I follow a blog called moneysavingmom. It's fabulous. Not only does she post deals, which are good, she writes such great posts and has inspired me to try out different frugal living situations on many occasions. Two or three weeks ago she blogged about a cooking/baking day she does every once in awhile, and I decided I needed to try and follow suit. Especially with this new baby coming, I thought it would be great to get a head start on the freezer meals since my friends are much more limited here- and the Hakes aren't here. (They pretty much are and always will be amazing, and when Jack was born they came over and cleaned my house, and left like 6 meals in my fridge/freezer and even made dinner for us probably 3 times in the first two weeks. I was able to heal much more quickly because of them I'm sure.)
Last Tuesday during Jack's nap I started all of this, did some while he was awake and then finished after he went to bed and before Eric got home from his Tuesday classes.
It all started with us not having beans for a few recipes I wanted to make. Since canned beans are crazy expensive out here, I didn't want to buy cans of them, so I tried cooking them from their dry bean state for the first time in my life. I had one big cannery can of pinto beans from our meager food storage that I got the beans from. The rest of the cooking day kind of came out of that.
Beans are seriously so easy to cook- and I think next time I will just stick them in the crock pot all day with water just covering them. Easy and delicious and healthy. You can't beat that. I used them in several recipes below, and then just bagged and froze the rest in 2 cup quanitites. (Because that's how much is in one can of beans.)
I froze hamburger and then chicken in 1/2 pound quantities in ziplock bags. (I do this every time I get meat on a good sale anyway- I freeze them in individual quantities and I can pull them out one at a time for dinners.)
I cooked 2 lbs of hamburger with onions and taco seasoning.
Chili is also crazy expensive always- even in Utah. I can't ever bring myself to buy it. So when Crystal from money saving mom suggested to MAKE MY OWN chili from the pinto beans, I was a little skeptical, but came out LOVING it in the end. It was absolutely delicious, and I am totally making a huge batch to freeze in bags next time. I put some of my cooked pinto beans in a pot, added some canned diced tomatoes, some corn juice\ (from corn in a can I used in a separate recipe), taco seasoning (which has chili powder in it!), tomato sauce and a little tomato paste, salt, and some of the hamburger with onions and taco seasoning I had just cooked. Then I put it in the fridge and we had it for dinner the next night. I also put some in a bag that I threw in the freezer to use for later. Seriously try making your own chili, you probably will be delighted with the results.
I had some bone in skin on chicken I never know how to cook with but was on sale for REALLY cheap so I bought a whole bunch of it. Eric likes to make fried chicken with it, but since that is not great for our health every week- I decided to try throwing it in a crock pot and seeing what happened. After 2 hours the skin fell right off and then after 4 more hours the bones as well. It also shredded really easily. So I took off the bones and skin and made this Chicken Tetrazini. I'm not going to lie, it's not my favorite recipe, but I think I added too many noodles to it, so there might be hope for you if you wanted to try it. I froze two dinner size bags of the tetrizini. I also made these easy Southwest Rollups that I froze as well. The rest of the chicken I froze and will be making BBQ chicken pizza with it later this week.
I then made some freezer beef burritos with the rest of the hamburger. Eric loves them, and I hate the store bought ones, and of course at the store they are expensive, and these are crazy more healthy for you. I used the pinto beans I had just cooked up as the bean, and corn as my vegetable. I didn't put salsa in it and it still turned out great. I am thrilled to have these for healthy protein filled lunches after the baby comes.
And I think that is all. Although I am SOOO proud of what I was able to accomplish, and especially that I did two things I have never done before, cooked beans from their dry state, and made homemade chili! (Although I did win the chili cookoff at my ward last year, that was an accident, and I used cans of beans for it, so it wasn't as homemade as this chili.)
Thanks again Crystal at Money Saving Mom for being my inspiration. I am definitely doing at least one and probably two more of these days before the baby comes in 7 weeks! Hooray! (And in the meantime I'm trying to cook double the meal and freeze half of it. I already have a bunch of frozen crepes in there as well.
Last Tuesday during Jack's nap I started all of this, did some while he was awake and then finished after he went to bed and before Eric got home from his Tuesday classes.
It all started with us not having beans for a few recipes I wanted to make. Since canned beans are crazy expensive out here, I didn't want to buy cans of them, so I tried cooking them from their dry bean state for the first time in my life. I had one big cannery can of pinto beans from our meager food storage that I got the beans from. The rest of the cooking day kind of came out of that.
Beans are seriously so easy to cook- and I think next time I will just stick them in the crock pot all day with water just covering them. Easy and delicious and healthy. You can't beat that. I used them in several recipes below, and then just bagged and froze the rest in 2 cup quanitites. (Because that's how much is in one can of beans.)
I froze hamburger and then chicken in 1/2 pound quantities in ziplock bags. (I do this every time I get meat on a good sale anyway- I freeze them in individual quantities and I can pull them out one at a time for dinners.)
I cooked 2 lbs of hamburger with onions and taco seasoning.
Chili is also crazy expensive always- even in Utah. I can't ever bring myself to buy it. So when Crystal from money saving mom suggested to MAKE MY OWN chili from the pinto beans, I was a little skeptical, but came out LOVING it in the end. It was absolutely delicious, and I am totally making a huge batch to freeze in bags next time. I put some of my cooked pinto beans in a pot, added some canned diced tomatoes, some corn juice\ (from corn in a can I used in a separate recipe), taco seasoning (which has chili powder in it!), tomato sauce and a little tomato paste, salt, and some of the hamburger with onions and taco seasoning I had just cooked. Then I put it in the fridge and we had it for dinner the next night. I also put some in a bag that I threw in the freezer to use for later. Seriously try making your own chili, you probably will be delighted with the results.
I had some bone in skin on chicken I never know how to cook with but was on sale for REALLY cheap so I bought a whole bunch of it. Eric likes to make fried chicken with it, but since that is not great for our health every week- I decided to try throwing it in a crock pot and seeing what happened. After 2 hours the skin fell right off and then after 4 more hours the bones as well. It also shredded really easily. So I took off the bones and skin and made this Chicken Tetrazini. I'm not going to lie, it's not my favorite recipe, but I think I added too many noodles to it, so there might be hope for you if you wanted to try it. I froze two dinner size bags of the tetrizini. I also made these easy Southwest Rollups that I froze as well. The rest of the chicken I froze and will be making BBQ chicken pizza with it later this week.
I then made some freezer beef burritos with the rest of the hamburger. Eric loves them, and I hate the store bought ones, and of course at the store they are expensive, and these are crazy more healthy for you. I used the pinto beans I had just cooked up as the bean, and corn as my vegetable. I didn't put salsa in it and it still turned out great. I am thrilled to have these for healthy protein filled lunches after the baby comes.
And I think that is all. Although I am SOOO proud of what I was able to accomplish, and especially that I did two things I have never done before, cooked beans from their dry state, and made homemade chili! (Although I did win the chili cookoff at my ward last year, that was an accident, and I used cans of beans for it, so it wasn't as homemade as this chili.)
Thanks again Crystal at Money Saving Mom for being my inspiration. I am definitely doing at least one and probably two more of these days before the baby comes in 7 weeks! Hooray! (And in the meantime I'm trying to cook double the meal and freeze half of it. I already have a bunch of frozen crepes in there as well.
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