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Hey guys! So, last night our neighbors came to the door with a HUGE load of ice-cream. Apparently some trailer had broken down and they were throwing it all away… because it was melted. So, we got a TON of free ice cream! As I was arranging all the ice cream in my freezer, I realized how much room I had. This was because all my freezer meals and chicken were gone!
I started researching when Zaycon will have another order of chicken?! October, yay! If you haven’t heard of Zaycon Fresh foods, they deliver “fresh from the farm” meat products around the country. The boxes come as BULK items… Chicken comes in 40lb boxes. Each time I order chicken, I bottle half of it for meals throughout the week, and the other half I make freezer meals out of.
Anyway, getting off topic… it got me thinking about starting a new round of freezer meals. I decided to share all of the Instructions, Tips and Preparation I use when making Freezer Meals, in case any of you are interested in the way I get 15-20 freezer meals done. I’m not going to say 4 hrs, because there’s a lot of prep work, THEN 4 hrs the day of 🙂
How to make bulk freezer meals
Planning:
- Pick what meals you want to use. If you want to do the same meal twice, put it on the list twice
- Make a grocery list of EVERYTHING on the list. (you make exclude spices/seasonings if you know you have plenty of that)
- Check your pantry for any items that you may already have and take them off the list.
- If you have extra timeto prepare, search the ads for sales.
- Make sure there is plenty of room in your freezer to store finished meals, and in your fridge to hold the fresh food
Day Before Items:
- Go shopping… for EVERYTHING on the list so I can start in the morning.
- Write the recipe name, ingredients to add the day of, what to serve it with, and cook times on a Gallon Freezer Bags. Then put bags in the order of my list of recipes.
- or the morning of…Make sure sinks are empty, dishwasher empty, all counter tops are clean and ready to use
Day of:
- Day of: Start by chopping up ALL The veggies and placing them in separate containers.
- Add veggies to bags
- Add seasonings, and other ingredients to bags
- Add meat to bags
- Place all bags flat in freezer, I stack them on top of each other horizontally instead of vertical and use one whole shelf for them.
- Make a list of all the meals you made and place on fridge. Cross off as you use them so you know what you have and don’t have. Place stars 1-5 after eating the meals rating them so you know which ones your family liked, or which ones didn’t work out so good freezer version for next time.
Tips:
*If you pick meals with similar ingredients such as meat and veggies it is easier overall… but it also means you have a lot of similar meals your family might get sick of.
*You may want to buy the meat ahead of time and put it in your fridge/freezer (depending on how soon ahead of time) to get it for cheaper
*I like to order my chicken from Zaycon Fresh It gives me a set date to make all my meals, and it comes in 40lb case of chicken, easy to divide up between bags.
*If you have extra time, organize the recipes in order of meats (if you have a large variety), then veggies (starting with the most common ones used first)
*I know it takes time, and gets kind of messy, but I make sure I cross off EACH ingredient off the recipe so I am SURE I put it in. At the end I double check to make sure everything is crossed off.
*Meat: Sometimes the recipe calls for 6 chicken breasts, and we only eat 2, I only put two in. OR I put the meal into two bags and use it as 2 meals with 4 breasts total.
What are some of your favorite freezer meals?
Further Reading
How to add an extra shopping trip into your budget
Ultimate List of Frugal Living Websites
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