November: The Month of the Freezer Meal

In an effort to curb grocery costs and make life easier for myself, I've been researching and saving recipes for meals that I can prepare ahead of time that freeze well.

When I was pregnant with AJ, one of the best things I did was make and freeze about 7 meals that we were able to pull out of the freezer after she was born.  In the first days of new motherhood, it was invaluable to know that dinner was in the freezer if sh!t hit the fan.  I'm planning to do the same preparation a few weeks before baby #2 arrives.

In the past three years, it seems that crock pot cooking and freezer meals have become way more popular and I've found a few websites that have some great-looking recipes I'm going to test-run before the baby arrives.  One main site is the Six Sisters' Website.  They claim that you can prepare and complete 8 dinners in just over an hour.  I am planning to test their theory this month.

I also have a few of my own recipes that I know freeze well that my family likes that I'm planning to make this month.  I think I'll have more than 10 meals in the freezer that we can pull out as life gets crazy and we start to travel for the holidays.  I can't wait to just be able to pull a pan out of the deep-freezer when we get home from a trip and have a home-cooked meal the night we get home!

Here are the meals I'm planning to make this month:

• Chili
• King Ranch Chicken Casserole
• Slow Cooker BBQ Spareribs
• Black Bean Taco Soup
• Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
• Chicken Cacciatore
• French Dip Sandwiches
• Hearty Beef Stew
• Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken
• Cilantro Lime Chicken w/Corn and Black Beans
• Pasta e Fagioli
• White Bean Soup w/Grilled Sausage
• Homemade Pasta Sauce

The only two of the above recipes that I've made before are chili and homemade pasta sauce, which, technically I don't make, since D makes it.  The chili recipe I make is loosely based off the one I linked above, but I've changed it so much that its really different from the above recipe.

I'm kind of excited to get all these prepped and frozen, there is nothing better than having a fully-stocked freezer, and not just with frozen pizzas, but actual meals.  I also feel like most recipes for freezer meals are big enough that we can eat off them for at least an extra day with the leftovers.

So, if you'd like to join me in cooking up a storm, feel free, but I'll be posting about how these recipes come together, if we like them and what my overall thoughts on them are.