After taking a hiatus from my usual Baking Days, I'm back into the swing of things again around here with another fun and busy Baking Day planned for today.
Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Bread
Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Homemade Bread or Rolls
Waffles
Homemade Pita Pockets
For those of you who are new here and wondering what a "Baking Day" is, basically it is a day that I set aside every few weeks to bake up a bunch off stuff for the freezer. I usually make up muffins, waffles or pancakes, bread, and I sometimes cooked up chicken, rice, or ground beef as well.
I've found that spending a few hours of dedicated time one morning once or twice a month preparing food for the freezer saves me a lot of time in food preparation over the next few weeks. Plus, it saves us quite a bit of money since it allows us to have breakfast at the ready for a busy morning, snack foods available to grab on the way out the door, and makes dinner prep a snap on those days when I don't have time to spend in the kitchen.
If you've never baked up things for your freezer, I'd highly recommend it. You might find it becomes a time-saver and life-saver in your home as it has ours! You can scroll through some of my previous Baking Days here for more ideas and recipes. And stay tuned today as I'll be posting updates on my progress complete with recipes and pictures.
I would also love tips on how to properly freeze foods, especially bread products.
Thanks for the inspiration. I really need to do this for us, it would save me so much time. Everything looks delicious!
I’m not sure if any of you shop at Kroger but there are some great deals there like week!
I would love to join in on the fun, but we’re under an excessive heat warning here today (Southwest Missouri) and it took me forever to get the house cooled off after boiling eggs yesterday!
I will try the pita pockets recipe- when/if it ever cools off. Not very June-like weather around here!
I haven’t had a baking day all month! But strawberries have just come in so I will be making some jam really soon. Maybe that would be a good day to plan more baking!
My family doesn’t love muffins after they have been frozen for some reason. Maybe I am freezing them wrong?
MoneySavingMom,
Do you ever buy store bought bread anymore or only use your homemade bread for all your bread needs, like sandwiches, toast, etc? Do you know if your homemade bread recipe is considered 100% whole grain? I’m not sure what constitutes 100% whole grain but I know we’re supposed to be eating alot of it!
Thanks!
I love that you love to do freezer meals. I love them also and have been doing it for the last 2 years. It just makes life so much easier, especially with little ones. I call it Power Cooking and I have quite a few dinner recipes that I completely put together and then throw them in my freezer. I would love to see more of your recipes, so I can expand in my variety.
I do have a question though. When I prepare dinner meals for my freezer I usually use the Ziploc Brand Freezer bags and they hold up really nicely. I have been struggling for a while finding the right kind of freezer storage for my baked goods though. My waffles and pancakes often end up getting freezer burn. Do you have any tips or specific ways that you store your baked goods?
Will you post your Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe when you have time.
Thanks,
Terry
I love your baking days! I sit at my desk at work and keep tabs of what you do and wish I had the time to do it too!
Well, that was fast, I was able to start the bread and the cookies and then ran out of sugar. Also, have to visit a member of our church today in the hospital. So, unfortunatly I’m done.
I want your recipe for those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. You did not have a link for those. We have cooked pumpkin in the freezer from last year’s trip to the pumpkin patch. It would be a perfect use!
Will you post it or either e-mail it to me?
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Money Saving Mom here: The recipe will be posted later today; I’ve been meaning to get it online for awhile!
Mmm I was planning to bake a spice cake today, so I guess this post is pretty fitting. Though I have to admit, blueberry struesel muffins sound a lot better tasting!
I do baking days as well – I find that it also saves money in air conditioning. If I can only have the oven on 1-2 days a month it really helps to keep the house cool. I spend a lot of time in the spring baking up cookies and homemade bread so I have a stockpile for the really hot months. 🙂
I’m going to attempt to bake some things also today. Going to make peanut butter cookies, some waffles, and the bread. I have some cream cheese, so I might finally make the cheese cake I’ve been putting off for a while.
I’ll have to give the pita pockets a try one of these days – they look pretty simple and I love pita for sandwiches. Thanks for the link!!
Looks yummy! I’d love to try making pita pockets sometime; is it hard?
I still don’t get HOW you do this. Is the baby napping? Does your toddler entertain herself? The only time I can get that much done is when someone else is taking care of my toddler!
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Money Saving Mom here: Pita pockets are fairly easy to make, they just take a bit of time. Using your bread machine helps, though.
As far as *when* I accomplish this… well, I don’t have it all figured out by any means, but I usually do the bulk of my baking when my 2-year-old is napping. She still takes at least one good 1 1/2 hour nap per day so that’s usually my most productive time. Though, if she’s awake, she’s actually a pretty good helper in the kitchen.
Silas (my 7-week-old) does well in a front carrier, so I usually put him in there if he’s not napping or content to lie somewhere and I need to be using my hands. And Kathrynne (4) either helps me or busies herself with another project nearby. Today she is painting her homemade “dollhouse” which she made out of some small cardboard boxes. I am pretty sure she would be content to work on that all day long–forgetting to eat and everything!–if I let her!
All in all, it’s mostly just a matter of being flexible and taking it slow, expecting lots of interruptions, and just trying to make the most of the time I do have. I definitely am not as efficient with three little children, but this is not the season for “efficiency” but for loving and nurturing and training the next generation.
That said, I find it to be much easier to take one day every few weeks to bake, then to try and bake multiple times per week. It saves me a lot of time and effort to bake in bulk and makes our life run much more smoothly at this season.
Love your baking days! I would like to join, but have to take my mom to doctor and run a few errands. Maybe I can do a couple of things this afternoon.
I have tried to make homemade waffles a few times, but they take forever to cook in my waffle maker. What kind of wafflemaker do you use? How long does it take to cook each waffle normally?
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Money Saving Mom here: I’m honestly not sure how long they take to cook; I just cook them until the light on the wafflemaker goes off! I always try to make waffles while I’m doing other things in the kitchen since it does take awhile. But it’s simple to pull off if you’re just pouring batter and pulling off a freshly-made waffle every few minutes while working on other things in the kitchen.
Oh and I have a Toastmaster Belgian Waffle maker. I highly recommend getting a Belgian Waffle Maker if you can as the waffles are so much yummier and crispier (in my opinion!).
Thanks for the inspiration! I have some sour cream that I have to use up before it expires – those Blueberry Streusel Muffins look like a perfect and delicious way to use it up! (Do you think they will freeze ok, containing the sour cream?) 🙂