My first attempt at Freezer Cooking

When school starts up again in the fall, I will be going back to work in the after school care program that I worked at this year. The difference is I will be going back as a "team leader" instead of an aide, and I will probably be working 5 days a week instead of 2-3. That is fine with me as it means more money for our tight budget. The downside is that the program ends at 6pm each day, meaning I need to have dinner either made before I go to work or something that is super simple to make when I get home.

I have been bouncing around the idea of freezer cooking for sometime.  But I didn't want to have a freezer full of casseroles either. LOL And quite honestly I was a little overwhelmed by all the work that was involved in making a bunch of meals for the freezer over the course of 1 day.

Well.....

A couple weeks ago, I came across Money Saving Mom's Freezer Cooking in an hour plan. Sounded do-able. But again I didn't want a lot of casseroles...

So I thought about it some more and read some more about if freezer cooking was worth it, how to plan for freezer cooking and planning worksheets (all from Money Saving Mom)....

Then it hit me...I did NOT have to make casseroles, why couldn't I just make some freezer meals that I know we would eat and use. So that is what I did. I decided to keep it simple and just go for it.

I bought a 5lb tube of ground beef, a 3 lb package of chicken breasts, 2 packs of taco seasoning and 2 bottles of marinade and decided to go from there.

Today I took my first attempt at freezer cooking.

I fried up 4 lbs of hamburger. I left 2 lbs plain (for use in spaghetti sauce) and then seasoned 2 lbs for tacos. Cooled the meat, and then froze it in freezer bags. Easy Peasy. (The other pound of hamburger I froze raw so that I could use it for manwich.)

I took half of the chicken and put it and a bottle of marinade in another freezer bag. Then did it again with the other half of chicken and other bottle of marinade. (This was an idea from Money Saving Mom as well...using her World's Easiest Make-Ahead Marinated Chicken Recipe).

I also bagged up baked beans that I had leftover from Father's Day and froze those as well.

I still need to shred 4 zucchini that I bought at the farmer's market for bread...but I think I did pretty well in a short amount of time. I feel good about what I did and the plan that I have. I think I will add stuff to the freezer each week, maybe doing something just for 1 hour or so a week. This is very doable and will make my working and cooking much easier.

Have you tried freezer cooking? Any tips?