If you've spoken to me in the last 4 months, I'm sure I've complained to you how TIRED I am. This pregnancy is wearing on my old body. I've been too tired to even want to cook which, for me, is a big thing. I can tell you my food budgets in November and December were pretty ridiculous because when I didn't feel like cooking, I'd make Jason stop on his way home from work for something to feed the hungry masses. But with the new year came a kick from reality that our finances just can't really handle restaurant food 3-4 times a week. And everyone was getting sick of PB& J or microwave "quesadillas" on the other nights.
So, I turned to my good friend, Elizabeth, and she pointed me back onto the straight and narrow path of healthy, inexpensive, meal prep. I call her the "Freezer Meal Queen" because one day every month she does this massive prep day and has enough meals in her freezer for the whole month. It's amazing. And it TASTES good!
Elizabeth has inspired me to greater heights and I've turned over a new leaf.
I call it my "Freezing the Love" day.
One big day (about 3 hours, plus travel time) of grocery planning and shopping for the stuff I don't already have in my pantry, 6 hours the next day (including clean up) to cook what needs to be pre-cooked and put everything into freezer bags. And I still have $$ left over for the rest of the month to get the fresh stuff (salads, veggies, fruit).
I planned my shopping trip around a sale on meat because that is the most expensive item on any of the recipes. I got the cheeses from Costco and froze the portions I didn't use into smaller bags.
It is almost a month since my first Freezing the Love day, and I still have some meals in my freezer. Even on days I didn't feel well, I could help a sick friend with dinner for her family. What a great feeling to not be totally useless! I was so excited about this, I did another day of Freezing the Breakfast Love. I made a super huge batch of muffins and sweet breads and froze them. Now, my 9 year-old can make a healthy (non cereal) breakfast for the whole family while I drag my old bones out of bed.
So, I am on my soapbox now to encourage you all to try it. Even if you don't want to have a whole month's worth of meals in your freezer, even making 4 or 5 will take you maybe an hour and save you, oh, so much time on those truly hectic nights.
Pros:
-Save money. Price per serving is less than $2 for most of the recipes. Ain't no way you can get a filling, healthy, $2 meal "eating out". (And no more $20 here and $15 there at the grocery store all week. That really adds up.)
- Save time (I used to spend at least 1 hour every night making dinner plus another 30 minutes for washing pots and pans afterwards. That makes about 45 hours a month spent on meals. Now, it takes about 15 minutes for the meal prep and usually only one pan to wash afterwards).
- Meal planning is done
- My husband will even make a nutritious dinner, now.
- Leftovers. Jason always has a wide array of choices for his lunch all week so we are saving money on his "allowance", too.
Cons:
-Can't really think of any except that now I have no excuse to get Papa Murphy's pizza.
If you'd like some starter recipes, email me and I'm happy to send my tried and true list (I've narrowed out the ones that just don't reheat well). I would even be happy to come to your house and prepare you three freezer meals, when you host a Pampered Chef party. :)
