Freezer Cooking Continued...

As a continuation of yesterdays freezer cooking post, I have come up with an example menu for a week. For some of us, this may be a little expensive, but still doable. I hope to begin making videos about some of the freezer cooking I plan to do soon, so you can all see exactly how I do my freezer cooking, but for now, just use your imagination and please ask any questions you need to if you don't understand something!


This is just one weeks worth of a menu. I usually plan menus for one month at a time so I know what the month is going to be like. For this week, you could do all your purchasing and prep work the Friday or Saturday before, and then you have the week to just sit back!


If you go to right of the screen and find my freezer meals tab, you can find some recipes. Some of those recipes are for the meals below. Namely Rubber Chicken. Doesn't sound like a very appealing name, I know, I didn't name it, I just got it from someone years ago. Rubber chicken makes three meals: Roasted chicken, hearty chicken noodle soup and chicken enchiladas.


Since you are doing all the prep before hand, and the roasted chicken is the first meal, you have some options here: 1-keep the whole chicken in the fridge until Monday and cook it fresh, or 2-cook it on Saturday with everything else and pull it off the bones and keep meat in fridge to reheat on Monday, whichever is easier or more appealing to you. DON'T FORGET to save those bones and the chicken drippings to make chicken stock for later! This would work great with your chicken noodle soup!

Example menus

Monday           roasted chicken, garlic potatoes, broccoli

 

Tuesday           chili verde tostadas, Mexican rice

 

Wednesday     hamburger stroganoff, green beans

 

Thursday         hearty chicken noodle soup, rolls

 

Friday              BBQ pork sandwiches, homemade fries, carrot and celery sticks

 

Saturday          chicken enchilada, Mexican rice, green salad

 

Sunday            lasagna, garlic bread, green salad

 

 

 Imagine with me that you decided to make these meals for the week. You pull out your cookbook and find the recipes. The next step is to make a list of all the ingredients for each recipe:!

Ingredients for rubber chicken:

4 fryer chickens
Garlic - 16 cloves
Thyme - 4 tsp.
Rosemary - 8 TBS
Salt - 8 tsp.
Black pepper - 4 tsp.
Olive oil 10 TBS (1/2 cup + 2 TBS)

Ingredients for rest of meals:

Boneless pork roast – 2 to 3
Chicken bouillon
Butter – 1 cup + 2 TBS
Garlic salt
Flour – ¼ cup
Mild green chilies – 2 cans
Refried beans – 1 can
Flour tortillas – 2 bags (10-12 count)
Cheese
Oil
Ground beef – 3 lbs
Onions – 4
Mushrooms – 6 canned or 1 lb fresh
Cream of mushroom soup - 6
Milk – 3 1/2 cups
Sour cream – 16+ oz
Carrots – 2 cups
Celery – 2 cups
Green onion - 1
Cream of chicken soup – 4 cans
Fettuccine noodles
BBQ sauce – 2 bottles
Cheddar/jack cheese
Lasagna noodles
Spaghetti sauce
Cottage cheese – 2 cups
Eggs
Mozzarella cheese – 16 oz
Freezer bags
Foil lasagna pans

To have on hand to serve with:

Tomatoes
Olives
Sour cream
Tortillas
Rice side dishes
Mexican rice
Carrots
Celery
Green beans
Hamburger buns
Green salad
Dressing
Garlic bread
Grated cheese
Potatoes
Broccoli – fresh or frozen


 As you can see, there is a lot of ingredients! That's ok! If you happen to have food storage, you probably have most of this on hand already or can substitute some of the ingredients, like onions for dried onions, etc.


Now go through the list of ingredients and take off all the ones that you already have. This should look like a much more manageable list. The list of things to have on hand are the items that will be sides and toppings.


I would make an easier list to read to take to the store, one that is broken down by type of item, like meats, dairy, fresh and frozen. Then you aren't wandering back and forth in the store, you can get all fresh items at one time, all dairy at one time, etc.


Add any other items you might need, like milk, eggs, laundry soap, etc, to minimize trips to the store. Get any coupons that might help you at the store and then go do your shopping!

Update to yesterday's post:


I'm sorry, I failed to mention yesterday in my post about our house, that it is not easy to sell a house! We have one of the best realtors and it was still a big challenge for us. We went through a few offers before we finally found the one that stuck. And even then, we had to have an extension on the new loan we were getting for the house we were buying because of how far into the 7 week contract we were. Then we had to file for another extension towards the end, because we were number 4 in the line up of people trying to sell houses and buy another.


Technically we didn't even own our house until almost after we had moved in, because all of the things that needed to happen took longer than expected. Thankfully we were working with some amazing finance people and a great realtor and also the people we buying from and the people purchasing our house!


Along with all the financial difficulties we had getting to our new home, we also had to replace the roof on the barn that is on the property. That was FHA mandatory before we could even move in, which we all thought ridiculous, since it is an out building and not even near the house, so shouldn't make much of a difference, but to them it does because of the size of the building. It really is the size of a small house!


Looking back, everything worked out the way it was supposed to, but if it were my choice, I would definitely do things different, like sell our house first, with all papers signed, and either move somewhere to rent for a while, or wait a week to sign papers on the new place and find somewhere to stay for a week. Trying to sign papers and move and make sure your house really is sold and that new one really is going to work, is just a huge pain!


As it is though, we did it all, we are here, and we are happy!

Freezer cooking

I had a friend contact me the other day asking if would come teach freezer cooking in her mother in laws ward. I haven't taught freezer cooking in years, so I was so excited! I love freezer cooking and need get back into it!


Thinking of what I would teach and how, made me look back and think of what I know. I went to previous posts and to all my many books and papers. I compiled some lists and instructions and thought that I would share them here for everyone!

Ready, Set, Go!!!

Decide HOW you want to Freezer Meal cook.
            With a friend or family?
            Little by little?
            One day a month for the whole month?
            One day every two weeks for the upcoming two weeks?

Decide how much food you have room for in your freezer.

            Do you have enough room for a months worth of meals?
            Two weeks worth of meals?
            One week worth of meals?
            Also do you want precooked meat in meals or meals to go straight in the crockpot? “Dump Meals”

Decide how you want to package meals, according to how much room you have for meals.

            Can you use foil pans? What size?
            Are freezer Ziploc bags a better option?

 Choose a day and time that is good to prep.

Schedule out the amount of time needed.


(If doing two weeks worth of meals in one day, plan your prep time to be at least 4 hours. If you are doing little by little, you just add some extra time each meal to prep more than one.)

If working with others, choose a day that is good for everyone, or have each person prep meals ahead of time and have a swap session instead.

 TIP: Sometimes it is good to break up your cooking sessions into the types of meals you will be prepping. For example: all chicken recipes one day, all beef recipes another day, all rice or potato recipes another day. Makes clean up, cooking and possible contamination much easier to deal with!

Now that you know HOW you are going to do your freezer meals and WHEN you are going to do them; sit down with your menu. Plan out however many meals you need. Also decide if you are going to make more than one of the same recipe.

Make a list of ALL ingredients needed for the recipes. Go “shopping” in your pantry and take off all ingredients on the list that you already have on hand. Here is your shopping list to buy from the store.

Plan a day to go to the store and shop. A day or two before your prep day is preferred. Plan to take some time at the store, you are buying a lot of ingredients. Plan to spend some money, but keep in mind, this is however many meals you won’t need to plan on in the future!

Now you are ready to prep! On prep day, get out all the ingredients and pans you need to prepare your meals. Cut and cook meat first, cleaning your work area well! While meat is cooking, chop veggies and mix anything together you need to.

Once all your meals are prepared and in the proper freezer container, be sure to label clearly what it is and instructions for baking (what temperature and how long).

Then FREEZE!

Yay! You have completed your freezer meal session and now have meals to throw in the crock pot at the beginning of the day or things to pull out and heat at the end of the day, when you don’t have much time to cook! Pair your meals with side dishes or fruits, veggies, etc to make a more balanced meal.

Things to Freeze

Anything that you can find in the freezer section at the store you can remake a much healthier option at home and freeze, plus MUCH MORE!!

 

Breakfast:

Egg and sausage biscuit sandwiches

Breakfast burritos

Muffins

Pancakes

Waffles

French toast

Omelet packets – freeze in snack size baggies: mushrooms, ham, onions, peppers, etc. put all snack size baggies into a 1 gallon size freezer bag. Pull out and sautee to heat before putting on omelet.

Meat dishes:

Chicken uncooked - seasoned and unseasoned

Chicken cooked and cubed - seasoned and unseasoned

Chicken enchiladas – in a pan or just the filling

Chicken burritos

Chicken fajita mix

Chicken nuggets

Chicken curry

Chicken pot pie

Chicken stock

Turkey uncooked and cooked

Turkey stock

Beef uncooked – seasoned and unseasoned

Beef cooked – seasoned or unseasoned

Beef enchiladas

Beef burritos

Sloppy joe filling

Taco filling

Meatloaf – cooked or uncooked

Lasagna

Hamburgers

Meatballs

Spaghetti sauce

Stroganoff sauce

French dip beef mix

Pork uncooked – seasoned or unseasoned

Pork cooked – seasoned or unseasoned

Café Rio pork burrito mix

BBQ pulled pork sandwich mix

Ham stock

Soups

Sauces: any kind of sauce or gravy

Pasta, cooked half the time

Cooked rice

Cooked potatoes

Tortillas

Breads, any kinds – double bag if freezing longer than a month

Veggies:

Corn

Peas

Beans

Squash

Pumpkin

Salsa

Carrots

Onions

Peppers

(most veggies need to be blanched or cooked before freezing)

Fruits:

Any peeled fruits

Avacados, mashed with some lime or lemon juice and stored in a container

Tomatoes, peeled

Lentils, cooked

Dried beans, cooked

Snacks and desserts:

Granola bars

Cookies

Banana bars

Pumpkin bars

Chocolate

Cakes

Pies

Cheeses, grated

Milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese

Fruit juices

Fruit and veggie purees

“Dump Meals” are crockpot meals that you put all ingredients into a 1 gallon bag, including raw meat, label and freeze. When ready to use, just dump in the crockpot and cook!

Any canned item that has been opened can be put into another container or freezer bag and frozen to use another time.

So this is what I have put together so far. Once I get some menus figured out, I will post those for everyone to see what I do next. Freezer cooking saves you time in the kitchen and in the long run, will save you money! I hope I can help you do just that!

Please share my blog with all your friends and family! And please leave any comments or questions that I can answer for you! I love to hear from all my readers!

So April was literally 10 months ago and that is exactly how long it's been since my last post. You can obviously tell I am not doing this for the money or anything!


Looking back though, the last 10 months have gone by way too fast! Between birthdays, holidays and the evident sale of our old house and purchase our new house, we have been super busy!


We finished up all the necessary tweakings on our house and got it ready to sell! We were quite nervous with all that we had put into it, and all that had happened to it over the last 10 years. We went through a lot in that house!


We got it up on the market with a great realtor, that helped us out so much! Within the first few days, we had 8 showings! ALL in the same day! Our realtor said she had never had that many showings in one day, other than an open house.


We were so excited and had an offer in hand by the following day. A couple days into the contract she had to back out for financial reasons, but we were still on the market and still going strong! We had more showings and had other offers. We got were under contract with a cute couple with two boys that were really excited to have the house and the yard and everything. It was a 7 week contract and 4 weeks in, they had to back out too. Kind of frustrating, but kind of a blessing.


During that time, we had looked at many houses, ranging from really nice to ones that needed lots of love. I really didn't want to get back into a house that needed too much work done, we had already done so much, I was over fixing up houses!


We looked and looked and just weren't finding anything in our area that was big enough or worth the money. We decided we needed to look outside of our area and venture north to some of the smaller towns in the next county over.


We found a few that were nice, some that needed to be finished and some that were just awful. I had found a home I really wanted, it had everything: 6 bedrooms, two family rooms, and office, a sewing room, a huge storage room and cold storage, a large kitchen...I was ready to put an offer on it! We decided we would look at one more round of homes and if we didn't find anything, we would put an offer on that home.


We scheduled a day with our realtor and looked at a few more homes. There was one house that she just threw into the mix, thinking we should at least look at it, since it had a salon in the basement. I had seen it many times on line, but kept passing it by because it was built in the last '70s. It was the last one we looked at that day.


It had an open floor plan with a large kitchen (huge must for me), two family rooms, with wood burning stoves, the salon, larger bedrooms for the kids, and cold storage, and a huge barn out back with .7 acres of open land that is great for the kids to run and play!


I didn't like that is was so old, but it had been updated with tile throughout the house, except on stairs and in bedrooms, new kitchen cupboards and counter tops, etc. But as we left this house, it was as if every other house we had looked at hadn't even existed! We knew we were supposed to be there, but we didn't know why. The home was definitely not what we ever would have picked for ourselves, but the Lord needed us here for some reason!


Now we have been here for 6 months, and we love it! The town is so awesome! We have never felt more welcome in a ward or a neighborhood! We kept having people tell us they had been waiting for us to come. Now that we have been here a while, I have people telling me it feels like we have been here forever.


I feel the same! At times I forget we lived for 10 years in our last house and ward. We loved it there so much and miss all the people we know there, but the Lords plan is what is in place now and this is how and where we are supposed at this time!


We love the Lord for all the blessings He has given us!


Now with the larger home and me being able to work from home, we are starting a new adventure of foster care! We know there are kids out there that need us and that are supposed to be with our family, we now on that path to find them and complete one more of the Lords assignments for us!


I know it will be a hard road, but one that is filled with many treasures and blessings!

What we wish we'd known

First time homebuyers are probably a little naive when it comes to buying a house!  I know we definitely were! We had no real idea of what it took to keep up a house!  But let's back up a little. We didn't even know what it took to find the right house and the right realtor to help you find that right home!

Almost 10 years ago we decided to buy our first home as a couple and family. We had three kids at the time, our oldest was three, our twins were one and I was pregnant at the time and we needed more space for everyone.

We started looking online at the homes that were within our price range and had enough bedrooms for us, with some room to grow. We called on a home and got a realtor to take us thru this house. We didn't care much for the house, but ended up using this realtor to look at more houses. She was ok and helpful, but we found a home that was brand new on the inside. It was duplex that someone had built but had never finished. Someone else came in and bought them and finished them to sell.

We loved the thought that everything was going to be brand new, including appliances and everything! We were told by the realtor that we needed to put an offer on it because it wouldn't last and it was great for us. It had 4 bedrooms and 2 or 3 bathrooms, which was great, the only thing I wasn't sure of was that the master bedroom was upstairs and all the rest were in the basement, which would have been fine if our kids were older, but not when they were so young!

We put an offer on the house but in the back of my mind things just weren't right. I decided we needed to change our search and look for something that we could finish a basement to make more room. I found a home that I liked the pictures and the lay out and decided we had to see it.

We came in and walked thru and just knew this is where we were supposed to be. It had e everything we wanted and especially the fenced yard for the kids to play.

We pulled our offer from the other home and put an offer on our home. We had great financial help with it all, but in the end, we should have shopped around for a better realtor that would have listened to us more.

We have loved our home and would totally stay, if our kids weren't getting so big. But over the last 10 years we have learned it takes a lot of work to keep up a yard and especially a house. Here is just a few things that we have learned and I'm passing on to you because maybe you don't know either.

Tile grout has to be sealed at least once a year. No one told us this and our shower grout and caulk has gone black because we never did.

When you have a leak in your shower, fix it quick and then make sure it hasn't damaged your flooring. If it has, fix your flooring quick and seal your sub flooring so you don't get mold and rotting wood.

Check your toilets reguLarly for leaks and running water, it can add a lot to an already high water bill.

Learn how to fix and replace sheet rock. This has come in handy, since we have boys and they get mad and punch the walls. We have fixed many holes and become pretty good with patching and sheet rock.

Clean your wood canisters reguLarly, especially around the table and if you have kids. They get very grungy and wood is harder to clean than other surfaces.

This is all just a small part of what we have learned as first time homebuyers and with our next home, we will be led to where we will be next, but I have some things in mind that I want in our next home and we have found a different realtor who so far has been great to listen to us and should be good to work with.

If you are a first time homebuyer, good luck. Don't be too naive, listen to your gut and go where feels right to you!

Has it really been over two months since writing last? Oh how time flies! It's also funny how your goals and desires seem to change so quickly!

After my last post, a sting of things happened in our lives and we decided to move up our date for selling our house. We began to make the necessary upgrades and fixes on the house in order to get it ready to sell.

We started with the easy things: fixtures and having our front porch railing powder coated. These were quick fixes and the railing was one we had someone come get and do for us.

When these were finished, we started on finishing the basement. Years ago we had added two more bedrooms down there but had never quite finished the cosmetic things like painting doors and moulding. In the time since, we had water get into the basement and have had to replace carpet and baseboards. We still haven't quite finished this yet, I need to paint the door frames and baseboards. :)

We took a little break from that and decided to start on the bathroom floors upstairs. We pulled up the linoleum only to find water had gotten under the linoleum and was causing huge problems in the sub flooring. We had to replace the top layer of sub flooring and found the bottom layer was not too bad, so we sealed it really good, put the new layer on, sealed it and then laid the linoleum tiles we got. I have become quite the handyman with our home, I filled the grout and sealed it and caulked the tub. The kids bathroom looks so good now!

We have done lots of painting and have gone thru six gallons of white paint in the bathrooms and a couple bedrooms and will probably go thru a couple more before we are finished!

We started pulling up the linoleum in the master bathroom to find a huge nightmare! Years ago, probably even before we moved in, there was a leak in the shower. We finally figured out what was causing it and fixed it, but apparently too late. We took off the top layer of the sub flooring only to find the bottom layer as well was just rotting and it's even rotting under the shower! Ugh, I had just finished grouting our shower, it looks so good! Now we may have to tear it apart, if the rotten board goes too far under the shower. I have been so upset and frustrated the last couple of days. In the meantime, I am getting all the painting done that we need to finish, so our bathroom may be the last thing we do. We are also working on replacing the flooring in the laundry room and half bath, but thankfully that is on concrete and it looks great, so no problems!

I have learned and was reminded yesterday, that patience is not something that we just have, it is something we are always striving for, so I will keep striving to have as much patience as possible and have faith that with God's help, we will make it through this trial and everything will work out how it is supposed to, and we will be happy!

Next I will tell you what I've learned through the last 10 years of home ownership and things we were never told but needed to know. Until then....

My goal this year is to blog more, I was hoping for everyday, but already I've missed a couple. That's ok, this is still more than in the blast year!

Continuing on with our being prepared goal for the year, we got paid yesterday, so now I am trying to decide what will be the best way financially to continue to stock up and keep stocked, what I need.

First, I will make a menu. Sometimes I am good to make one a month at a time, but I have misplaced my folder with all my papers for that. So until I find it, I will do a weekly menu. I have come up with a roast for Sunday (probably pork because they are cheaper) with red potatoes and a veggie. Monday will be sloppy Joes with homemade French fries, which are so easy to make! Tuesday: breakfast. Wednesday:pot pie, homemade. Thursday: Shepard pie. Friday: potato soup. And saturday: spaghetti.

With this menu and also buying the fruits and veggies we need, I should be able to spend about $20 on food storage stock up and about $5 on emergency stuff. Should be a good week. Ill let you know how it goes!