Planning and Make-ahead Freezer Meals
I don’t know about many of you, but I have such a hard time deciding what to cook and then having the motivation to actually cook. At our last project group my friend Kristin, was telling us how she and some of her friends had started Planning and Make-ahead Freezer Meals so they could save time and money…and not stress about dinner. I jumped on board. So last Saturday night a group of us got together and made 6 meals, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Parmesana, Chicken Broccoli Casserole, Chicken Rollups, Lasagna rolls, Ham and potatoes, and pulled pork. We got at least 16 meals out of this and it only ended up costing each of us $91.60. I don’t know about you, but that is one trip to the grocery store for me if I am loading up.
So here are the details so you can start if you want.
- Get a group of girls together. (We had 5 total, I don’t know that you would want many more people than that unless you have a large kitchen.)
- Have a pre-dinner making meeting to decide what meals you would like to make. Each person should bring their family favorite recipes. As you can see, we made a few chicken things, but tried to incorporate different meats as well.
- One person should gather the recipes and make a list of the different ingredients and how much of everything is needed.
- Shopping lists are made–We sent a group to Costco (we had two shopping carts full of food), and a group to Wal-Mart to gather supplies.
- Each person was given an assignment for prep-work. Mine was to brown the sausage for the Lasagna Rolls. Having the prep-work done helped out so much. It saved us so much time.
- Everyone meets together and the labor begins. We got all 6 meals done in 3 hours.
- Start over!
Our group has been so excited about this. We have started to plan out what our next meals will be. I think we will get together every other month so that we can have a stocked freezer and a variety of meals.
If you are interested in getting any of the recipes or more information, just let me know. I am so in love with this concept, especially with a baby on the way. Who wants to cook when they have a newborn?
Becky-I would love the recipes-what a great idea!
I’d like the recipes too!
this is an awesome idea. you have such a fun creative group going there. i am jealous!
Hey Becky – I just stumbled upon your blog today and I love it! So many great ideas! You didn’t have contact info listed, so I’ll just leave my question here on the post I’m wondering about 🙂I LOVE this idea. I have almost no experience with freezer meals. The little I do have is from my mother-in-law right after my daughter was born 2 years ago. She made us a large number of freezer meals while she was visiting and left instructions on each for when she left. The problem was, her cooking times were always WAY off. She would say an hour and at that point, the meal would still be frozen and it would take twice as long to cook usually. Given that you’re starting from a completely frozen meal, what’s the story? Do you take it out and let it thaw before putting it in the oven? Or how do you know how long to cook it from its completely frozen state? Looks like you have some experience here, can you help? :)Because – wow – this would make my life SOOOO much easier! Thanks in advance!
Kim–Sorry it took me so long to respond. As far as a frozen state for the dinners. I like to pull them out of the freezer in the morning and will either leave them out to thaw a bit, or place them in my fridge to thaw. I have pulled somethings out frozen and cooked them, but you will have to add extra cooking time. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, email me at [email protected]I just saw your blog, and you have super cute ideas too. Thanks for checking us out! 🙂
Becky,I have a couple ladies in my ward who are interested in getting together to make freezer meals. Would you mind sharing the recipes you used? We are at the point where we need to decide what we want to make and are just gathering recipes. Thanks in advance!Monica
what a wonderful Idea! I am a single mom and cant wait to get a few friends together for some work and fellowship! thanks for sharing!
I would love the recipes for these freezer meals. [email protected] Thanks.
Hey I love your blog!! Thanks for sharing. I try to do this on my own but it would be so much more fun with a group! I would love to get your recipies! Thanks Mary
Do you still have freezer meals recipes available?