freezer cooking for a while. So, when my sweet mother-in-law Kathy asked what she could make for us while she was here visiting Macy, I instantly thought of this. The idea is that you make everything in one sitting thus you have one mess and one clean up. You freeze it all and then take it out of the freezer the night before and throw it in the crock pot the next day! Sounds awesome for a new momma of two!

I found a woman who was the originator of these particular recipes at Ring Around the Rosies Blog (a popular Pinterest post from last month) and I sent it to Kathy. There were about eight recipes on her site (each producing two meals quantity-wise) and then she referenced a couple on another blog called Momma and Baby Love. Kathy thought that maybe she would make four for us or something on her own one day. No way! I wanted to help with this and we totally slammed it out together!

Here are the things that we made (recipes below):

-Sausage and Peppers

-Beef Stroganoff

-Teriyaki Chicken

-Savory Chicken

-2 lb of Italian Ground Meat

-2 lb of Mexican Ground Meat

-Chicken Stock and Shredded Chicken

-Lazy Day Stew

-Sweet and Tangy Meatballs

-Healthy Momma's BBQ Chicken

-Stephanie's Goulash

Here is how our day went. I looked through the recipes (and added one more because we had so much ground beef) and made the grocery list. With all of these recipes, I was happy to say that I just had 25 different items to buy and the rest was already in my pantry. The total grocery bill was just $110 (like I said, we did have all of the ground beef which did save us some money)!!! Kathy went shopping for me (thank you!) and then we pulled out the rest of the ingredients before lunch time and thawed our meat (huge time saver if things are totally thawed). The lady (at Ring Around the Rosies) claimed that she cooked, bagged, and cleaned during her daughters afternoon nap, so we were going to see if that was possible (with two of us!). We were all prepped and ready to begin as soon as I put Mack down (Macy just hung out and watched!).

Excited to get started!

We had an awesome first hour of cooking and bagging (think I bagged like eight meals, four different recipes). Then, Macklin finally decided that he had enough of his bed and he was not in the mood for napping (seriously, today???). So, then I went MIA for about an hour and a half before Justin rescued us and gave us a bit of time to finish up. I worked for two hours. Kathy worked for probably four hours (total of six man hours)....not quite the 2-3 hour afternoon nap time, but I think we would be faster if we did it again. It was nice having her on the sautéing jobs and I was the chopper and bagger. It was a great experience and, needless to say, I am super proud of our results!

Some things to think about...

-Be sure to get enough freezer bags - apparently regular bags and freezer bags are different...learning new things all the time ;)

-Plan ahead and be sure to have everything

-Prep your space and your ingredients before getting started

-If you don't have this big of a time chunk, I would saute everything first, chop everything next, then mix it all. So it could be split up a bit but then you lose the benefits of doing it all at once (one mess and one clean up).

-I have not actually eaten any of these recipes yet (I will have to post when I do) so I cannot attest to the taste quite yet. But now that I have done this once, I think I will be constantly looking for recipes that I can do this with in the future.

Here are the recipes I used. I have a nice pretty PDF version too so if you want it, just comment and I will send it to you! FYI - most comments on the recipes are from the original sources, I did add a few myself though.

Savory Chicken (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

4-6 chicken breasts

2 cans stewed tomatoes

4 Tbs white wine

2 bay leafs

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large onion (I put one small in each bag)

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp salt

4 cups broccoli

Follow directions above, and put everything (except broccoli) into two gallon freezer bags. shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Cook on low 8 hours, add broccoli during the last 30 minutes.

Lazy Day Stew (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

4lb cubed stewing beef

4 cups baby carrots

4 cups baby red potatoes (cut in half)

2 medium onions, chopped

10 oz package dried lima beans (optional)

2 cups celery, chopped

4 tsp quck-cooking tapioca

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 15 oz can tomato sauce (1/2 in each bag)

2 cup water

2 Tbs brown sugar

Follow directions above, and put everything into two one gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Cook on low 8 hours, Eat as a soup, or serve over hot noodles or rice. I add a li'l bit of shredded cheddar or mozzarella.

Sweet & Tangy Meatballs (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

1 large bag of meatballs (or 2 small, you want about 12-14 meatballs per bag)

2 jar grape jelly

20 oz bbq sauce

Put everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in freezer. Instructions for Bag: Cook on low for 2-4 hours ‘til warmed completely. Serve over hot rice w/ a side of veggies

Sausage & Peppers (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

6 Italian Sausage (or chicken sausage), browned

2 green peppers

1 red pepper

1 large red onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans italian diced tomatoes

drizzle olive oil

1 Tbs Italian seasoning

Follow directions above, and put everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Cook on low 8 hours, or grill. After cooking, serve over hot pasta or on hollowed out, buttered crusty bread.

Browned Ground Chuck (I cook this while I’m throwing other meals together)

– Italian Style (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

2 lb ground chuck (I always use at least 85/20%, and buy it in bulk on sale)

1 large chopped onion

2 shredded carrots (I add these to a lot of meals, easy/cheap way to bulk up a meal & add nutrition)

salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste you could also go ahead and add diced tomatoes if you want

Brown everything together, drain, put everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Add to spaghetti, Shepherd's Pie, other casseroles)

- Mexican Style (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

2 lb ground chuck (I always use at least 85/20%, and buy it in bulk on sale)

1 large chopped onion

2 shredded carrots (I add these to a lot of meals, easy/cheap way to bulk up a meal & add nutrition)

salt, pepper, taco seasoning & cumin to taste

you could also go ahead and add diced tomatoes if you want

Brown everything together, drain, put everything into two gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Add to tacos, nachos, enchiladas, other casseroles)

Shredded Chicken & Stock (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

(I cook this while I’m throwing other meals together)

4 large chicken breast

2 large onions, sliced

3-4 large carrots

4-5 stalks of celery

salt & pepper as desired

Throw all of above into a large stock pot full of boiling water. Boil ‘til chicken is completely done (about 20 minutes). Once it’s done, remove and toss veges, remove chicken and cool completely. once cooled, shred with a fork (or in stand mixer with paddle attachment). Place into two gallon freezer bags, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Add to tacos, salads, casseroles, chicken salad, sandwiches, etc. ***I stored the shredded chicken in 1 cup amounts in freezer bags. -MB

Pour broth into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, remove from tray and place in freezer bags. Use 2-4 as needed at a time in soups, casseroles, stews, and other recipes! ***I froze the broth into cubes and containers, but I also saved the veggies to start a soup. -MB

Teriyaki Chicken (Recipe from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html)

Medium – Large bag of carrots

Red Onion into Large Chunks

2 large cans pineapple (undrained)

4 Garlic Cloves

4 Chicken Breasts

1 cup teriyaki sauce

Follow directions above, and split everything into two gallon freezer bags. shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Add 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce to crock pot, Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Serve over hot rice

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken
(Find it here: http://mamaandbabylove.com/2011/04/05/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker-recipes/)

Stephanie’s Goulash
(Find it here: http://mamaandbabylove.com/2011/04/05/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker-recipes/)

Beef Stroganoff (recipe from Fix It and Forget It Cookbook)

2lb ground beef

2 onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

can of mushrooms

1.5 cups sour cream

4 Tbsp. flour

2.5 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup beef bouillon

3 Tbsp. tomato paste

Brown the meat with the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Mix the flour and sour cream. Add all ingredients to one gallon freezer bag. Directions for bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours and serve over noodles.