Mr. Fixit and Mama Squirrel make freezer meals

Here is our second freezer-meal marathon. (Read this post first if you haven't already.)

10:45 a.m.: One table full of groceries and labelled plastic bags.

11:45 a.m.: Pork meals are done and we had a lunch break. On to ground beef and stew beef:

12:45 p.m. (or a.m., or whatever it is when lunch hour is almost over): Working on chicken meals.

Bags of Chicken Cacciatore

1:30 p.m.: Finishing the last of the chicken meals:

1:45 p.m.: Meals split between the chest freezer and the top of the fridge (so they will freeze faster); one pork chop meal in the slow cooker for tonight; and we are done.

Ready for more freezer-slow cooker meals

Cheeseburger Soup

Our stash of homemade freezer meals is down to one, so it's time to make more.

I went through the list of meals we made from $5 Dinners (from this package), and picked out the ones we liked the most: Chicken Cacciatore, Chicken Chili, Orange Pork Chops, Cheeseburger Soup (except Mr. Fixit likes it without the rice and cheese, served as pasta sauce), and Chinese-style Beef and Broccoli. Those we'll make again this time. I'm also planning on adding Cranberry Pork Chops, Honey Garlic Chicken, and Crock Beef Sandwiches from Saving Dinner.

This approach seems to have worked well enough for our current meal needs that we're willing to give it another go. It works especially well when we divide the meals-for-four into meals-for-two, because we can always cook two bags at once if we need them, and if I know it's going to be just two of us eating, I use one bag and the smaller slow cooker. Sometimes I remember to thaw meals overnight in the fridge, and other times I dunk the bags in water for twenty minutes--both ways seem to work. Our little slow cooker cooks hotter than the 3 1/2-quart one, so I set it on low and keep an eye on it; if the food finishes earlier than expected, I take it out and reheat it later. (I would just use the big one, but for smaller amounts, the 2-quart pot is handy.)

We are planning on going out sometime this week and picking up groceries for Marathon #2.

What's for supper? Still eating freezer meals

Tonight's dinner menu:

Slow Cooker Tortilla Stack, made with a bag of "Tamale Pie" mixture from the freezer meals. (We're getting down to the last few.)

Freezer meal reviews #4

Sweet and Sour Beef, Islander Pork Chops:  These both turned out to have the same problem, which is that other members of my family don't really like slow-cooked chunks of pineapple along with meat. They are traditionalist Squirrels, and while pineapple is okay on pizza, they would prefer their beef stew and pork chops to be carrots-and-potatoes, not something-else. So this one isn't a recipe review so much as a note to self for next time.

Freezer cooking for tonight: Chicken Chili, which we've had once before and liked.

What's for supper? Soup night

 

Tonight's menu:

Cheese and Bacon sandwiches
Cheeseburger Soup (from the freezer meals), without the bacon or cheese because we used that for the sandwiches
Zucchini sticks

Banana Bread.

Freezer meal reviews #3

What we've eaten recently:

Chicken Tikka Masala: This was just okay, could have used more oomph. The next time I cook one of the Tikka Masala packages, I will probably try it on the stovetop (instead of the slow cooker) to see if the flavours hold up better.

Chicken Cacciatore: We had this for dinner tonight and really liked it. I added a small can of tomato paste because it seemed to need it; otherwise it was good as written.

Next up: I think one of the stew beef packages, because Lydia is trying out for basketball, and if she makes the team we may will be eating late some nights.

Freezer meal reviews, #2

Tamale Pie, minus the pie, so more or less just chili with corn: a bit bland, but it was okay with macaroni and cheese. The next package I heat up, I'll add some spices or salsa. It would be a good starter for hamburger soup.

Chinese-style Beef with Broccoli: this is one of the recipes I halved (to serve two), and when it was cooking in the little slow cooker I wondered if I should have just made the whole recipe in one bag--it looked like such a small amount.. However, once the broccoli was added near the end, it did turn out to be just enough for two (with rice and other things).  It was good, too, and the beef was very tender.

Tonight's dinner-from-the-freezer: Chicken Tikka Masala.

Freezer meal reviews

Orange pork chops: tasty.

Chicken chili: we cut down on the liquid (used half the recommended amount),  and that was a good thing or we would have had soup. But the flavour was pretty good.

When you open our freezer, it smells amazing. But it took quite awhile for the temperature to drop again, after loading it up, and most of the food wasn't even warm. Just something to think about if you're making a lot of freezer meals.

Freezer un-cooking ($5 Dinners Package)

Today Mr. Fixit and I did some freezer un-cooking, also known as "dump recipes." It's the equivalent of putting brownie ingredients into a bag and calling it a mix. The idea here is that you put meat, vegetables and other ingredients into freezer bags and then use them in the slow cooker or as casseroles. (Yes, I know some of you have been doing this for years.)

The recipes we used came from a new downloadable package at $5 Dinners: 20 Freezer to Slow Cooker Meals for $160 – 3rd Edition.  You get the shopping lists, directions, recipes, printable labels, and access to a video showing you how Erin Chase did the whole sequence. I skipped the printable labels because they're very expensive here (I used paper and tape); and I also broke down some of her 4-serving meals into 2-serving ones, because often these days it's just two or three of us eating dinner.

This morning we went to Eurofoods and brought home chicken breasts, ground beef, and a piece of pork (the directions called for pork chops, but it was less expensive to buy a large piece and cut it up ourselves). In the afternoon, we went to Bulk Barn (for a few seasonings) and Wal-mart, and got everything else that wasn't already on the shelf, including some beef that we also cut up ourselves..

At three o'clock, we put everything on the kitchen table and started to work.

Mixing up some sauce

In the home stretch.

Last round: the stew beef packages

Bags going into the freezer

Odds and ends of tomato sauce, one bag of ground beef, and two tired people. We were done like, um, dinner.

Overall reviews, based only on preparation? (We haven't actually cooked any of the packages yet.) My only real complaint is that the ground beef we bought didn't stretch far enough to make all the planned recipes, even though we weighed it out before putting it in the bags. The shortfall may have been due to shrinkage after browning  (the only actual cooking required in this packaging marathon), and we did swipe half a pound for our own dinner, but it was still a bit disappointing to have the other ingredients ready and then realize that we'd have to leave a few packages out. Next time we'll have to over-estimate.

There was also a bit of confusion around which recipes needed tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, or diced tomatoes; in some places options were given, but the grocery lists didn't always include those. I think I would say that, if you want to follow the recipes and not run short, it wouldn't hurt to buy a couple of extra cans of each type. We ended up filling in with a jar of pasta sauce from the pantry, which really isn't a problem, just something to keep in mind.

Best advice: work with a friend:. Even Erin Chase had her son opening cans for her. And make something nice for dinner at the end.

What's for supper? Stuffed potatoes or potato casserole?

Tonight's dinner menu:

I found a Baked Potato Casserole recipe in the $5 Dinners One-Dish cookbook, then realized it was just a variation on this Taste of Home stuffed potato dish.  Same ingredients, different way of doing it, plus $5 Dinners adds chopped ham.  The potatoes are baking in the toaster oven, but I'm still deciding whether to put the broccoli, potato innards and cheese into the potato shells, or just bake them together in one dish.  Went with the casserole--it's kind of like a giant broken-open baked potato with toppings.  Left the ham out, steaming Euro wieners on the side.

Dessert:  Thinking about gingerbread, after the potatoes come out. We still have a bit of whipped cream left from Thanksgiving...and blueberries!

What's for supper on guitar and choir night? Skillet Goulash (from $5 Dinners)

Skillet Goulash with Spinach, from The $5 Dinner Mom One-Dish Dinners Cookbook, by Erin Chase.  Includes ground beef and pasta; I'll cook the meat separately and add it at the end after taking out a vegetarian part.

Carrot sticks and ??

Chocolate chip oatmeal muffins.