I have to be 100% honest with you – I never in a million years thought that I would be interested in nor did I expect to actually freezer cook. Seriously, freezer cooking to me has always meant that I was going to have to spend a whole day in my kitchen cooking. Which means that I would need to find child care, buy a whole bunch of food, freezer bags, and make a huge mess in my kitchen to simply prepare a bunch of meals for my family (not to mention that they’d be meals I wasn’t even sure we’d like). Then, not to mention the fact that my hubs has a seriously phobia of eating leftovers (he’s been working on it) and eating something out of the freezer was a difficult money saving strategy to sell him on.
However, being that I’m pregnant with our third child in three years, I knew that I had to come up with something to save my sanity, especially for when we bring our baby home. I decided to read Money Saving Mom’s Guide to Freezer Cooking (you can download it free on her site by signing up for her newsletter) and y’all, now I’m a freezer cooking advocate!
I realized that I was thinking and approaching freezing cooking all wrong. Instead of having to 1) make recipes that I wasn’t sure if we’d like or not and 2) spend a whole day cooking, I realized that I could make and freeze recipes we already love like my homemade lasagna and the best casserole you’ll ever have. I also realized that I could buy my ground beef in bulk, throw it in the crockpot while I was putting groceries up so it could brown. Then drain it and let it cool and freeze it – not only saving me time but saving also my sanity as well for when I’m having a lazy night.
But freezer cooking has helped in another area that I’ll be completely honest with you, I never expected it to help with – our cash grocery budget. You see, sticking to a $100 all cash grocery budget has been a bit of challenge as my hubs is a true carnivore and loses his mind if I make something that does not contain meat in it. So much of our grocery budget was going towards the purchase of meat that I expected our grocery budget to be wrecked when I started buying more meat to cook and freeze, but the opposite happened – it helped to keep my grocery budget in check.
So even though there may be a week were I drop nearly $40 on ten pounds of meat, I can extend our grocery budget in other areas for the rest of month, stocking up on other supplies.
Another area of concern for me was that my family eats mostly clean – a diet consisting of real, raw, whole, and minimally processed foods. I was concerned how our meals would freeze and if I could even freeze some of our favorites but I quickly found out that yes, I can freeze almost every meal that I’ve made from eMeals * (the meal planning service that totally saved our grocery budget two years ago).
These are some typical recipes that I freeze:
Baked Oatmeal (recipe is from Money Saving Mom) – this is not only an amazing breakfast but an incredible dessert as well – just add ice cream or whipped topping!
Chicken, Rice, and Broccoli Casserole (we all agree this actually tastes better after its been frozen!)
Homemade Lasagna (I shared this post on Instagram about how I make my lasagna so much more cost effective.)
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Ground Beef (non-seasoned)
Taco Meat (I typically season this with chili powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, chicken broth or stock, and black beans. Adding the beans makes the meat go further.)
Homemade Wheat Bread (I typically freeze a few slices of this before the loaf stales so I can make homemade breadcrumbs.)
Produce from our garden (like peppers and sweet potatoes)
Finding the Time
Now I’m sure you’re wondering how I find the time to freezer cook. I’ve already mentioned that I brown ground beef while I’m putting groceries away but I’ll also cook my spaghetti/Lasagna sauce in the crockpot. Since a crockpot holds a lot, I can make a huge batch and serve half that night for dinner and freeze the rest.
Another thing that I do is I chop our produce or fruit as soon as we bring it in and to either put in the fridge or to freeze. This ensures that we have plenty of healthy snacks to choose from and that I get the produce in the freezer before it spoils.
I’ve also found that if I simply just double a batch of whatever I’m already making for dinner, and freeze it, it saves me so much time and energy. There have been some weeks where I have day that I can devote to making several different meals to freeze but that is usually pretty far and in between.
These are just a few of the ways that I’ve been able to make freezer cooking work for my family. It is definitely a work-in-progress for us but we’ve already reaped so many rewards by having a freezer with ready-to-go meals.
Do you freezer cook? What advice can you offer?
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I’m a vegan and most of the meals I cook take less than 15 minutes to prepare. However, that is still time! One great tip I’ve gotten (and admittedly have never implemented) is just freeze the prepared ingredients – freeze diced onions, for example. You pull out what you’ll need either the night before or in the morning and when you get ready to start dinner, your ingredients are all prepped and ready to go!
I’m hoping once our garden starts producing our sweet potatoes that I’ll be able to just dice and freeze them because my family LOVES sweet potatoes. 🙂 I even throw them in my chili…now I really want some chili. 🙂
I’m so glad you’ve fallen in love with freezer cooking! It has saved me more than once! I like to cook a big batch of chicken in my slow cooker, and dice / shred it for the freezer. That, and I always keep diced onions and shredded cheese in the freezer so I can make a meal very quickly if I have the ingredients prepped and waiting in the freezer! When I bake rolls, I always freeze a bunch for later. And I like to double recipes when I can, and freeze some for later.
I didn’t even think of throwing chicken in the crockpot — genius Kristen! 🙂
Just did this with a family pack of boneless skinless chicken breast and it yielded 8 CUPS of shredded chicken. I take mine straight from the crockpot to my kitchen aid with the paddle on no higher than the second setting. Shreds in like 3 minutes! If you go to high it turns the chicken to mush.
In my house I cannot cook a meal, freeze it and serve it. My husband will not eat it. He can always tell…it’s annoying! This weekend I’m going to try the no cook method. Put the meals together in bags and freeze them. This way they are ready to thaw and toss in the crockpot.
I know Costco often has good deals on bulk meat but the cheapest I have found is an actual butcher shop in my neighborhood. They often have lean ground beef for 1.99/lb if you buy 20 lbs. crazy sounding, I know. I’m the carnivore in my house and we eat it a lot. What I like most about the butcher shop is my meat is ground fresh while I wait. I take it home and divvy it up. Hubby makes half into 3 mos worth of burgers and I brown the rest for a variety of meals, again lasts about 3 mos.
Oh I wish the butcher by us was that low but they’re a chain owned one so they may be why they’re more expensive. I haven’t tried the crockpot meals yet but I’m planning to – please let me know if you find any recipes that your husband loves! I’m sure mine will too. 🙂
I am all about the freezer cooking. I like to pregroup slow cooker ingredients together and freeze in ziplock bags. Then you just dump everything in the slow cooker and go about your life.
I haven’t tried any slow cooker meals yet, but I’m thinking maybe chili (for when it turns cool out). 🙂
Yes! And chili is a great meal that you can stretch by adding more tomatoes, beans or even corn.
That’s so funny I’ve always wanted to freezer cook but was afraid to make the investment because I was unsure if the recipes would work for my family. I got some great deals on my staples over the past couple weeks so I decided to make a few meals that Ive made before. Love The tip about just doubling recipes as you cook them so you don’t have to devote a whole day to cooking.
It’s funny your hubs doesn’t like to eat leftovers! Mine was very against me making freezer meals when we had our second baby because he doesn’t think that freezer meals taste as fresh. Sometimes that is true, but other times I think the meal tastes just as good as when I made it! He doesn’t complain about freezer meals anymore, because it’s better to have some meals ready to go than to run out and buy takeout when I don’t have time to cook!
That sounds just like my hubs and I agree – it’s better to have something on hand than having to grab takeout every time! 🙂
I’m a big fan of freezer cooking the way you described. In fact, one of my 12 goals for 2015 is to freeze two meals each month. As you mentioned I tend to make a double recipe of things like baked ziti, mac and cheese, chili, etc., and freeze one. I’ve found this to be a huge help some nights – especially since I don’t really enjoy cooking. 🙂
We’ve been loving having the taco meat already prepared because tacos are usually a fast and easy meal for us anyhow and now it’s even faster! 🙂
I started freezer meals about a year ago when I got custody of my new born grand daughter. At 59 I am not as young as I was when I had babies and every thing takes twice as long. I try buying a lot of stuff in bulk and freeze. I buy 10 pounds of burger. Put 5 in the crock pot to brown and then make a couple meat loaves and some hamburger patties. I individually freeze the patties so I can take out just what I need. If I buy chicken breasts or thighs I put the marinade in the bag when I freeze them. Saves steps later.
My husband bought me a Food Saver system yesterday for this purpose. I am not a freezer-cooker as it’s seen on pinterest, but like you have mentioned, I batch cook. Soup, Stew, taco meat and tortillas, bread dough, pasta (noodles parboiled but not cooked), etc. I had two babies in two years and we’d like to add another by the time 2016 is over. I figured I can double or quadruple my favorite recipes and get them into the freezer and with the foodsaver, I don’t have to batch cook in my 3rd Trimester which is not cool (done that twice now). Between now and then, I can try new recipes and the ones we like, I can batch cook and freezer (raw and organized or fully cooked). Other things I think I can get prepped and ready to go raw so that it’s a minimal cook (ie- root veggies diced ready to be roasted).
I also need to get my budget until control. Food is a huge overspend every month. Winging it constantly or planning for only a few days at a time isn’t working. I’m also going to twice a month shopping. Every week and once a month wasn’t working. Live and learn and freezer what you can!