A couple months ago I was asked how I do it all. The short answer: I don't! But seriously, as a mom of 3 little kids 3 and under, I'm not supposed to do it all. Wouldn't there would be something wrong if I did? Having said that, I do want to share something that makes it possible for me to do a lot (but not all) and that is freezer meals. What's the average amount of time it takes to make dinner nightly? One hour maybe? How many nights do you cook dinner? or should you ;) Five hours a week, give or take, spent cooking dinner. What if you took that 5 hours of cooking and did it all in one day and only did it once a month or so? I've found that cooking this way saves me money (less trips to the store and less eating out because there is almost always something in the freezer now), saves me time and we eat healthier at the same time (less fast food or processed foods).
I don't cook dinner every night, in fact, I might cook just once a week. It's been about a year now since I began cooking freezer meals and it has seriously changed my life. I don't think I could ever go back to cooking nightly. Here is a quick run down of what works for me:
First, I compile a bunch of recipes that we all (all is relative with preschoolers) enjoy and that work well in the freezer. I try to keep them somewhat similar to each other because that makes the shopping and prep easier and faster. For example, lots of chicken dishes or Italian so I just buy a lot of a few ingredients. Make your shopping list from the recipes (double or triple the recipe so you make 2-3 of the same dishes to keep it quick and easy).
Second, I do my shopping! I buy most of my meat and produce at Sam's Club (cheapest meat around and great quality). This past trip, I bought 6lbs of chicken breast and about 6 lbs of pork loin. I was able to hit up Sam's club and Kroger in one trip with the kiddos so that I could come home and prep it that evening. That's not always possible, in that case I'll unload groceries into the fridge and prep the next day. Just try to do your shopping and schedule enough hours to do the prep/cooking within about 3 days of each other so you'll have the freshest ingredients.
Third, I do the prep and "dump" meals. I am not a huge recipe follower. So I usually estimate how many veggies need to be chopped and do that first. Dump meals are meals you can pretty much dump in ziploc freezer bags and stick in the freezer with little to no prep. All of mine will be thawed and put in the crock pot. During the last cook day I did, my dump meals included coconut curry chicken, chicken fajitas, cilantro lime chicken, pork chops in raspberry chipotle marinade, cranberry pork roast, and barbeque pork loin for pulled pork sandwiches. I did all my prep and dump meals the night after shopping and had 8 meals in the freezer in about 1 1/2 hours (and isn't that about how long it takes to cook one dinner? at least with small children at your feet!). Bonus: your husband (or you) only has to really clean up the kitchen 1 or 2 times rather than every night (besides the serving dishes and etc).
And fourth, I do the real work. I make all the meals that need to be assembled or precooked before being frozen. This usually happens the day after I do my grocery shopping. Because I put a bunch of chicken breast straight in the crock pot after I got it home I already had chicken prepped. So I prep any other meat I need (mine was ground turkey). I've found that most recipes can be adapted to be a freezer meal. Our most popular dinners are calzones, chicken pot pie, lasagna, enchiladas, chili, baked ziti, soups and stews. I don't like casseroles or cream of stuff so I don't do much of that. But if that's the way you roll, then by all means, have at it! With the meat prepped, I made 2 chicken pot pies, 2 dishes of chicken enchiladas, some chicken noodle soup and shredded any leftover chicken breast to have on hand in the freezer. With the ground turkey (if you like beef, use it!) I made lasagna, baked ziti, and chili. That's 11 more meals to add to the freezer!
In another post, I will share some of my favorite recipes for the freezer as well as some great tips I've learned (and wish I knew when I started!)
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