One Hundred Dollars a Month

I cannot say enough good things about freezer meals. Seriously. They are the bomb dot com of savings and easy food prep. They are just perfect for those nights when you don’t feel like cooking. You make them when you’re actually motivated and you cook then when you’re not. They make meal planning a snap! You don’t have to sacrifice your health by getting a pre-packaged meal {they easily take the place of convenience foods, or totally blow your budget by dining out. There are just so many benefits to freezer meals!

But I know a lot of people are overwhelmed even thinking about freezer meals or cooking in bulk. Your kitchen will be a disaster, there’s a large upfront cost to consider and you’ll be a slave to your kitchen all day. Trust me when I say, once you fill your freezer with easy to prepare meals, there’s no going back. You’ll be hooked. And also, just so you feel better about the process, I once cooked 100 Freezer Meals in 5 Hours and lived to tell about it! But for those of you who have never conquered a large {or small} freezer meal session, here are some tips for you beginners!

Make a plan: Go big or go home I say! Because I’m already stuck in an apron for hours and my kitchen will be a disaster anyway, I make it count. I like to prepare as many meals as possible in one day. But you can start small and just make a few recipes with double batches. The important thing is that you research your recipes, have all your steps planned out, write out your full shopping list and then check things off that you already have on hand and your ingredients on hand, shop, prep and then go to town. You’ll need to cook according to your recipe, allow time to cool and then prepare the meal for freezing.

Decide what to freeze: Full meals are great, but there’s so much more you can bulk freeze! You can check out my Complete List of Freezer Meal Recipes here. There are pretty pictures for all you who need to see what you’re about to make {that’s so me!}, so you can decide if a recipe even looks delicious before clicking through to the recipe. I lean towards one-dish meals and casseroles, and I always think of how a dish will freeze before adding it to my list. But in addition to all those main dish meals, you can go crazy and freeze desserts, smoothies and cinnamon rolls in a snap!

Another big time saver is prepping and freezing meats and sauces and in advance. It’s nice to be able to throw a bunch in the Crockpot and season, chop and shred it in preparation for future meals. I’ll just have that cooking on the counter while I prepare other meals. So in addition to having already fully prepared meals, I’ll save myself tons of time by having the meat completely ready for other non-freezer meal recipes!

Enlist help: Many people like to bribe friends, spouses or kids to help them. I say if they are ever going to benefit from eating one of those tasty freezer meals, they can roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty! Plus it helps to pass the time faster. And if you don’t trust them to cook, you can always enlist their help with the cleanup! It’s also fun to make a girl’s day out of it and get a freezer meal group together to bust out a ton of recipes!

Gather your supplies: I’m not talking food items for your recipes; that is covered in the “make a plan” section. I’m talking all the necessary items you might not have on hand to store your freezer meals in. I stick mainly to freezer bags and foil pans {I buy mine at Costco, but I’ve heard some dollar stores sell them as well}. I like the foil pans because you can’t freeze in glass {so no Pyrex dishes, Mason jars, etc.} and I love freezing in plastic bags because I’ve perfected the art of freezing and stacking those bags to utilize space. They are pretty dang good about keeping freezer burn out as well. Always avoid Rubbermaid-type containers. My experience with them is freezer burn every time!

Prepare for later: Once you’ve cooked and packaged everything, make sure you have a Sharpie on hand to clearly mark everything you freeze. I put recipe name and date. Then I like to make a list of all the freezer meals {and quantities} that I have on hand and place it near the fridge. That way I can easily make a menu for the week and then cross meals off as I use them. I also like to print out the “cook after freezing” instructions for each meal to have for quick reference {and for those times when I travel and I don’t want the boys left behind to starve to death!}.

And there you have a few great tips to get you started. Are there any questions you’d like answered before you begin? Ask them in the comments and I’ll make sure we answer them. Also, if you are a freezer meals pro, I’d love to hear your tips!

Freeze on!

~Mavis

You can check out my Complete List of Freezer Meal Recipes here. There are pretty pictures for all you visual peeps like me, so you can decide if a recipe looks delicious before attempting it.