Deep Freeze
We don't have a large freezer. But I wanted to make up some meals to put in there, you know after these babies come we just aren't going to have time to cook. And I know that friends, family and our beloved church family will bring us meals and we will eat until we pop. Well, at least that is what happened after Violet's death....everyone wanted to make us feel better and making dinner for us was one way they could help. I think we had like 2 or 3 weeks of dinners from the dear souls at church. And we had leftovers that were frozen and we were able to eat on those for the next couple of weeks while I was still having a hard time getting myself off the couch. But you know what, all those lovely delicious meals stop coming at some point and I am hoping that I will find out that it is awful nice to have some dinners tucked away in the freezer for us to chow on while the babies are screaming!
My plan was set. I confirmed with my mom and my good friend Sarah (who is also a fellow ToT blogger at Just Living Daily) that they could come over on Monday. Then Sunday night I sat down with my computer, a pen and paper and researched some of the freezer meals that I had been pinning on Pinterest. I complied a list that I thought sounded good to me and showed it to Nolan to get his opinion. He picked out a few and I got the ingredients list together. Before I knew it my sister in law, Edith, who just had a baby in May also had a list of freezer friendly recipes and offered to send them my way...heck yeah, bring it on! So I sorted through those and picked out a couple more.
After getting all the ingredients wrote down, Nolan and I settled in the kitchen to see what we had and what we did not have. Actually, I sat at the table and read the list off to him and he searched the kitchen. Most of the time he knew where to look, but a couple of times I had to tell him where something would be if we had it. And then from that I was able to make a grocery list.
The next morning, my mom came over to help me do grocery shopping. It seems to go quicker when someone else is helping me. So my list was made and I had it all mapped out, meat and veggies first, then packaged goods and cheese. It didn't take us too long to pick everything up and head back home. We did make a quick stop at Arby's (Georgia's fast food of choice) and headed home to quickly eat and get ready to tackle these meals.
After lunch I called Sarah and she and her little one James would be over soon to help out. My mom and I got started. We picked a recipe and started with that first. She started out chopping the veggies. I started out labeling some freezer bags with the name of the dish and directions on how to cook it. Some of the recipes were for the crock pot (the ones we put in the freezer bags) and others were casseroles (I bought disposable pans for that....sorry environment, I just don't have enough 9x13 pans to keep some in the freezer too. At least I did get the pans that were made out of recycled material and we will try to recycle them after we polish off the meal.). Anyway, we started with the crock pot meals and so I was labeling the bags. After finishing that, I started putting the veggies that were chopped, seasonings, meat and the packaged or canned ingredients into the bags.
After double checking the first recipe, I sealed the bag and kind of mixed it together. Once it looked mixed I opened the bag and tried to get as much air out as possible, then I resealed it. Each of the crock pot recipes made enough for 2 gallon size bags, so we could get two dinners out of it. We were able to lay them in the freezer and move onto the next one.
When it came time to add cheese to one of the recipes, I realized that I had forgotten to buy any cheese at all. Luckily Sarah was not at my house yet and she was able to swing by the store and pick up some cheese for me. Whew. She saved the day!!!
We were able to continue on and get most of the recipes finished, I have one left to prepare and it's really easy. At the end of the afternoon we had made 9 dinners to go in my freezer! Yea. So that is not only dinners but lunches too!!!
I wish that I would have done this earlier in my pregnancy. It would have been helpful to have those in the freezer since either I was too anemic to cook, was at too many doctor's appointments to cook, or just didn't feel like it since I'm huge and pregnant. We've been eating out a lot lately. And not only is that hurting our pocketbook, but it's really going to have to stop since Georgia will be in school and needs to be in bed around 8. By the time Nolan gets home from work and we go out to dinner, sometimes we don't get home until 8. So we really need to be eating at home more to make sure that she not only gets the rest that she needs, but also the down time of getting a bath, getting ready for bed and reading a story. Routine will be good for all of us!! And I don't see us going out to at much at all after the twins are born. It just seems like too much and it will be easier to eat at home!
So if any of you are thinking about trying some freezer meals, I can let you all know how they turned out. Not only did I get a list from Pinterest and from Edith, but I hit up my friend Amy who made some outstanding freezer meals for us when Violet died and Sarah gave me a few freezer friendly veggie meals (I like to eat vegetarian once a week if possible) and Nolan's Aunt Ester has also offered to send me some veggie friendly freezer meals. Yea! So, I will be doing this more in the future. I might not try to do so many meals in one day, but we will see how things go!
My plan was set. I confirmed with my mom and my good friend Sarah (who is also a fellow ToT blogger at Just Living Daily) that they could come over on Monday. Then Sunday night I sat down with my computer, a pen and paper and researched some of the freezer meals that I had been pinning on Pinterest. I complied a list that I thought sounded good to me and showed it to Nolan to get his opinion. He picked out a few and I got the ingredients list together. Before I knew it my sister in law, Edith, who just had a baby in May also had a list of freezer friendly recipes and offered to send them my way...heck yeah, bring it on! So I sorted through those and picked out a couple more.
After getting all the ingredients wrote down, Nolan and I settled in the kitchen to see what we had and what we did not have. Actually, I sat at the table and read the list off to him and he searched the kitchen. Most of the time he knew where to look, but a couple of times I had to tell him where something would be if we had it. And then from that I was able to make a grocery list.
The next morning, my mom came over to help me do grocery shopping. It seems to go quicker when someone else is helping me. So my list was made and I had it all mapped out, meat and veggies first, then packaged goods and cheese. It didn't take us too long to pick everything up and head back home. We did make a quick stop at Arby's (Georgia's fast food of choice) and headed home to quickly eat and get ready to tackle these meals.
After lunch I called Sarah and she and her little one James would be over soon to help out. My mom and I got started. We picked a recipe and started with that first. She started out chopping the veggies. I started out labeling some freezer bags with the name of the dish and directions on how to cook it. Some of the recipes were for the crock pot (the ones we put in the freezer bags) and others were casseroles (I bought disposable pans for that....sorry environment, I just don't have enough 9x13 pans to keep some in the freezer too. At least I did get the pans that were made out of recycled material and we will try to recycle them after we polish off the meal.). Anyway, we started with the crock pot meals and so I was labeling the bags. After finishing that, I started putting the veggies that were chopped, seasonings, meat and the packaged or canned ingredients into the bags.
After double checking the first recipe, I sealed the bag and kind of mixed it together. Once it looked mixed I opened the bag and tried to get as much air out as possible, then I resealed it. Each of the crock pot recipes made enough for 2 gallon size bags, so we could get two dinners out of it. We were able to lay them in the freezer and move onto the next one.
When it came time to add cheese to one of the recipes, I realized that I had forgotten to buy any cheese at all. Luckily Sarah was not at my house yet and she was able to swing by the store and pick up some cheese for me. Whew. She saved the day!!!
We were able to continue on and get most of the recipes finished, I have one left to prepare and it's really easy. At the end of the afternoon we had made 9 dinners to go in my freezer! Yea. So that is not only dinners but lunches too!!!
I wish that I would have done this earlier in my pregnancy. It would have been helpful to have those in the freezer since either I was too anemic to cook, was at too many doctor's appointments to cook, or just didn't feel like it since I'm huge and pregnant. We've been eating out a lot lately. And not only is that hurting our pocketbook, but it's really going to have to stop since Georgia will be in school and needs to be in bed around 8. By the time Nolan gets home from work and we go out to dinner, sometimes we don't get home until 8. So we really need to be eating at home more to make sure that she not only gets the rest that she needs, but also the down time of getting a bath, getting ready for bed and reading a story. Routine will be good for all of us!! And I don't see us going out to at much at all after the twins are born. It just seems like too much and it will be easier to eat at home!
So if any of you are thinking about trying some freezer meals, I can let you all know how they turned out. Not only did I get a list from Pinterest and from Edith, but I hit up my friend Amy who made some outstanding freezer meals for us when Violet died and Sarah gave me a few freezer friendly veggie meals (I like to eat vegetarian once a week if possible) and Nolan's Aunt Ester has also offered to send me some veggie friendly freezer meals. Yea! So, I will be doing this more in the future. I might not try to do so many meals in one day, but we will see how things go!
When the babies get here, I'd be more than happy to cook up something and bring it over! It's one of my most favorite things to do when my friends are short on time and sleep and sanity. :) This is such a smart idea and I'm actually thinking of doing this just for our little family so that we are less apt to eat chicken nuggets and french fries on nights where I don't feel like dealing with the kitchen.
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