Thursday, September 25, 2008

Freezer Meals...anyone????

Hey have any of you hear of "Once a Month Cooking"???? I just heard about it and got excited... We are going to have an enrichment activity about preparing and freezing meals, with tips, ideas, recipes.....Do any of you do this, have any tips or ideas, any great recipes...I would love to hear from you and get your recipes. I'm looking for ways to make my life easier, to simplify and I think this could do it....Who thought to go shopping maybe 2 times a month, to cook up all your meat for the month in one day and then put the meals together....Please, I would love to hear from you...so if you there are any websites you love, recipes or tips send them to me!! Thanks guys!! Wouldn't it be awesome to open up your Freezer and see this...a month worth of meals almost ready to go...... Some of the websites I've found so far are http://www.frugalmom.net/once_a_month_cooking.htm and http://www.kitchenlink.com/rcpmenus.html... I'm sure there is lots more out there...Let me know what you do....

9 comments:

Megan said...

i do once a month cooking (as in, i cook a meal from scratch once a month). Dan's cousin does the real once a month cooking and swears by it. Beth and I would love some recipes too. We were talking about starting a group where you exchange freezer meals. So you would make like 6 of the same meal and then swap so you'd have six different ones. Dan's mom made me like 3 big meatloafs that she froze when I had the boys. It was really nice just to have those on hand, so that worked well. Let me know what you come up with.

Carrie said...

I wonder if Deanna Buxton is coming to your ward. She came to ours and taught us wonderful things. I haven't actually shopped and cooked all day and filled my freezer, but I have high hopes! Deanna's book is called Dinner is Ready and has all the instuctions and all the recipes.

Here is one of our favorite recipes:

Cheesy Chicken and Rice
2 cans cream of chicken
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
3 cups cooked rice
dash pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken pieces
rotisserie chicken seasoning

Mix soup, milk, cheese, rice and pepper. Place in greased foil baking pan. Top with chicken pieces. Sprinkle with chicken seasoning (you can use any flavor seasoning you like). Cover with heavy foil. Label and freeze.
To serve:
Thaw. Bake covered for 40 minutes at 350. Uncover and bake 20 minutes longer. Stir before serving.

My kids like very few things...but they LOVE this!

Deanna has tons of yummy recipes for all different kinds of meat and soups and stuff!

Good luck!

kelly said...

My ward started doing this last year, but it fizzled out. We would get together once a month and put the meals together. One person went and bought all the stuff and we met at the church to put it together and just paid the person back, it was only 1-3 dollars per serving. We only made about 4 meals though, for busy nights. Before I had Peyton, ebery night for 2 weeks I made double dinners and froze them, it was so nice to be stocked up like that. About my post, I didn't have to take a picture of the messiest room or anything like that, so don't go thinking my house is as clean as my kitchen sink! I do a lot of playing with Ben now, not much time for cleaning!

Anonymous said...

ok saw your post over on christy m's blog... i don't cook once a month but I try when I can to make lots of meals... i think 12 at one time is my record.
i love it... i just have a hard time finding the time with a baby to make all of it at once...
one of my favorite sites.
http://www.freezehappy.com/
its new but free and she has some good recipes.
look forward to seeing what ideas your RS gives you.
Mariana

Jaime said...

Wow, what a great idea! I should give our Relief Society that idea. Before I've had a baby I've just doubled my usual recipes and froze meals that way. Most things freeze really well. I'm excited to try that cheesy chicken and rice recipe posted above. I'm really in a rut about what to cook these days and I wonder sometimes how I used to have time to cook! I'll be thinking of ideas for you and I'll be watching for a post of how your enrichment meeting went and some good ideas there!

Maree said...

Is that your freezer??? If so, I will be guilty of jealousy.

You can find these kinds of meals on savingdinner.com. You have to buy a subscription, but it's not expensive. Then the meal plans come with recipes and a grocery list.

If you want to see some "regular" savingdinner.com recipes, send me an email, and I'll forward some to you--maree@forevernickel.com. I've got a "regular" subscription, not the freezer one.

What a GREAT idea for an Enrichment activity! The only thing I do now (because I need a big freezer) is to purchase the Costco size hamburger and cook it all and freeze it in ziplocks in the portion sizes I need. In a pinch, I can defrost that and have spaghetti or some other "instant" dinner.

Kirsten said...

Oh sister dear,,,where to start? First of all I was in the check out line at the grocery store, waiting for my turn, when low and behold a book from Taste of Home all about freezer meals appeared! And because i love you and I am a sucker, I bought the little book, so now we need to chat and I'll send you any of them that you want. They look pretty good too! Soups, enchiladas, etc.

Tonight I made the sloppy joes, and the bbq beef (for sandwiches) and fajitas all at the same time and they were super easy!! and froze the first two. I recommend those plus chili, chicken noodle soup, lasagna, cooked-shredded chicken, spaghetti sauce with the meat, chicken cordon bleu, stromboli, pizza, the pot pie recipe, and tomorrow I'll think of some more. Let me know if you need any of those recipes. Good luck with the enrichment activity! You'll have to let us know how it goes!

Love said...

I have a bunch of recipies, I will email them to you. I haven't tried them yet, but I am excited too.

Knowles Family said...

I just noticed today that there is a link on recipezaar.com(http://www.recipezaar.com/sitenews/post.php?pid=969) for once a month cooking. It looks like they have lots of different recipes, menus, etc. Plus, they have all of the nutrition facts on all of their recipes. Let me know if the link doesn't work, or if you need any help with anything else!
It looks like you got some more people on your committee! Good luck!