by Crystal on July 8, 2010
FishMama is hosting Freezer Cooking again this month, since I’m kind of pre-occupied over here with settling into our new home. Stop on over to LifeAsMom this weekend to follow along or join in the fun.
I promise that I’ll be back to regular freezer cooking come August. Believe me, I hardly know how to live without a stocked freezer; it saves us so much time, money and effort.
And I also am hoping to start posting recipes and meal-plans again. Truth be told, we’ve been eating more than our fair share of cold cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and burritos. It’s not ideal, but sometimes you just gotta do what works! However, I’ve really missed cooking and baking and can’t wait to get back to it!
by Crystal on June 2, 2010
FishMama is hosting Freezer Cooking Days this weekend over at her blog. You can follow along over there and join in and link up if you’d like.
I’d love to be participating but we’re attending a homeschool conference this weekend. Plus, we’re in the process of trying to empty out the freezer. Any guesses as to why that would be the case?! 
by Crystal on May 3, 2010
The final results of Saturday’s Freezer Cooking Day:
–4 meals’ worth of Barbecued Beef (Wasn’t really thrilled with how the recipe turned out, so I’m not sharing it here — maybe next time!)
–3 meals’ worth of Southwest Roll-ups (enough for
–4 meals’ worth of Marinated Chicken
–48 Frozen Fruit Cups
–Quadruple batch of Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Recipe was supposed to be coming, but they were all eaten before I got a picture. I’ll likely make these next time around and try to get a picture so I can share the recipe then!)
–Cooked bacon for BLT sandwiches and salads (enough for 3 meals)
–Cooked and chopped chicken for Homemade Pizza and Chicken Pasta Salad (enough for 4 meals — 2 of each)
By the end of my Cooking Marathon, I made enough for 18 meals or parts of meals, plus pancakes and fruit cups. For 2 1/2 hours of work, that was every bit worth the effort spent!
We still have 6 meals leftover from last month’s Freezer Cooking Day, so I’m pretty sure we’re just about set for dinners in May — and that’s such a great feeling! Yes, Freezer Cooking is very worth it.
_______________________________
Did you have a chance to do any baking or cooking this week? If so, post about it on your blog and leave your link below to your direct blo g post. I’d love it especially if you could share pictures and recipes so we can get ideas for our next Freezer Cooking Day! And I’m guessing many others would be inspired as well.
by Crystal on May 3, 2010
When I was planning this month’s Freezer Cooking Day, I was trying to think of foods which would be good for warm weather. Frozen Fruit Cups kept coming to mind. I’ve had these a few times at various events, so I looked online for a recipe similar to what I remembered.
This recipe was the closest I could find. So I tweaked it some and here’s what I ended up with:
Frozen Fruit Cups — makes 48 fruit cups
2 cans (20 oz. each) diced pineapple (The recipe calls for crushed pineapple, but I used diced since that’s what I already had on hand.)
2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen strawberries, thawed (I used approximately 4 cups of chopped unsweetened frozen strawberries.)
2 cans (12 oz. each) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
6 medium firm bananas, cubed
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into lined muffin cups and freeze until solid then pop out of muffin tins and put into airtight freezer bags. Thaw slightly before serving.
These are rather tart. The original recipe calls for sweetened strawberries and part of me wonders if that would make the flavor better. In addition, I would recommend putting them in foil-lined cups, rather than paper cups like I did. The paper isn’t very strong and a few of the cups ripped when I popped them out of the muffin tins.
I also am thinking these aren’t extremely kid-friendly. Or, at least I wouldn’t feed them to young children unless they are outside. Otherwise, I’m envisioning sticky, dripping mess everywhere.
Does anyone have a better Frozen Fruit Cup recipe to share? If so, leave a link in the comments or email me. I’d love to consider trying it next Freezer Cooking Day!
by Crystal on May 3, 2010
Wheat kernels ready to be ground
Well, I made it through my 2-Hour Freezer Cooking list on Saturday. It did end up taking me a little over two hours — more like 2 1/2 hours. But I was very happy to have made the equivalent of 18 meals or parts of meals during that timeframe, plus pancakes and fruit cups.
I think it was extremely helpful to map out specific times on my cooking plan. It motivated me to work fast and keep at it.I definitely think I’ll be doing that again in the future.
And of course, it was also helpful that my husband took over childcare duties for 3 hours so I could cook and clean up. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when you’re not being interrupted every two minutes to get someone a drink, change a diaper or calm down a fussy toddler. I’m very grateful to be a mommy to these precious children, but it doesn’t always mean I get a lot of other things done aside from taking care of them many days!
In other news, apparently our family really likes Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes. A quadruple batch of them didn’t make it much longer than 24 hours! But they were made with freshly-milled whole wheat flour, organic eggs and milk and turbinado. So I really am not going to complain. And I won’t mention how many I ate, either!
Coming at 8:30 p.m. tonight: My revised Frozen Fruit Cups recipe
Coming at 9:00 p.m. tonight: A picture of all my Freezer Cooking accomplishments, plus an opportunity for you to link up your blog posts about your freezer cooking, too!
Freshly-ground Whole Wheat flour — I love to use it when it is still warm!
by Crystal on May 3, 2010
Guest Post by Erin from $5 Dinners
A great way to save money when you’ve got a little one crawling under foot is to make your own baby food. The average price at my grocery store for a 1-serving jar of baby food, stage 1, is $0.51. From my rough calculations, you can save an average of 75% by spending a few minutes in the kitchen to make your own food — especially if you buy in season and get the best prices on that fresh produce.
While I prefer cooking in the kitchen each night for our “big people” meals, I’ve found it works really well for me to have a Freezer Cooking Day once a month preparing homemade baby food.
Here are a few tips for making homemade baby food efficiently and cost-effectively:
Planning
Watch the sale prices on produce. If butternut squash or sweet potatoes are on sale, but your Baby Food Freezer Cooking Day isn’t for another 2 weeks, that’s okay. Purchase the vegetables that will last longer when you see them on sale. Then, get other produce, apples, pears, mangoes, that won’t stay fresh as long just before your baby food prep day.
Timing
If it’s not too overwhelming for you, plan your baby food making into your regular Freezer Cooking Day. If that is overwhelming, plan another “1/4 day” to prepare just the baby food.
Execution
The biggest “hang-up” that I’ve experienced is not having enough ice cube trays. I get all my purees made up and then fill up all my ice cube trays, while the next puree “waits in line” for a tray!
Plan to make enough purees for the first set of trays, then busy yourself while those sit in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Put the then-frozen purees into a freezer baggie, wash the trays and pour in the next purees. Freeze, wash, pour, repeat. You can simply work these steps into your Freezer Cooking Day.
Serving
The ideal way to thaw homemade baby food is to remove the number of cubes needed for the next meal and place them in the refrigerator overnight. But I know I have a hard enough time remember where I left my car keys or cell phone, let alone remembering to take out a few baby food cubes.
So when necessary, thaw the cubes on the counter for 30 minutes. Mix in a little warm water and baby cereal to speed up the thawing. And in desperate moments, thaw the cubes in the microwave. But never give baby hot food! Always test temperature by touching the food with clean finger.
A Quick Tutorial on Preparing Homemade Sweet Potatoes for Baby:
1. Slit sweet potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees in a glass baking dish with 1 cup of water, covered with foil, for 50-65 minutes, or until all the sweet potatoes are soft. Remove foil and drain foil. Let cool 10-15 minutes.
2. The sweet potato skins will practically fall off after they are “steam-baked.” Drop the sweet potato flesh into a blender or food processor.
3. Add enough water to form the consistency you wish for your baby food.
4. Puree.
5. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Place frozen cubes into freezer baggie.
6. Serve to hungry, growing baby!
Have you successfully made homemade baby food? If so, share what worked. Did you find it difficult or frustrating? We’d love to answer questions.
If you’ve blogged about your experience, leave your link at the $5 Dinners Homemade Baby Food Page.
by Crystal on April 30, 2010
With summer upon us and grilling and salad season in full force, I challenged myself to create a menu plan for Freezer Cooking Day which include zero casseroles. I also am short on time this weekend and ended up with only a 2-hour time slot with which to cook.
::The No-Casserole, Two-Hour Freezer Cooking Day Recipe List::
–Barbecued Beef x 4 (recipe coming)
–Southwest Roll-ups x 4
–Marinated Chicken x 3
–Frozen Fruit Cups
–Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes (recipe coming)
–Cooked bacon for BLT sandwiches and salads (enough for 3 meals)
–Cooked and chopped chicken for Homemade Pizza and Chicken Pasta Salad (enough for 4 meals — 2 of each)
And here’s my plan — maybe a little ambitious to accomplish in two hours. But it seems doable on paper, at least!
::The No-Casserole, Two-Hour Master Freezer Cooking Day Plan::
–Set out meat and milk from freezer tonight (to thaw).
–Start beef in crock pot (5 minutes)
–Grind flour (5 minutes)
–Cook bacon and chicken (5 minutes)
–Make chocolate chip pancakes batter (5 minutes)
–While pancakes are cooking, clean up kitchen (10 minutes)
–Continue cooking pancakes and mix chicken and marinade in freezer bags (5 minutes)
–Make fruit cups (15 minutes)
–Chop chicken (10 minutes)
–Make Southwest roll-ups (10 minutes)
–Bag everything and put in freezer (10 minutes)
–Clean up kitchen (20 minutes)
If all goes exactly according to plan, I’ll have 18 meals (or parts of meals) in the freezer, plus fruit cups and pancakes. Stay tuned on Monday for the full report including pictures and recipes.
Are you participating in the May Freezer Cooking Day Event? If so, post about your cooking plan on your blog and then come back here and leave your direct link below so we can all be inspired! Please note: links which do not link directly to your freezer cooking post or which do not contain your freezer cooking plan will be deleted.
by Crystal on April 30, 2010
Over the past few years as I’ve shared my Freezer Cooking Day adventures with you, a number of you have written and asked, “Is it really worth the effort?”
Well, you’re right that it’s effort. Having a Freezer Cooking Day is hard work. It takes thought, planning and sweat to pull it off.
But I have definitely found it to be every bit worth it. In fact, it’s hard for me to imagine life without pre-made meals in my freezer!
As many have stated before, Freezer Cooking definitely saves you time and money. But here are three other specific reasons I love Freezer Cooking:
1. I only have to do dishes once a month.
Okay, well, I wash plates, bowls, cups and utensils, but my kitchen only becomes massively messy once a month. Do you know how nice that is?
When I have a clean kitchen, it somehow feels like the whole house is cleaner. So while I definitely pretty much “destroy” the kitchen on Freezer Cooking Day, the other 29-30 days of the month, it stays relatively mess-free.
(Ahem. We won’t talk about the kitchen floor, though. Can I exempt it since I have young children? Because seriously, no matter how many times I sweep and mop each week, there always seems to be enough crumbs on the kitchen floor to make a casserole with! )
Nope, I don’t have a deep freeze, so I just do the stuff-and-cram method for my over-the-refrigerator freezer. It might not be the prettiest method ever, but I can fit close to 30 meals in there at a time! And yes, I’m sure the organizational geeks are totally cringing at that picture. It works for us — and that’s what matters!
2. I don’t have to dread 5 p.m. anymore.
I don’t know about you, but there are some days at our home when life whizzes by so quickly and all of a sudden, it’s 5 p.m. and dinner isn’t even a figment of my imagination. Before I started regularly cooking ahead and freezing meals, I’d be tempted to call my husband and ask him to bring something home for dinner.
Freezer cooking has solved the 5 p.m. “What’s-For-Dinner” panic. If I forget to pull something out earlier in the day, I’ll just pick a meal from my freezer stash which defrosts quickly — such as meatballs. I pair this with from frozen veggies, toast and maybe a fruit salad and no one even has to know I forgot about dinner until 30 minutes before it was supposed to happen!
3. It’s not a huge undertaking to have dinner guests or take a meal to someone.
When I have meals already made in the freezer, it’s rather simple to bring food to a new mom or have friends over for dinner.
Lasagna, spaghetti pie and meatballs are great staple meals to have on hand to share with others. Just whip up some Bread Machine Buttery Rolls, make a salad or fruit and maybe some brownies and you’re set!
I also like to sometimes make up chocolate chip cookie dough and freeze it so I can quickly make a dessert for friends coming over or to take somewhere.
New To Freezer Cooking?
Here are some articles to get you started:
Start Where You Are and Learn As You Go
How to Plan a Freezer Cooking Day (and find more ideas here)
How to Cook for Your Freezer When You Don’t Like Casseroles
Can You Have a Freezer Cooking Day if You Don’t Have a Lot of Freezer Space?
How to Store Your Freezer Meals
Do you think Freezer Cooking is worth the effort? Why or why not?
by Crystal on April 29, 2010
Guest Post by Katie from goodLife {eats}
When I first saw Crystal and Jessica talking about freezer cooking, I shied away from it. I made excuses: That’s not for me. I don’t have a big freezer. I like being spontaneous and creative in the kitchen. I don’t have time to cook a whole month’s meals at once, nor did I want to. Being a food blogger, I wanted to be able to cook on my own schedule and as I was inspired.
BUT, eventually I realized that having a few things in the freezer would make life easier. Especially breakfast!
Our family loves muffins, waffles and pancakes for breakfast. I don’t always have time to whip up a new batch of whatever we’re in the mood for, and sometimes I’m out of the ingredients we need. That’s where freezer cooking came in for me.
Baking is easy and fun, something my kids love to do with me. And breakfast isn’t usually something I’m as spontaneous with, except for maybe on the weekends. Instead of tackling my freezer cooking projects all at once, I do them when the opportunity strikes and as time allows. Often times, my son will say “let’s make muffins!” just because he wants to. I take that opportunity to make a double batch and freeze the extra for later.
Here is one of our new favorite muffin recipes. I’ve doubled it for you below so you can have 1 1/2 dozen for now and 1 1/2 dozen to stash in your freezer. Or maybe you’ll even stash all 36 in your freezer.
They are super easy, healthy, and a great way to start the morning. You don’t have to frost them with the sweetened cream cheese. That’s just a little something to make them feel more special, but they are certainly just as good without it! I take advantage of the “frosting” and tell my kids that we’re having cupcakes for breakfast!
Pumpkin Carrot Cake Muffins -- makes 36 regular-sized muffins
1 cup packed brown sugar
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons orange juice
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cup carrots, grated
2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cold milled flax
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Sweetened Orange Cream Cheese (optional)
16 ounces cream cheese
7 tablespoons powdered sugar
5 tablespoons orange juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 36 muffin cups with baking liners.
Grate the carrots (I use a box grater and use the second largest sized hole). Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the carrots, flours, flax, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and allspice. Stir to mix well. Set aside.
Combine the brown sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat using a stand mixer or a hand mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Stir in the yogurt, pumpkin, orange juice, and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter/egg mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed, but do not over beat.
Add a scant 1/4 cup of batter to each muffin cup, making about 36 muffins in all. Bake at muffins at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes, or until cooked through when tested with a toothpick. Remove muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack completely.
To freeze: Place completely cooled muffins into gallon sized freezer zip bags in one layer, about 9 will fit in a bag. Using a straw, remove any excess air and zip the bag. Place in the freezer, it’s ok to stack the bags on top of each other, for up to 2 months (good luck getting them to last that long!).
Remove as many muffins as you need at a time and either thaw at room temperature or heat in the toaster oven or microwave. Frost with the sweetened cream cheese, if desired.
For the sweetened cream cheese: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Alternatively, you can use a bowl and a hand mixer. Cream cheese will store for up to a week in the refrigerator. (I have not tested freezing it.)
–Katie Goodman believes that part of the goodness in life is sharing good food with friends and family. She’s a SAHM determined to make family meal time a priority while providing a variety of healthy and delicious food choices. Katie blogs at goodLife {eats} where she shares what she finds good in the kitchen and in life. She also contributes to Craftzine.com, Paula Deen Online, and Tablespoon.
by Crystal on April 29, 2010
FishMama and I are joining ranks again to bring you another Freezer Cooking Day Extravaganza this weekend (April 30-May 3, 2010). Want to play along?
::Follow along with our Facebook Event page.
::Attend our Twitter party this afternoon from 2-4 pm, CST. We’ll be using the hashtag, #oamc and discussing all things related to freezer cooking. Come bring your tips and questions and interact with dozens of others from around the country who are interested in freezer cooking. Newbies and professionals alike are welcomed. You might want to go ahead and follow @MoneySavingMom and @FishMama so you’re ready to jump in this afternoon!
::Cook and Link Up! Plan a few things (or a slew of things!) to bake or cook and stick in your freezer and pick a day or two over the next week to tackle your chosen recipes. I’ll post my plan and a link-up opportunity tomorrow afternoon (Friday, April 30, 2010) so you can share your plans. I’ll be cooking over this weekend and will share pictures and recipes on Monday as well as a link-up opportunity on Monday afternoon (May 3, 2010) for you to share what you accomplished.
