It’s the end of the month and my freezer is getting empty. Which is a good thing because March 31-April 2, 2010, FishMama and I will be hosting another big Freezer Cooking Extravaganza.
What Is Freezer Cooking Day?
Basically, Freezer Cooking Day is a monthly day FishMama and I set aside to fill up my freezer with main dishes, breads, desserts, and side dishes to save ourselves time and money the rest of the month. I find that we eat better, I spend a lot less time in the kitchen, and we avoid many needless trips through the drive-thru when my freezer is full.
FishMama and I blog a play-by-play of our Freezer Cooking Days to inspire you to consider doing the same and share some great recipes, as well. You can see dozens of posts from past Freezer Cooking Days here. Check out step-by-step instructions for planning a Freezer Cooking Day here.
How Do I Join in Freezer Cooking Day?
We’d love to have you join in this Freezer Cooking Day in some way, shape, or form. You can make muffins or cookies to put in your freezer, make ahead some of your Easter Dinner, cook up 30 meals, or anything in between. The goal is just to get in your kitchen and do some prep work to save you time and money later in the week or month.
If you’re blogging about your Freezer Cooking Day, you can link up your planned cooking list tomorrow (Wednesday, March 31, 2010). On Friday afternoon, I’ll have another link-up here for you to share all about your Freezer Cooking Day accomplishments.
My Freezer Cooking Day Plan: It’s a Family Affair This Time!
I’m sort of “cheating” this time, though, because I convinced my extended family to join in. So my three sisters, sister-in-law, and mom are all pitching in this time. Mom is on babysitting duty, and the rest of us are on Kitchen Duty. We’re going to set up some extra tables in our kitchen, everyone is bringing pots and pans, and we’re going to see if we can all squeeze into my small kitchen and make enough food to fill our freezers up.
We’re planning to make enough for all of us to take home doubled dinner portions of nine different main dishes. Tomorrow, I’ll be shopping, making lists, and sharing my planned Freezer Cooking list. Thursday, we’ll be cooking up a storm. And Friday, I’ll blog about our cooking adventures.
I’m getting excited. But for now? I gotta finish making the plan and prep list. As I said last time, without a plan, Freezer Cooking Day is a disaster.
This is my first time posting and participating in the freezer cooking day. I’m excited!
I hope your OAMC with partners goes better than mine! My sister and I started out partnering following OAMM’s plans and it would take us about 13 hours each time but last month she wasn’t able to participate and I was able to get the same amount of meals done in about 5-6 hours doing it by myself! I think the difference was that when we were doing it together we were trying to make crazy amounts of food and didn’t have large enough bowls and pans to hold that ridiculous amount and it’s so hard to stir and mix so much food!
I am very interested in freezer cooking as I would love to get some good, healthy meals prepped & made in order to save myself some time in the kitchen when I could be spending time w/ my family. So my question is, do you normally use disposable aluminum pans to freeze your meals? I don’t want to add any more spending to my grocery budget since I have started clipping coupons & matching sales with my coupons. I am saving quite a bit on groceries & have started stockpiling my freezer & pantry, so if I can get away with not having to spend much more, I would love to. However, I will spend a little extra if I know I can save myself some time in the kitchen.
No, I just use glass pans and freezer bags!
My freezers are almost empty bascially because I have been successful using up what we have. I am going to try and start again but I am also going to try using your forms to meal plan for my infant son who has just started solids, I think I can make my own baby food using your plan and lists and save$$ a bundle.
My freezers are currently full, but we’ve been doing a lot of pantry/freezer eating in preparation to have some space to allow me to do some freezer meal cooking in June- I’m due with baby boy in July so it will be good to have meals ready to go!
I’ll look forward to a June installment 🙂
My friend, Sarah, did this awesome recipe on mealplanningmommies.com on chimichangas that freeze well and can be reheated. Go here to find the recipe: http://mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com/2010/02/friday-make-ahead-beef-chimicangas.html. They are sooooo delicious!!!! Also, on this site are directions on how to freeze potatoes, bananas, onions and strawberries for recipes later.
I will be working on my plan a day behind you Crystal. I am doing a walk through for my old apartment. I wont have time to start anything major because my old apartment is in a different city 2 hours away. But I am so excited because this is my first official cooking day. I can’t wait until Thursday so I can start. I absolutely LOVE your blog. Thanks for everything you do.
i’m in! but will be making just a few meals 🙂
Since I got 3 bags of thin-sliced bagels at a sale this week, I’m going to make some breakfast sandwiches tomorrow. We begin moving into a different rental this weekend so thats all I have time for this month. But LOVE freezer cooking, been doing it for 15 years off and on.
Participating for the first time. Excited and nervous.
Sounds so nice to have your mom and sisters in the same town . My mom is in Texas, I’m in California, and my sister is in Alaska :(.
This is my first time freezing more than just a few extra meals, and it just so happens that my schedule falls in line with yours! I made the list and inventoried last night, shopped today, will chop & prep tomorrow, and cook Thurs. I’m using some recipes you’ve posted Crystal, and others I’ve frozen successfully before. My problem is I never start small – why start with 10 or 14 meals when you can just do 30 LOL?! I think this will be a learning experience and I’ll be plenty tired by the end of all this!
I’m a beginner in this freezer cooking. So i will be following you from this day foward. 🙂
My schedule isn’t quite with you or Fishmama. I will start my planning and list next week! I LOVE freezer cooking. It takes so much stress off of me on those days that never end! With all the activities my family is involved with, it’s hard to get a good meal cooked thru the week. I can’t believe how much easier this is!! I will let you know how my freezer cook off goes!