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Fall is here...

Well as we all know even the best intentions don't always work out the way we plan.  After my corn salad post, I planned on preparing some new recipes throughout the week for all of your tasting pleasures but alas, life just got in the way.  Between the school activities that the kids had going on, practices and games we relied pretty heavily on our freezer meals I had stored away.

Now let me tell you, I used to be intimidated by freezer meals.  I had visions of two days worth of cooking, high grocery bills, and food that I wasn't really a fan of.  I have since realized that there is no concrete plan for filling your freezer with food for later consumption.  After learning my way around the coupon world, and learning that I could still cook the same way I love to cook while using my coupons, I also figured out that my stockpile of groceries could be made into meals for the freezer just by doubling or tripling a recipe.  Now I routinely make three lasangas instead of one, multiple chicken potpies, and dozens of cinnamon rolls. 

If you find your schedule rapidly getting too full to make dinner try this method.  It works wonderfully for those nights that you have no time to fit cooking dinner into the schedule and saves on the pocketbook when you don't have to grab dinner on the go.
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  1. Nicole @ OrWhateverYouDoSeptember 20, 2010 at 7:06 PM

    I love freezer meals. I haven't really perfected the storage of them, and we currently have a freezer that is the approximate size of a postage stamp, but great post.

    Also, I love the cost breakdown at the end of your posts! Do you have a program that does that, or do you do it by hand? I was trying to figure out how to price a cake the other day per serving and my brain got overwhelmed by all the numbers.

    Thanks for adding me to your blog list! I just noticed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. meganSeptember 21, 2010 at 7:11 AM

    good suggestions on the freezable meals. I really need to start doing that. I just started cooking a huge meal on Sunday so that we can eat that for a few days throughout the week, but grabbing something from the freezer would be a great alternative!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JennSeptember 21, 2010 at 2:17 PM

    Megan I do the Sunday thing too. Anything that creates leftovers is great in my house, not only does it make dinner easier but it is a cost saver as well!

    ReplyDelete
  4. JennSeptember 21, 2010 at 2:23 PM

    Pioneer Cookerella I will post some ideas for freezer storage this weekend. I have found that most meals freeze really well as long as they are covered correctly.

    As for the price breakdowns, when I buy say sugar I write the price down on the package. Since most of my purchases are made on sale items with coupons I have to do that or else I might forget in a month what I spent on an item. Then I figure out how many cups are in the container, based on that I can break it down to tablespoons, teaspoons etc if needed. Since I buy flour, sugar, yeast etc in bulk my numbers last for quite a while and I record them in my recipe book. Unless I get something that is on ultimate, crazy good sale, the numbers for flour, salt, sugar etc. remain pretty much the same.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MichelleSeptember 29, 2010 at 4:55 PM

    I sooooo need to do the freeze meal thing. I know, I know every time I post something on your blog its what I need to do. Lofty cooking plans, little follow through. Someday . . .

    ReplyDelete
  6. JennSeptember 29, 2010 at 9:14 PM

    Michelle you do need to do it, you are so busy I bet it would make things much easier on you. I will come help you if you want.

    ReplyDelete

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