Can you believe we’ve made it to the last week of freezer cooking? My freezer is getting so stocked and it has been wonderful.
With Memorial Day weekend coming up, I’m spacing out the recipes a bit more this week to give everyone a little bit more time to play along (should you so choose) and to also give myself the flexibility to not blog much on Monday. 🙂
My apologies in advance that all but one of these recipes has chocolate in it. What can I say? “Dessert” and “snack” is pretty much synonymous with “chocolate” at our house. 🙂 And no day is complete without at at least a little bit of chocolate!
Here’s this week’s list of Snack and Dessert Recipes I’ll be making to stick in the freezer along with a grocery list (let me know if you see any mistakes on amounts needed):
Freezer-Friendly Snack and Dessert Recipes
Wednesday — One batch of Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Thursday — Double batch of Easy Morning Glory Muffins {I’ll share my “health-i-fied” version of this recipe on Thursday.}
Friday — Double batch of No Bake Energy Bites
Tuesday — One batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Wednesday – Double batch of Chocolate Banana Bread
Grocery List
(I rounded up on the amounts needed, just to be safe. You probably have many of these items already on hand. You’ll want to double-check that you have the correct amounts, though.)
16 eggs
8 cups sugar (or raw sugar)
3/4 cup brown sugar (or raw sugar)
6 cups rolled oats
1 1/3 cups peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin
3 1/2 cups oil
12 cups flour
3 packages chocolate chips
2/3 cup honey
3 cup coconut flakes (For No Bake Energy Bites or Easy Morning Glory Muffins — could substitute something else if your family doesn’t like coconut.)
1 cup flaxseed (For No Bake Energy Bites — could substitute wheat germ or something for this.)
4 cups shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
6 bananas
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 apples
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 sticks butter
Staple Ingredients:
Vanilla
Salt
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Cinnamon
Freezer Storage Items Needed
Foil
Plastic Wrap
8-12 large ziptop freezer bags
Something to label packages with (marker to write on bags, labels, and/or tape)
Click on the “Print This” tab at the top of the list to generate a printer-friendly list. (If you’re reading via email or a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to print the list.)
I am so excited for this last week. Why? Because I stuck to it. I have never stuck to something like this for SO long. WOW!
Anyway here is my menu. I am actually going to make some of the same things. Mainly because I LOVE your ideas and recipes this week. Thanks Crystal!
http://mixingwithmichelle.blogspot.com/
has anyone tried to use coconut oil in the chocolate chip cookie recipe instead of butter? we have a dairy allergy, I am sure I could substitute margarine or spread instead. I am just loving the coconut oil lately!
I haven’t tried it in this particular recipe, but my understanding is that coconut oil generally works as a butter replacement in cookie recipes– the flavor will just be a little different. When I’ve tried it, it’s worked great!
Yay! I’m ahead of you on the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. I made some this weekend. They didn’t make it to the freezer though! LOL!
Right now I am doing the Eat From Your Pantry Challenge so I made these with some pumpkin puree I had made after Halloween last year and forgotten about. They turned out good!
I just found your blog and was thrilled to see a freezer cooking series…I’m trying to cook ahead a bit for the fall, when I’ll hopefully have a new baby in the house. The only thing is that my husband is lactose intolerant and many of the recipes I saw listed have a lot of dairy ingredients. Do you know of any dairy-free recipes that freeze well? (I could substitute soy milk and natural cheeses for many recipes, but that gets expensive quickly.) Thanks!
I have been eating two no-bake energy bites every morning with greek yogurt. They are also amazing if you take a bite of one and a bite of apple.
I make a triple batch (one jar of sun-nut butter) and store them in my fridge in a tupperware 9×11.
I also love them with sun-nut butter instead of peanut butter as my son is allergic.
Off the subject a little, but can you share your recipe for fruit salad?
Thanks for these freezer meals, these posts helped me out so much this month! We moved into a new home after living out of storage for a month and it has taken a while to get settled. These 4 weeks to fill your freezer were a great help to get back on cooking track again! Now, I did not fill my freezer, but I did about half the posts/recipes. I still need to plug in my big freezer and there is no way the little top of the fridge freezer would suffice for what we need! But, I adjusted and it gave me the boost I needed!
So, thanks!
I’ve noticed that most of these aren’t gluten free. Are you all no longer eating GF or have you found the dishes don’t freeze well?
We got cleared by the allergist last week and so we’re no longer doing GF or DF. So, so thankful that it seems we may be getting some answers for Silas’ health issues… it’s been a long road but we see a little light at the end of the tunnel — we hope, at least. We should know more definitely after the next 6-8 weeks if the current treatment is going to work or not. (And I know what we’ve been dealing with the last year and a half is so very miniscule compared to some of the health issues many of you are facing with your children, but it’s still been a very new and stretching journey for us).
You had me at chocolate banana bread.
I’m game! That’s the only recipe I’m going to join in on, but I’d be super tickled if it freezes well and still tastes yummy defrosted.
I hope you end up loving it! 🙂
Chocolate…yum! I still have some cookies to use up, so I am going to make the banana bread from week 1 today. I’ve been anxious to try it.
I have also gotten a lot of great recipes from this series. Thanks for all your hard work putting it together and giving us a recap of how it worked.
Crystal- I am going to be out of town for a few days for some training and I am trying to put together some easy meals for my husband. I wanted to something that was easy and fast since he will be home alone with our 5 month old baby for the first time. Do you have an fail-safe meals that you could suggest? Thanks!
I’d suggest these recipes as possibilities:
https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-ham-cheese-pockets-day-9.html
https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-homemade-pizza-pockets-day-8.html
https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-southwest-roll-ups-day-10.html
https://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-brown-bag-burritos-day-7.html
I don’t think it’s necessary to apologize for chocolate! Just want to say thanks for the inspiration and the recipes.
Crystal-
I haven’t gotten a chance to e-mail and say how wonderful this project is! It looks like a lot of work on your end. Thanks so much!
Thanks for your kind encouragement. It’s been fun to do — and it’s benefited our family so much, too!
I’ve made the energy bites & pumpkin chocolate chip muffins before. They were delicious! I’m excited to finish out this week as we near the end of our school year to have healthy snacks for the kids. We love the lunch recipes. I’ve sent them with both of my school age kids & my husband at his temp job. I have definitely found some new recipes through this project that I will continue to make. Thanks!