March Shopping Trip

I stuck right to my list of things I needed for cooking the planned meals and I did really well I think. Luckily, I chose a lot of recipes that I already had ingredients on hand for so I could clean out my pantry a little bit.

My grand total was $213.64. Here's a list of what I got:

Meat:

10.5lb Pork Loin

7lbs ground beef

7lbs boneless chicken breast

14lbs whole chickens

Deli:

1 lb honey ham

Produce:

9 Green Peppers

6 Vidalia Onions

1lb baby spinach

10lb Russet Potatoes

5lb Gold Potatoes

3lbs Mushrooms

1 pkg celery

Dairy:

2lbs Butter

2 32oz Ricotta Cheese

12 Cups Mozzarella Cheese

3 Quarts half and half

3lbs Cheddar Cheese

6 cups shredded parmesan

2 Dozen Eggs

2pkg Cream Cheese

1 pint Sour Cream

Grocery:

200 sq ft. foil

Plastic Wrap

Craisins

Chili Powder

Minced Garlic

Baking Powder

8 jars Pasta Sauce

2 pkg manicotti shells

Rice Vinegar

Old Fashioned Oats

2 -Italian Bread Crumbs

3 pkg Flour Tortillas

8 Cans Kidney Beans

4 Cans Black Beans

Tabasco Sauce

Honey

10lbs Flour

March Meal Plan

This week I planned our meals for the entire month. I've found that we spend much less on food when we shop/cook once a month. I usually do this with a friend, but this time around I've decided to try it on my own and see how it goes. I've currently got a cast on my right hand, so it should be interesting if nothing else!

Without further delay...here's what I'll be making on my cooking day:

Mango-Cranberry Chicken - 4 Meals

Chicken A La King - 4 Meals

Salisbury Meatballs - 6 Meals

Raging Garlic Pork Stir fry - 4 Meals

Baked Manicotti - 4 Meals

Veggie Lasagna - 4 Meals

Veggie & Black Bean Chili - 4 Meals

Breakfast Burritos - 20 total (hubby's breakfast)

Granola - Triple Batch

Corn Muffins - 4 Dozen

Pumpkin Choc Chip Muffins - 4 Dozen

Garlic Mashed Potatoes - 4 Batches

Cheddar Biscuits - 8 Batches

Freezer Cooking Day - June 12, 2010

For weeks I've been waiting patiently for my freezer cooking day. I've done freezer cooking before, but it's always been by myself while trying to watch two children. Yesterday, I got together with Heather from Out of The Box Into the Kitchen and we cooking for 8 hours straight. Not only did we get a ton of cooking accomplished, we had childless time together to catch up and get some "adult" time. For our lunch break, we even splurged and had a margarita.

These are the ingredients we started with (except for meat which was in the fridge or coolers)


Here are some of our "work in progress" pictures:

Pumpkin French Toast Sticks:

Breakfast Burrito Filling:


Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls:


Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins (aka Leaning Tower of Muffins):

Blueberry Scones (they had a small accident but we were able to save most of them)


Veggie Lasagna:

Here is what we had when we were done cooking for the day:



When the day was done, here is what we accomplished:

Denise's Black Beans - 2 meals
Tequila Lime Chicken - 4 meals
Mango-Cranberry Chicken - 4 meals
Breakfast Burritos - 30 burritos
Pineapple Chicken Fajitas - 2 meals
Spanish Rice - 6 meals
Jack Burgers - 4 meals
Veggie Lasagna - 2 meals
Baked Spaghetti - 2 meals
Sausage Calzone - 2 meals
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins - 4 dozen
Banana Blueberry Pancakes - 30 total
Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls - 4 dozen
Pumpkin French Toast - 6 dozen
Blueberry Scones (I forgot how many we ended up with, probably 2 dozen, maybe more)

Also, I did some more cooking at home to go along with this so I'd have enough food for the entire month.

Here's what I made on my own this morning:

Tropical Smoothie - 8 meals
Berry Smoothie - 8 meals
4 B's Pork Chops - 4 meals
Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling - 5 meals
Chili - 8 Quarts
Cranberry-Apple Pork Loin - 3 meals
Tex Mex Chicken Fingers - 3 meals

I was also able to get 4 quarts of chicken stock from the chickens I made to make the tostada filling. I also have enough frozen veggie scraps to make 2 crock pots of vegetable stock.

Maybe this will give you an idea of just how much food we have prepared in our freezer now.

These are pics of my upstairs freezer:





And this is the freezer in our spare fridge in the basement:


Altogether, between what we made at Heather's yesterday and what I made here today, I have 70 meals worth of food in my freezer. This includes both breakfasts and dinners. I feel very accomplished, and very excited to not have to cook for a while. This was a lot of work but I think it will really pay off when I get home from work at night and I don't have to spend all that time preparing dinner.

Freezer Cooking Plan - June 2010

I've decided to go ahead and try this monthly menu thing. I've been doing a weekly menu for quite some time, but since I've taken up freezer cooking I've decided that a monthly menu just makes more sense.

Next week I'll be doing my first joint cooking day with Heather from Out of the Box Into the Kitchen. We are planning on preparing a total of 16 recipes for a total of 32 meals.

We've decided on a mixture of breakfast and dinner recipes for our first round of freezer cooking. We've also decided on many recipes that can be prepared on the grill or in the crock pot to limit the use of the oven during hot summer days.

Breakfasts:
Pumpkin French Toast Sticks
Blueberry Banana Pancakes
Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls
Breakfast Burritos
Cornmeal Blueberry Scones
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Dinners:
Monterey Jack Burgers (with homemade burger buns)
Tequila Lime Chicken
Spanish Rice
Vegetable Lasagna
Mango-Cranberry Chicken
Sausage/Onion/Pepper Calzones
Denise's Black Beans w/ Kielbasa
Sloppy Joe's (with homemade rolls)
Three Cheese Baked Spaghetti
Chicken Tortilla Bake

Once a Month Cooking

The past few months I've been doing a lot of researching on once a month cooking (OAMC). I've had a couple of freezer cooking days in the past few months, but it's always been maybe a 1/2 a day dedicated to cooking and I haven't been very good at organizing at all.

I've decided that for June I really want to do a full day of cooking and see just how well I can do with this OAMC stuff.

I've downloaded some great organizational tools from Money Saving Mom and 30 Day Cafe, and I've already got some great recipes I want to try. Now all I have to do is make a plan, make a grocery list, and get to work.

How many of my readers out there do OAMC or even just some freezer cooking? I'd love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or favorite tips for cooking for the freezer, shopping once a month, or even money saving tips for OAMC or freezer cooking.

May Freezer Cooking Days

I didn't really get around to doing much for freezer cooking in April, but I was hoping to do better for May. I can't really seem to get a full day to work on cooking, so I've decided to do bi-weekly freezer meals this month and see how that goes.

This weekend I was able to get the following done:

Chicken Tetrazzini x 2
Brown Bag Burritos x 20
Honey Wheat Bread x 2

I'm hoping to get in another cooking day this weekend to make some more food as I only got about 1/2 a day's worth of cooking in this weekend.

Veggie Lasagna x 2
Chicken Pot Pie x 2
1 Point Chili x2
Banana Bread x 2

I'm starting my planning for July now as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and I feel like I need to better organizing. Hoping maybe to get a friend or two together for a June cooking day!

Freezer Cooking Days - April

A few months back, I attempted a freezer cooking day and was pretty successful. March was a busy month for me so I didn't get around to doing it again, but this month I decided to try it again. With two kids running around and my husband outside doing yardwork, it has been quite difficult to get any done, so I decided to split my cooking into two days this month.

My plan is as follows:

Breakfasts:
Breakfast Cookies (x2)
Raisin English Muffins (x2)
Honey Wheat Bread (2 loaves)
Pumpkin French Toast Sticks (x2)
Gingerbread Pancakes (x2)

Dinners:
White Bean Chicken Chili (x2)
Brown Bag Burritos (x2)
Baked Ziti (x3)
Chicken Tetrazzini (x2)
Gnocci (x2)
Mexican Skillet (x2)
Pizza Dough (x4)
Paprika Chicken Stew (x2)
Chicken Enchiladas (x2)

I went grocery shopping on Friday night and planned on cooking all day on Saturday, but ended up not getting started until 1:00. I still got quite a bit done. I was able to get the breakfast cookies, english muffins, and honey wheat bread completed. I was also able to get the beans and meat prepped for my other recipes. I'm hoping to get a couple things done today before we have to leave for Easter dinner at my Grandmother's house.