I get dinner on the table more now than I did even before we had kids
The whole getting dinner ready process takes about 15 minutes every day and I mean the ENTIRE getting ready process, drinks, bibs, buckled into highchairs, dishing up servings, etc...
I get a LOT of questions about it so I will just answer once and for all what I do.
I don't think I do what the 'book' say so here is what I tweeked for our family,
you can probably 'google' to see what other do and then make it your own
(or just steal mine!)
Day 1 (30 minutes)
#1 - Use 5-6 recipes
#2 - Decide whether to double or triple the recipe. (about 15 meals)
#3 - Make list
Day 2
#4 - Shop
Day 3 (1.5-2 hours)
#5 - Prepare/Assemble
#6 - Cover, Label, Freeze!
Notes:
- I prepare the meals up to a 'rock' state. all that means is that you don't actually cook them, you just assemble and then freeze
My only regular exception to this is with a beef stew recipe....I cook it and then separate and freeze, after thawing it just needs a quick reheat
- I don't have a separate freezer space (picture below)
- I use about 3 crockpot recipes, doubled and 3 casserole type dishes (enchiladas, lasagnas/spaghetti's, Shepard's pie, etc...), doubled or tripled.
- I double or triple the casserole dishes AND freeze them in halves. We don't eat a 9x13 pan of anything before it goes bad - if your family does you may want to up your original number of recipes and still double them
- Crockpot recipes are the best! You just bag up all the ingredients in a freezer bag, label what it is and how long to cook, squeeze out as much air as possible and freeze! Lay flat in the freezer so they they freeze flat and they won't take up a lot of room - it's best to thaw them before adding to crockpot
- You can't use store brand Freezer bags!!!!!! Very bad, very messy, very maddening
- I freeze all of my casserole type meals in the 8x8 disposable foil pans, I use freezer Press'n Seal and Foil on top (a little cautious...I know)
The less air in between the foil/press 'n seal the less freezer burn you'll have - the goal is no extra air!
- Don't fill your 8x8's or 9x13's too full, you'll want to stack pans in the freezer and you need to leave room for them to squish without spilling out, making a mess in your freezer!
- I label all the tops with what's inside, how to thaw (see below), how long and at what temp to cook and I label the side with a quick description of what's inside so when I look in the freezer I don't have to unbury to see what I want (Ench for enchiladas, spag for spaghetti, mani for manicotti, etc.)
- the best way to thaw any frozen meal is to put in fridge for about 24 hours. so, every night when I put my meal in the oven or serve out of the crock pot, I take the next nights meal out of the freezer and put it in the fridge
- I like to go mostly vegetarian. It's healthy and it cuts out about and hour and a half of prep time. I add black beans to a lot of recipes!
- It's called Once A Month cooking but you don't really need 30 meals. Because I do this I don't feel bad at all if one night we decide to do Grilled Cheese or Hot Dogs, Pizza or Sandwiches for dinner, some nights we eat out, sometimes we eat leftovers, 16 frozen meals seem to work best for us and seemed to be the number I kept hearing from others as well - each family will be different here!
- I always work into the plan one to three meals that can be given away.
- I buy the SteamFresh frozen veggies, all sorts, to serve with most of the meals.
The whole getting dinner ready process takes about 15 minutes every day and I mean the ENTIRE getting ready process, drinks, bibs, buckled into highchairs, dishing up servings, etc...
I get a LOT of questions about it so I will just answer once and for all what I do.
I don't think I do what the 'book' say so here is what I tweeked for our family,
you can probably 'google' to see what other do and then make it your own
(or just steal mine!)
Day 1 (30 minutes)
#1 - Use 5-6 recipes
#2 - Decide whether to double or triple the recipe. (about 15 meals)
#3 - Make list
Day 2
#4 - Shop
Day 3 (1.5-2 hours)
#5 - Prepare/Assemble
#6 - Cover, Label, Freeze!
Notes:
- I prepare the meals up to a 'rock' state. all that means is that you don't actually cook them, you just assemble and then freeze
My only regular exception to this is with a beef stew recipe....I cook it and then separate and freeze, after thawing it just needs a quick reheat
- I don't have a separate freezer space (picture below)
- I use about 3 crockpot recipes, doubled and 3 casserole type dishes (enchiladas, lasagnas/spaghetti's, Shepard's pie, etc...), doubled or tripled.
- I double or triple the casserole dishes AND freeze them in halves. We don't eat a 9x13 pan of anything before it goes bad - if your family does you may want to up your original number of recipes and still double them
- Crockpot recipes are the best! You just bag up all the ingredients in a freezer bag, label what it is and how long to cook, squeeze out as much air as possible and freeze! Lay flat in the freezer so they they freeze flat and they won't take up a lot of room - it's best to thaw them before adding to crockpot
- You can't use store brand Freezer bags!!!!!! Very bad, very messy, very maddening
- I freeze all of my casserole type meals in the 8x8 disposable foil pans, I use freezer Press'n Seal and Foil on top (a little cautious...I know)
The less air in between the foil/press 'n seal the less freezer burn you'll have - the goal is no extra air!
- Don't fill your 8x8's or 9x13's too full, you'll want to stack pans in the freezer and you need to leave room for them to squish without spilling out, making a mess in your freezer!
- I label all the tops with what's inside, how to thaw (see below), how long and at what temp to cook and I label the side with a quick description of what's inside so when I look in the freezer I don't have to unbury to see what I want (Ench for enchiladas, spag for spaghetti, mani for manicotti, etc.)
- the best way to thaw any frozen meal is to put in fridge for about 24 hours. so, every night when I put my meal in the oven or serve out of the crock pot, I take the next nights meal out of the freezer and put it in the fridge
- I like to go mostly vegetarian. It's healthy and it cuts out about and hour and a half of prep time. I add black beans to a lot of recipes!
- It's called Once A Month cooking but you don't really need 30 meals. Because I do this I don't feel bad at all if one night we decide to do Grilled Cheese or Hot Dogs, Pizza or Sandwiches for dinner, some nights we eat out, sometimes we eat leftovers, 16 frozen meals seem to work best for us and seemed to be the number I kept hearing from others as well - each family will be different here!
- I always work into the plan one to three meals that can be given away.
- I buy the SteamFresh frozen veggies, all sorts, to serve with most of the meals.
- Click here for a website that has a lot of info on foods that don't freeze well
Things I've heard other people doing that work but that I don't do or haven't tried yet:
- a working mom I know takes the meal out of the freezer before work, puts in oven frozen and sets the timer on the oven to turn on so by the time everyone gets home dinner is almost finished cooking and they can, within 30 minutes of walking in the door be sitting down at the table eating together as a family before everyone has to head back out for sports/activities - if it's a crockpot meal she sets out the night before (on counter/sink) and puts in crockpot before leaving for work...it would still be a little frozen but this wouldn't hurt it
- you can do a meal swap....you cook 4 meals (all the same recipe) and 3 or 4 of your friends do the same thing. You swap 3 of your meals once a month...or something like that!?
- you can do this with a friend and knock it all out in one day (more time consuming in my opinion!)
- you can just prepare your meat ahead of time, always having 1-2lbs pkgs of cooked hamburger and chicken frozen and then just prepare your meals daily
- if you use a lot of hamburger you can boil it in water....it cooks faster and comes out in really small/fine pieces - boil like you would pasta, drain and then use in your recipes
ok, I feel like this is too much information. I tried to make it short, I have more info but I'll just answer questions from this point....if you have any!?
Things I've heard other people doing that work but that I don't do or haven't tried yet:
- a working mom I know takes the meal out of the freezer before work, puts in oven frozen and sets the timer on the oven to turn on so by the time everyone gets home dinner is almost finished cooking and they can, within 30 minutes of walking in the door be sitting down at the table eating together as a family before everyone has to head back out for sports/activities - if it's a crockpot meal she sets out the night before (on counter/sink) and puts in crockpot before leaving for work...it would still be a little frozen but this wouldn't hurt it
- you can do a meal swap....you cook 4 meals (all the same recipe) and 3 or 4 of your friends do the same thing. You swap 3 of your meals once a month...or something like that!?
- you can do this with a friend and knock it all out in one day (more time consuming in my opinion!)
- you can just prepare your meat ahead of time, always having 1-2lbs pkgs of cooked hamburger and chicken frozen and then just prepare your meals daily
- if you use a lot of hamburger you can boil it in water....it cooks faster and comes out in really small/fine pieces - boil like you would pasta, drain and then use in your recipes
ok, I feel like this is too much information. I tried to make it short, I have more info but I'll just answer questions from this point....if you have any!?
There are 16 meals in here plus ice cream, waffles, veggies, ice packs, etc....really, you can do this with just your freezer!
9 comments:
Wowy! Zowy! That is so cool, and your freezer is breath taking! I'm glad you blogged about this, because I was wanting to ask you about it. I might give this a try when I'm on the road this summer with my ice cream concession. We are always sick of fair food, and I have loads of freezer space. I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks.
EM
this is frickin amazing.
you make mothering look easy!
So, for a month you eat the same 5-6 menus? Do your kids care or your husband when he is home? Or can you leave them frozen for 2 months so that you can kind of swap meals in and out?
I also have a rotating salad idea going on. We all love salads and fresh veggies, just not all the same ones. So I put one large flat tupperware with just different types of lettuce and the other laid out like a salad bar where you can choose your veggies to top your salad. (The black olives do need their own container... too messy) The kids love using small tongs to choose their salad and we eat it fast enough that it doesn't go bad.
Just thought I'd share. I remember how much you like salads.
Ginger
kiki~
yes, we just eat the 'same' five or six meals every month - it's not the same every week because of the fact that we eat out occasionally or do sandwiches or my husband decides to grill, etc...
it's not as repetative as it sounds but YES you can leave these meals frozen for up to three months (google that because I'm not positive - it's longer than a month though)
Your refridgerator is absolutely amazing! Impressive... Love you & praying for you lady! -Erika G.
thanks for taking the time to post all that!
Thanks for answering my question. I hope it didn't come across condemning sounding, like you only eat 5 meals a month, because that isn't how I meant it, I was just curious!
Being 11 weeks pregnant makes menu planning difficult and then to think about it for a whole month, oh man!
it didn't sound like that at all!
it does sound wierd that we eat the same 5-6 meals every month but it doesn't seem to feel that way.
when I originally heard about this idea they taught you to pick 10 or 11 meals, double them, etc....
that was just too much time for me and the goal was saving time!
I think every family will have to tweek it for them, let me know if you guys do this!!!???
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