Freezer Meals

Being a SAHM (stay at home mom) is a lot of work! I am the first to admit that many things slide because I am busy playing and loving on my boys. Unfortunately, one thing that can't slip is eating. I have found a way to be sure we eat and save myself a ton of time and money. How do I

do this? FREEZER MEALS! I was recently talking to a friend about my freezer meals and she said, "Why don't you blog about that?" So here it is. I am going to tell you about my recent

adventures with preparing meals in advance.

To get started you really need a few things. Mostly, you need containers. My favorite for casseroles are these:

I love these because they are actually plastic and can be used in the oven! Plus they have lids. They can go from fridge to freezer to oven. They are fabulous and about $4.50 for two. Considering you can reuse them they are well worth the four dollars and fifty cents. I also use the disposable tin ones but I really prefer the Glad ones.

My other necessity is this:

I can honestly say that I would have never bought a vacuum sealer for myself. I received it from my brother-in-law for Christmas. Initially, I was like "What am I going to do with this?" Now I can say EVERYTHING!

My biggest tip for creating freezer meals is that you never make only one of anything! Plus if you are chopping something and it can go in multiple things, chop it all and either make the other items or put the leftover into a baggy. If you don't like to spend 3 or 4 hours preparing meals, you may be better served to make doubles as you cook throughout the week. What I mean is that when you are making a shepherd's pie for dinner make two instead. It is no more work than making one.

Currently, my freezer contains a baked ziti, 2 Mexican Ravioli Casseroles, 2 Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Casseroles, 8 hamburger patties, meatballs, and chicken umpteen different ways. And the funny thing is that that was easier than cooking every night. And do you know what is even easier? Not cooking every night! I just pull something out and pop it in the oven!

So my most recent escapade involved 20 lbs of chicken. Yes, 20 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts. That is a lot of chicken. Fareway had it for 1.78/lb but you had to buy it in 10lb bundles. Since I have a vacuum sealer this was a win win! It's funny how one thing leads to another. For example, I started by chopping cilantro to make my fajita marinade. After I completed the marinade, I had lots of cilantro so I chopped my green onion and started on my Mexican Ravioli casseroles. Those took all of 10 minutes & I moved on to chopping my peppers and creating my fajitas packets. I made 2 veggies and 2 of the chicken.

After sucking the air from them, labeling them and throwing them in the freezer, I went about trimming and seasoning 8 more breasts and putting them by twos into freezer. So this ends day 1 of chicken. My first 10lbs!

The next 10lbs became orange chicken, chicken strips, broccoli chicken casseroles, chicken stock, and two packs of prepped and ready for stir fry or orange chicken. The great thing about having all this chicken was that when I realized that I had no chicken broth, I just threw 3 breasts into a pan with some veggies and made some. Then I took that same chicken, shredded it and put it into my broccoli chicken casseroles.

My freezer meals have come in handy for more than just saving me prep time. We have also been able to bless other people in need of a meal. We recently had a family in our church who needed the night away from the stove so I dropped off a casserole without ever having to head to the grocery store or prepare it.