Freezer Post #1: Get Ready!

Our lives afterschool until bed time are crazy in the fall. Football practices and scrimmages, as well as, kids still playing outside because it is still so light outside make for a very rushed dinner time. I noticed last year that we ate out almost every night the month of August...way too much for our budget and our waistlines. I decided to try a freezer day. If you have never heard of this, it is exactly what it says. I took last Sunday to make as many meals as I could and threw them all in the freezer. That way I am able to pull out one everyday for that nights meal. This did a few things for us:


1. it forces me to eat what we already have in the house. There is NO EXCUSE for us not to eat at home because there are several different meals to chose from.

2. it forces me to prepare meals with the food I have in the house, only having to buy a few things to complete the meal

3. it forces me to step out of my cooking box. I tend to start making the same meals and we all get tired of that! It also forces me to try different things in the recipes to try and make them better or healthier

4. I get to control the portion sizes that I freeze or make at a time. For example, one of the casseroles I made on Sunday was a 12 portion cassarole. If I had made that one afternoon, I would have more than likely made the whole casserole and we would have ended up with tons of leftovers. Which more than likely would have gotten eaten but sometimes they go down the sink. It also probably meant that we would have had more than a portion at dinner that night, which is what we are working on as mommy and daddy


So here was my method to this madness called Freezer Sunday. I hope it helps those of you get started on the homemade meals path. I am going to do this a little bit at a time to give you time to think about your own path.

Prepare and gather ideas for your freezer day:

*My first step was to go through my freezer, deep freeze, pantry, and even fridge to see what we had to work with already. I had quite a bit of little things here and there. I wrote down what I thought would help me with finding recipes. Here is what I found on a handy chart:




* After I compiled this list I went through and wrote down meals I could make out of the stuff I have without having to buy anything on my calendar:




* Then I pulled out my crock pot cook book. I pulled this one out for obvious reasons but I also haven't cooked alot with this one so I wanted to try some of the recipes in it. I went through the cookbook at least twice writing down all the recipes I thought sounded good and had some of the stuff I already had on hand.








* I then wrote down any meals that I could think of or wanted to make with some of the things I already had.

* Then I took both lists and compiled it onto my calendar. This doesn't mean you HAVE to eat it on that day, it is just a planning tool for me to help visualize what meals I need to make. I also added on this calendar what sides I would put with these, if they needed it.






Right here is a good stopping point. And I wanted to add a few little things:

-right now I am not so worried of how much I spent....of course wanting to save as much money as I can but I won't know for a couple days how much I truely spent. This is my path. I want to start with this to see how efficient I can be. I found that many of these meals made two pans of stuff for us so that will play into how next months budget goes.

- I am all new to this so please be aware that this is how I am doing it and starting this journey of being a more organized and effective mom.


I hope that this has helped get you started. Tomorrow I will be posting my grocery list and what stores I went to along with prices. Happy Tuesday!!