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We have officially ran out of our freezer snacks and breakfast meals so we spent some time last week on early dismissal day loading up the freezer again.

This time we stayed with our tried and true egg muffins and pancake muffin recipes, but I bought a 48 muffin tin pan that made life so much quicker!!! Gotta love the 50% off coupons at Michaels!!

We did add one amazing breakfast item that will be a frequent flyer in our freezer now. They work great for healthy snacks too.  They are…

Yogurt Granola Bites Let your creativity fly with this one. We used Aldi granola and used 6 different kinds of yogurt. We only put blueberries on top of ours because that is what we had but you could do any berry. We have to limit each person to 3 a day because they would be gone in a flash if we didn’t.

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Crayons, markers, uniforms, notebooks and pencils are covering my living room floor. School must be starting soon! I cannot believe we have hit the end of summer, but my three big kids are going to start in less than a week.

Our children attend a small private school. Since it is small, lunches sometimes are provided by a sweet mom who cooks for them, but other years no one is available to take on this huge task. This is one of those years. The thought of getting three lunches ready every morning plus a morning, afternoon and after school snack each day became a little overwhelming – that’s 60 ‘meals’ each week! So this year we are going to apply my freezer meal techniques to breakfast, lunch and snacks. (Or at least start out doing it!) Continue reading →

I may be late to the boat, but I have discovered this little wonder…

I love making egg muffins for my kids so that they can have a little protein in the morning. I like to make a whole bunch and freeze most of them to save for another week. I also love to make my children their birthday cakes. I love being creative and making them into shapes that represent an interest they had that year and decorate them accordingly.

In times past I have had one major frustration that at times prevents me from doing exactly what I had planned. I hate trying to get them out of the muffin tin or pans!  They never come out in one piece! I will typically miss one little corner or the exact middle of the cake when I spray my pans and then I have a hole or tear that I have to fix in my decorating. With the egg muffins, my pans are a mess and so difficult to clean up. Yes, I could buy new pans that have better non-stick still on them or I could use muffin cups, but I’m not a fan of putting them in the microwave and I am too cheap. Continue reading →

When my in-laws stopped by for a quick visit recently, they brought with them 125 ears of sweet corn. Sweet corn that was picked that very morning from their farm! Not only did we get fresh corn, we got shucked sweet corn. Oh what a HUGE blessing! So the next day, I got busy and cooked and froze most of the corn. I of course left enough for supper since nothing is better than corn on the cob or “cob on the corn” as one of my little ones used to call it.

Here is my mother-in-law’s recipe for freezing corn:

If you aren’t as luckily as me to have your corn already shucked, then shuck your corn and brush/clean off as many silks as you can. Then you cut the corn off the cob. Afterwards, you turn your knife backwards and slide it up and down and all around the cob. This gets the extra juice part off to make the corn even yummier.

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I have been falling back on a lot of my quick, easy meals these last couple of weeks while we get moved and settled in. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tacos: Whenever I do my big cooking day I try to brown up and season at least two pounds of hamburger, if not four, to have stocked and ready in the freezer. I always have tortillas, cheese, sour cream and salsa on hand so we can easily make a tasty meal whenever needed.

Quesadillas: Since I always have tortillas and cheese on hand these are an easy, light meal. Continue reading →

Happy Thursday!!

Today I am going to give you the opportunity to get another round of Freezer meals. This time I took the suggestion of one of our readers. She wanted to know if there was a way to do recipes that can be cooked or warmed up quickly the day you wanted to eat the meal. She was a working mom and needed to get supper on the table quickly after getting home. The meals I picked can either be baked in 20 minutes, warmed up on the stove quickly or can sit in the crock-pot while you are away (except for 1 meal that takes 1 hour).

The 10 meals I picked for this round are below: Continue reading →

Okay, so today is the day we will talk about ways to make the cooking day a huge success. Here are a couple pointers that will help make it a fun day instead of a stressful day.

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes!! I hate shoes but today is a day I break out the tennis shoes.
• Follow your cooking plan. You spent the time and hard work of making it. Follow it so you do not get lost and frustrated not knowing what to do next. See last week’s post for details on how to make a cooking plan.
• Cross off meals so you know what is done and what is left. This is important to helps build your confidence and excitement as you see what all you have accomplished.
• Make sure you drink and eat throughout the day. If you have low blood sugar, you will have a hard time thinking and staying focused and you might get a little cranky. Or maybe that is just me
• Have a plan for supper. After a long day of cooking you will not want to think about making another meal. Have a frozen pizza on hand, eat out or plan which freezer meal you will eat that night.
• Ask for help with the dishes. This is one of the main reasons why I love freezer meals: I have a minimum amount of dishes at supper time during the week. The downside to freezer meals is you use almost all of your pots, pans, bowls etc the day of cooking. So enlist a husband or kid to come in periodically to help with the dishes.

Lots of dishes!! But SO worth it!

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Taking time to plan is the best way to set yourself up for a successful cooking day! It is so important that you take the time to organize your grocery list and step by step plan. This will help the day go smoothly, have less headaches and it will save you time! Last week we talked about how to pick recipes.  This week we will expand on this topic and show you how to prepare for your cooking day.  First I’ll tell you about two tricks you can use to make the most of your day:  Flash Freezing and Crock Pots.

What is “Flash Freeze”?

A great way to freeze meals is to flash freeze them. Meals like meatballs, jumbo stuffed shells, manicotti, and stuffed chicken breasts are all great options for flash freezing. You will make each recipe and then place the item on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Then stick the cookie sheet into the freezer and freeze until the food is frozen and no longer sticky. Once frozen you will place the food in gallon freezer bags. This helps the food keep its shape and not get smashed or stick to the other items in the bag. When you are ready to cook it, you can then just pull out however many you want instead of being forced to cook the whole recipe. I typically choose two meals each time that I have to flash freeze.  (note: meals like meatballs and jumbo shells typically make multiple meals for my family, which is a simple way to increase the number of meals you are making for the month )

Flash freeze on parchment paper on a cookie sheet until frozen. Continue reading →

I am very grateful that I had a mom who taught me about freezer meals when I was younger. It has been a life saver in this current season of life! Freezing meals can be completely overwhelming if you have never been exposed to it before, so for the next couple of weeks I plan to break it down into steps that will set you up for success. (If you subscribe to our website by putting your email address in the purple box, you will get a bonus email in November to help you do your first cooking day. So sign up today!!)

This week we will be discussing why it is beneficial and what freezes well.

Why do it?

1. Time Saver
2. Saves Money
3. Less Thinking

It is a time saver! This is the most important reason for me in this season of life. You will no longer have to take the time every evening to fully prep a meal and cook it. It also cuts down on the amount of dishes that need to be washed each night. (A huge plus for me!!) It saves money by allowing you to buy in bulk, stock up on items when they are on sale and helps prevent you from eating out on those busy or tiring nights. Last, freezing meals takes the “thinking” out of dinnertime each week. You are able to just pull out supper instead of looking through cookbooks or Pinterest to figure out what sounds good. And a bonus is that it allows you to entertain unexpected guests or bless a family in need without scrambling around trying to throw something together. Continue reading →