Well, I had quite the weekend! There was some cooking, some relaxation and some big firsts. I have been feeling a bit unmotivated lately when it comes to cooking…mostly…I am tired of it. I enjoy cooking, but there are times I just feel I need a little break. I may have mentioned to the kids one weekend that I was soon taking a break/going on strike/ or something along those lines. 😉 I just needed a change, I needed to do something different. I decided to try a big freezer meals cooking day…and my first Facebook Live (!)…at the same time. What could possibly go wrong? 😉
I was planning to do my shop on Friday morning, and I just decided late on Thursday evening to do a freezer cook. At the beginning of the year I asked on my Facebook page what people would like to see me blog about this year and several people mentioned Freezer Meals. So I made my list, checking to see what was on sale, and then picked mostly family favourites and mapped out a plan of how I would execute the cook. If you are planning to do a freezer meals cooking day, being organized is key. I’m going to do a separate post this week on how to plan for a big cook day, but making sure you have a detailed grocery list, supplies, etc are essential.
Then I went on Facebook Live for the first time and talked about my plan. OK…this was a huge monkey on my back. I’ve been wanting to try some video for a while and Facebook Live seems to be where “everyone” says the engagement is, it’s a “must” for 2017, etc. “They’re” the experts…who am I to argue. 😉 Well….despite my slight nervousness and learning curve…I decided on the drive home from the grocery store I was going to do a live video and talk about my freezer meal plan. Oh yay, and I also mentioned that I would do a Facebook Live the next day about 2 1/2 hours into my cook to show everyone the finished product…bwahahaha…even with several coffee’s that was an ambitious plan.
I blame Pinterest! I constantly see “Make 50 meals in 1 1/2 hrs” in my feed, plus I had done some batch cooking before, so I did think I could be mostly done by 10:00am if I started at 7:00am. But, I got started a little late as I was setting things up and taking photos for this blog post and I also did some Instagram stories along the way. So while I was picturing doing a Facebook Live on Saturday morning showing everyone my finished product all packaged and labelled, I also forgot to take into effect cooling time. At 10:00am I had everything mostly “cooked” but a lot of it was too hot to package up at that time. So I did my Facebook Live showing everyone what I had cooked and what was still cooking…and how much I was sweating…and I think it was fine. 🙂
This week’s meal plan is from The Atlantic Superstore.
Here’s what I made:
Chicken and Black Bean Burritos
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Sweet and Sour Pork
Here’s what I bought:
(2) Del Monte Canned Corn- $2.50
(3) Alymer Diced Tomato- $3.75
Beef Bouillon Cubes- $1.29
White Vinegar- $2.99
Soya Sauce- $2.19
(3) Unico Black Beans- $4.17
Farmers Marble Cheese- $4.49
1 dozen large eggs- $3.59
No Name Frozen Green Peas- $3.99
Presidents Choice Organic Spinach- (50% off) – $3.49
Yellow Onions- $2.99
Fresh Garlic- $0.92
Presidents Choice Ham Steak- $3.79
(2) Lean Ground Beef – $14.25
(2) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Club Pack- $25.84
Pork Tenderloin – $8.10
Casa Menda Whole Wheat Tortilla’s- $4.00
Total Spent: $92.34
There were a few items I already had at home, like red peppers, salsa, brown sugar, etc. I have included a Simple Local Life- Freezer Meal Plan with the ingredients so you can print it off. Some of the items I bought I only used a portion of, like the spinach (I’ll use the rest in smoothies) and the vinegar and soy sauce will last me awhile so I try to guesstimate the cost of the actual meals. The Sweet and Sour Chicken and Pork I will serve with long grain brown rice and frozen peas, so if you buy those ingredients for the Vegetable Beef and Rice Soup, you’re all set. I don’t have a link yet for the Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken recipes, which are slow cooker meals. When I prepped, I cubed the meat, put it in a freezer bag and added the rest of the ingredients…minus the final cornstarch and water, which is added during the last 15 minutes…Cook on low for 8 hours or High 4-5. I will put that frozen right into my slow cooker. Dinner is ready! 🙂
I’m pricing this Freezer Meal Plan at around $100.00 for 14 meals, which works out to $7.14 meal. Besides saving time, a freezer meal plan can also save you money. Took me about 3+ hours including clean up. I had everything packaged and labelled and ready to go in the freezer before 1:00pm. I figure I spend 30-60 minutes every night in the kitchen getting supper ready…the time savings on this is HUGE! I need this in my life right now.
So price wise my freezer meal plan is pretty much on target with my weekly meal plans. Planning your meals is a great way to save money on your grocery bill. The pay off for this for me is the time I am saving. I have some exciting projects and partnerships starting here on Simple Local Life in April which will keep me busy, the weather is (hopefully) soon going to start getting nicer and I just needed a change from my cooking schedule. Yesterday (Sunday) I went for a nice walk in the afternoon, feeling really relaxed as we were having one of the freezer meals for supper. Just not having to worry about cooking that one day felt terrific, not to mention the cut down on kitchen cleaning time as well! This just feels like a win/win!
I am SO happy I did this! It inspired me a bit, doing the Facebook Live as part of it was fun and I so appreciate everyone who watched and commented. The next few weeks are really booked up and I am away for a few nights each week, so you have no idea how good it feels to already have meals put away. I am ecstatic about this actually! 🙂
Let me know if you ever do a freezer meals cooking day? Is this something you would like to see me do again? Eating healthy, within a budget is possible…you just need a plan. Have a great week!
Good for you! I am due a good freezer meal prep day. I do one or two things every week, like breakfast burritos or Pancakes, but my freezer is getting low on supper meals. You have inspired me to plan to do a big cook this week.
I do this once a month usually and it makes a huge difference. Keep it up!!
I used to do it a lot too and it just got away from me. I am super inspired to keep it up…feels amazing! Thanks Ruth. 🙂
I think one of the reasons it took you a little longer – and one of the reasons I liked this better than most freezer cooking plans I’ve seen – is that you were cooking mostly full meals. I’ve found many of the the plans I’ve looked at before are primarily directions for marinades+meat combinations, which are useful but which still requires significant additional work at meal time to add starch/veg and which seem like they would feel repetitive if that’s all you make. You have a couple of those – which, like I say, are useful – but they add to the variety and you also have a lot of full meals that don’t need anything added or only need a salad or rolls or something else minimal.
I’m also very impressed at how tidy you kept it. Pretty sure I’d have had tomato sauce in my hair if I’d tried doing that many meals at once under time pressure!
Thank you for this, and to the (Everything Unscripted) Moncton Coupon Lady who shared it. I have firmly believe in meal planning from our early days in the Yukon- with only 3, then 4, 5 and 6- to now- in NB and only 2, again. I use several kinds of batch cooking but never have done a full week at a time one.
Thank you for your presentation…I would like to share it with my Linda Rennie-Independent Tupperware Consultant people, as this is what I love about the kitchen!
Great post. This encourages me to prep and freeze meals too 🙂
How did you prep the chicken chili? Did you just add all the ingredients including raw chicken and freeze or cook chicken first? Thanks
I like the variety. Made the taco soup last night which was tasty. The remainder went in the freezer!
I made the chicken chili in the slow cooker…then froze it. It just gets taken out of the freezer, thawed, and re-heated. All ready! Glad you are enjoying the meals. 🙂