Perpetually Nesting: Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Freezer Meal Edition

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Freezer Meal Edition

My apologies for the strange spacing on this post! I am trying to fix it!

How to Make 20 Meals in 2 Hours

20 Meals for the Chest Freezer - Organized by "Vegetarian, Poultry, Fish, Beef, Veggies & Side Dishes!"

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Glads from the Garden!

Salad from the Garden!

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Basically, the more prepping you can do ahead of time the better...this will make cooking day happier!

1). Set a cooking day - In our house this means I spend a few days prior compiling my recipes and making a detailed shopping list organized by meal...plan 10 recipes, and make 2 of each one...

2). Do the grocery shopping

3). Gather all of the raw ingredients you can from your garden (if you have one)

4). Spend the day, while caring for the children, washing, cutting, and organizing ingredients...don't obsess about it, just do as much as you can without neglecting your other responsibilities! The goal of this is to make life easier and happier, not harder!

5). When my husband gets home from work, he'll take the children to the swimming hole for 3 hours while I cook...20 meals in 2 hours!

Are you ready to see what I made? (10 recipes, 2 of each!)

1. Goat Cheese/Asparagus/Chicken Quesadillas

Note: For this one, grilled frozen chicken strips work great...Trader Joes (or really any grocery store) should have bags of pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken strips in their freezer aisle. Or leave the chicken out if you're a vegetarian...or make 1 batch with chicken and 1 without chicken! Serve with homemade guacamole...and take my friend Katherine's suggestion, add feta cheese to the guacamole!

BONUS: Kabobs - ready for grilling!

These are really easy - just put what you want in a stick, and marinate them in olive oil and italian seasoning, place in freezer bags...

2. Gorgonzola Burgers (buffalo sauce optional!)

3. Chicken & Vegetable Stir-Fry Teriyaki

Take as many veggies from the garden as you can....peppers, sugar snap peas, onions, garlic, broccoli, and I used store-bought choy (Chinese Cabbage) from Trader Joe's. Serve with brown rice and your favorite Teriyaki sauce. Cook chicken and garlic in a pan, saute vegetables in sauce, boil rice, and then freeze it in a gallon bag. Cook from frozen, or thaw in the fridge the night before. Healthy, easy, yummy.

4. Rotisserie Chicken Buffalo Sliders

For picky eaters, just leave out the buffalo sauce! I made 2 batches - 1 with buffalo sauce for Ben and me, and another without the buffalo sauce for the kids!

5. Sole with Fresh Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic & Artichoke Hearts

6. Banana Sole

Not my recipe, but came out really well! Make with seasoned flour.

7. Chicken Piccata over Fettucini

8. Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Take a pork butt and stick it in a crock-pot. Pour a can of root bear over it. Let it cook on LOW for 8 hours. Drain root bear, shred pork, and cover it with your favorite BBQ sauce - Sweet Baby Ray's is a good choice, or Trader Joes makes a good natural BBQ sauce that doesn't have corn syrup in it. For a smokier flavor, add 3 tablespoons of "liquid smoke." Serve on Hoagie Rolls or Bulkie Rolls. You can stick the pulled pork in a gallon freezer bag, thaw it the night before you want to eat it, and warm it in the crock pot on High. Or...if you forget to thaw it, no worries - just defrost it in the crock pot for 2-3 hours on High :-)

9. French Dip Sandwiches

Take a London Broil and stick it in the crock-pot with a package of dry onion soup mix. Add a cup of water and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Cut meat and serve on sliced french bread. Optional - add a slice of swiss or gruyere cheese with each sandwich. Give everyone a cup of the juices for dipping! This is easily freezable. Just follow the freezing directions for the pulled pork above.

10. Gourmet Macaroni & Cheese

Not my recipe, but turns out great! The roasted garlic really makes it! Use penne noodles. Delicious!

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I banked on making a few mistakes along the way...one of them was freezing the bananas for the banana sole recipe...NOTE: If you freeze the bananas, they'll turn brown...so for aesthetic purposes, slice the bananas when you're actually ready to prepare the meal!

And no need to cook the rice with the chicken once it's been boiled (Duh!) Oops!

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Shopping List: Organized by Meal

Dishes...

Dishes...

And more dishes...

Still FAR less to clean up than if I were making 20 separate meals at different times! Especially since most of the same cooking utensils, pots, pans, knives, measuring cups, etc. are used for most of the meals!

Voila!