Saturday, June 13, 2009

Freezer Cooking

About three years ago, I tried OAMC (Once a Month Cooking).  It didn’t work for me.  It took up too much time and I was tackling way too much in one sitting.  My back hurt, I was complaining…and most importantly, it took the fun out of cooking.

So, when I decided to start filling up my freezer this time around, I decided to avoid OAMC.  I didn’t want to fill it up all in one day.  I didn’t want to view this as work.  Instead, I wanted to slowly fill up my freezer over the course of a few weeks. 

What I decided to do was start cooking on Sunday, just the things we were having for the week.  I would prepare them so that getting them on the table each night would be effortless.  In addition, I would also make some extra stuff…but nothing too hard.  Granola bars and cookies and bread machine hamburger buns were the first thing I added. 

The first couple of weeks I started out with making lasagna and enchiladas.  I had some chicken stock left over and I also made some pinto beans to make into quick refried beans or pinto bean soup.  I soon discovered that making stuff like enchiladas is wonderful, but that it limited me if I wanted to change my menu. 

I started looking at more websites and getting more ideas.  My freezer initially started filling up a bit.  I invested some of my weekly grocery money into buying plastic reusable containers and freezer paper. 

As weeks have progressed, I have been experimenting more.  My current freezer inventory list contains the following:

  • chicken stock (3)
  • Chocolate Chip cookies (1)
  • Black Beans (1)
  • Chipotle in Adobo Sauce (3)
  • Chili (1)
  • Chicken Pot Pie (1)
  • Corn Puree (5)
  • Pear Puree (5)
  • Bread Crumbs
  • Chicken Whole (3)
  • Pork Chops
  • Bacon (1)
  • Roast (2)
  • Gouda Cheese (3)
  • Banana Bars
  • Pork Stock (1)
  • Cornbread muffins (4)
  • Cream of Chicken Soup (8)
  • Granola Bars (2)
  • Hamburgers (6)
  • Savory Chicken (1)
  • Tomato Sauce (1)
  • Haystacks (2)
  • Snickerdoodles (2)
  • Pinto Beans (2)
  • Pizza Crust (3)
  • Marinated Chicken (3)
  • Spaghetti Sauce (4)
  • Chicken Marsala (5)
  • Meatloaf (2)
  • Hamburger Buns (homemade)
  • French Bread (homemade) (1)
  • Rolls (homemade) (3)
  • Spicy Gouda Potato Bake (1)
  • Salsa (5)
  • Cooked hamburger meat (5)

The quantities are how many family servings are available.  For instance, there are 3 servings of homemade rolls in the freezer…and I packaged them as 5 rolls per package…so really I have about 15 rolls in my freezer.  I am packaging them so that I also maintain portion control for myself.  If I made a whole pan of rolls, none of them would get frozen.  I would eat them all.  I LOVE BREAD!

Since my freezer is fully stock right now, I am at a maintenance level.  This Sunday is a day off.  Next week I will assess how much space I still have in my freezer and whether I need to add anymore essentials (like french bread, pinto beans, hamburger patties, etc…) and then I will either make some, or I will have off again. 

Tomorrow I go shopping, but as you can see—I really shouldn’t need much.  My goal tomorrow is to only buy veggies and fruits and milk.  I might need diapers too…so we will see.  I would also like some more plastic containers…the smaller ones with screw-on lids.  I made salsa the other day, and smaller containers would have been handy.  The goal for the next couple of weeks is to use much less money per week than I have been on groceries.  We normally budget $100 a week.  I have managed to fill up my freezer using only a little more than that in the past 4 weeks.  We also budget 4 trips to Sam’s for meat each year.  I am trying to eliminate that extra bill and fit it into our $100 a week instead.  We will see how this goes.

2 comments:

Dion said...

I, too, am playing around with freezer cooking. I belong to a freezer cooking club - you night be interested in finding one for yourself. We all cook 6 of the same entrees of our choosing. Then, once a month we swap. I take home 6 DIFFERENT entrees for my family. It's had it's ups and downs, but generally the meals have been wholesome family meals.

I'm looking forward to reading more of your adventures on a fixed grocery budget.

Joz1234 said...

Thanks, Dion! I will keep that idea in mind. For now I am happy to do it all by myself because I can do it on my schedule and do what I want...I guess I am a little independent. ;) Thanks for commenting on my site!