Everybody is always asking how I do my meal prepping...or bulk cooking...or freezer cooking...or crock potting...or whatever you want to call it. It is my saving grace when it comes to dinner time. I love it. I can easily guarantee we will have a delicious meal on the table that I didn't have to actually spend much time cooking.
I've come across several blogs of women who do this - KUDOS! But I rarely like their food. 10 Meals for $50? Right on! (Read menu.) Never mind, it's all bean soups and chilis. Nothing wrong with those items but let's be real...it is not helpful to freezer cook if your family will not eat the food. Every family is different, we have different styles of cooking, diets (I'm talking to you paleos and ketos!), grocery buying and, man, do we have different tastes. So I completely understand if someone reads my blog and says, none (or very few) of these meals sound good to us.
Gotcha. But I don't want that to deter anyone from taking on freezer cooking because IT. IS. AWESOME.
(Side note: I also get asked if the food is actually good. I'll admit, I've had flops but I try to go back to my blog to make an update for each meal.)
So allow me to break it down into four simple steps so you can freezer cook in a short amount of time to make the rest of your month manageable.
STEP 1 | Create Menu
Jot down some meals your family likes or meals you'd like to try. Are they freezable? Crockpotable? Instantpotable? If it's a crock pot meal where you simply dump ingredients, keep it. Also, think pasta sauces - they freeze great and can easily heat in your crock pot. Not much for slow cooking? Think of your marinades and seasonings. Buy and season the meat, thaw it out the day of, and grill it up. Does it bake in a dish? Lasagna, Taco Lasagna, Mac and Cheese, Shepherd's Pie, Tater Tot Casserole? All freezable. Sometimes I even just freeze portions of the meal. Examples: pasta sauces (boil noodles day of), sausage bake (freeze sausage and broccoli and add potatoes and veggies day of).
STEP 2 | Create Grocery List
Once you get your list together (mine is usually about 10-12 meals and I make two of each), start making your grocery list. Don't worry about getting too organized just write down everything you need to make each meal.
STEP 3 | Go Shopping
Take the above list and shop. Make sure to buy gallon ziplocs and slow cooker liners (my fave) because it is always so unfortunate to be ready to prep 20+ meals and forget the bags. The total will probably surprise you. I know most people spend about $200-300 on groceries every 1-2 weeks so when your cooking 20 dinners and the total is between $100-$150 (on average), it is surprisingly awesome. My meals typically average $6 meal because we're all about that protein. If you're more into meatless stews/chilis/etc. you'll probably average a little lower.
STEP 4 | Make Magic...I mean, Make Meals
First I like to label bags. Then I just work through each meal. I usually start cooking any meat that needs to brown up before being put in the meal (i.e. ground beef, ground sausage, etc.). Other than that, just dump all the ingredients in the correct bag, freeze tortillas or rolls with them if necessary, have noodles in the pantry ready to go for your sauces (these are things to make sure you buy when you're planning your grocery run). This usually takes me about 2 hours.
Then bask in all its glory. You are done. You have prepped and cooked for the next month. Hallelujah.
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