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Part of frugal living is not only to save money when purchasing food through the use of coupons, but also using that food in everyday meals. Beginning March 1st, I will be hosting a 6 Week Freezer Cooking Challenge!
The Challenge
Fill our freezers together with wholesome meals our families will love!
This challenge will not have a set goal. You can decide what you will want to cook & when. It can as elaborate as making 20 full meals in one day or as simple as preparing shredding chicken in a slow cooker.
My goal is to make 3-4 freezer friendly items per week. This will vary from complete meals, such as lasagna to basic meal starters like shredded chicken. I prefer to spread my freezer cooking out over the week by doing small cooking sessions opposed to an all day cook-a-thon. Again, your plan of action can be whatever works best for you.
I’ll be blogging my game plan and update about what I cook each week along with a
link up for you to share any freezer cooking you did
that week.
Why Freezer Cooking?
Simply put, you'll save time, money and energy.
Freezer Cooking Saves Time: Let's just say for example you are planning to make a small pot of chicken soup. How much more time would it take to make a large pot? Next to none! Chopping extra carrots or doubling the amount of chicken takes very little time. In the end, you will have soup for tonight's dinner and extra to freeze for dinner later. When the time comes to eat your frozen soup, heating from the freezer and boiling egg noodles is a breeze. Dinner will be served in record time!
Freezer Cooking Saves Money: How I really save money in freezer cooking is by stocking up on each item at their rock bottom price(using coupons of course) and waiting for sales on meat!
With meat, you really have to know what price is a stock up deal. Prices vary by area and my stock up price for chicken breast may differ from yours. Chicken breast prices can be anywhere from $1.28/lb to $4.99/lb! Why pay $4.99/lb when I can get it for $1.28/lb? Try to plan freezer cooking meat sales or buy the meat during the sale and freeze it to use later.
Another way freezer cooking saves money is by avoiding the 5 p.m. "what's for dinner?" panic which leads to hitting the drive thru or going to a restaurant.
Freezer Cooking Saves Energy: Basically cooking 5 meals in one day takes less energy than cooking 5 meals in 5 days. Don't get me wrong though, if you choose to cook many meals in one day, it will take a lot of energy and you will probably be tired. But when it's done...it's done! When a crazy day rolls around leaving no time to cook, you can easily grab a meal from the freezer and have dinner on the table quickly!
Freezer Cooking Preparation & Resources
Take Inventory: Knowing what you have on hand is the best way to decide what you will make. You can draw inspiration from your pantry & freezer. This will also help minimize what you will have to buy at the grocery store for freezer cooking. Head on over to Good Cheap Eats for a free printable inventory sheet.
Choose Recipes: Try to choose recipes that are inspired by your inventory of foods. There are many freezer cooking recipe resources available including books, online and adapting your own recipes for the freezer. Check out the Recipe Index for ideas. Here are a few of my favorite freezer cooking & recipe resources:
- Money Saving Mom and her free e-book Money Saving Mom's Guide to Freezer Cooking
- SkinnyTaste (She doesn't give freezer instructions, however this is a great recipe resource)
Plan, Shop & Prepare: Now that you have a list of recipes complied, it's time to plan your freezer cooking session. Making a game plan generally makes things go much smoother & can save time. Learning to multitask during a large freezer cooking session can be the difference between 6 hours or 4 hours. For example, if you are preparing pizza dough in the bread machine you know this will take 1 1/2 hours to be finished. Dump the ingredients into the machine first to get it going. While your bread machine is hard at work, you can get many other recipes started and even finished before you have to deal with the dough. I find these free printable worksheets to be extremely helpful.
Once you have a game plan and know exactly what you will be cooking, head to the store a day or two before your planned freezer cooking session. Be sure to check & double check your lists to be sure you have everything. Nothing will put a damper on your cooking session more than realizing you are out of an ingredient or spice half way through the recipe!
The day before your freezer cooking session prepare by taking foods you will be using out of the freezer and placing them in refrigerator to thaw. This is also make your freezer cooking session go a lot smoother. You won't have to worry about waiting for beef to thaw before you begin cooking.
Non food supplies you may need:
5. Zip top freezer bags – I use these for storing almost everything. Buy quart and gallon sizes.
6. Masking tape or labels– Used for labeling containers before freezing. Masking tape peels off of containers easily. Label Everything! You won’t remember what it was you wrapped so carefully in foil or how long ago the thing at the bottom of the freezer has been there. Also include instructions on your label!
I'm looking forward to taking this challenge with you. As always, if you have any questions please ask. I'm more than happy to help you!
Live Frugal. Live Happy.
