Last night was one of the most productive evenings I've ever had. I made seven freezer meals that I can thaw at a moments notice the nights that I work or feel lazy! My friend Cami convinced me to do it with her, so we planned out meals, did our grocery shopping, and figured out the logistics...when she got sick. (Sorry, Cami!!) Since all of our food was ready to go, we cooked independent of each other, occassionally swapping ingredients and talking on the phone. Robby stayed up late and helped me make three of the meals. :) I had all of them done withing 3 1/2 hours - now I know tricks to make it go faster. I'll post recipes near the end of the month when we we've actually eaten them! We're going to do this once a month and I'm excited. I have the last two meals to make today because I ran out of onions.
I work until 6pm at least two nights a week, so homemade dinner is a rarity. I actually felt pretty cool having so many vegetable peels & dirty measuring cups littering my kitchen. For a non-chef, it was fun. But my feet are killing me since I haven't stood that long since before my pregnancy with Jacob!
I know that some people do freezer meal swaps - where you each make a certain number of the same freezer meal and then you get together and trade. So you go home with a variety. Has anyone done that? That might have to be my new FHE packets...
Let me know if you have any good freezer meal (or crock pot) recipes!
(jschonlau(at)gmail(dot)com) 
My aunt is in a group like this with 4 other women from her ward and they love it and are very efficient at it. My mom even did it with some ward members before she passed away. One day I really want to take advantage of this but you really have to have reliable friends to do it with. They save a ton of money and time every month by their one day of cooking. I know my aunt e-mailed me a list of recipes so if I find them I will send them!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of people doing this, but I have never done it. What a GREAT idea! You should post your recipes so we can all benefit from your wisdom. I've had a seriously diminished lack of enthusiasm for cooking lately, so something like this would be great for me. Please share! Thanks for the idea though :o)
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that if you search on a recipe site (like recipezaar or allrecipes) for OAMC, you will find hundreds of recipes. OAMC stands for Once a Month Cooking.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea and am hoping to get something similar started here in NY. It is such a great idea and since my meals are usually thrown together at 5pm for 6pm dinner I think this would be so great. Please do pass along the meals and how your family like them! I have a great friend who each makes a meal one day a week for four other families and delivers them. She loves it!
ReplyDeleteShare any other recipes that others give you as well, if you have time.
Kim
I did this before I had my younger one and I was so glad. It was hard to cook like a maniac when I was 37 weeks pregnant, but it made life so much easier after he showed up. Even though it's not a complete meal, another time saving hint is to freeze chicken breasts or other meat with marinade. Then it marinates as it thaws and is all ready to cook.
ReplyDeleteSuch a good idea! Steve and I finally decided to actually meal plan and like cook our own dinners. ;-) Sounds like you did awesome. Way to go!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea. I have been tempted to buy freezer meals from a place here called touch of gourmet(where they have all of the ingredients and you go and assemble your meals) especially when I was pregnant and not wanting to cook, but haven't gotten around to it. You will have to let me know of any good recipes.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Julie! I miss our Blakeley freezer meal group so much! Cami probably has all the recipes that I have for that. Before Nate was born I made a bunch and we are still eating them- it's been wonderful. I wish I had the motivation to do it every month. Hope you enjoy your meals.
ReplyDeleteI am anxious to know how everything turns out. Maybe someday you can teach me to "wax efficient", until then I'll just come to your house for dinner.
ReplyDeleteyou are the woman! the only thing i freeze is broccoli cheese soup because my kids can't get enough of it and ask for it for breakfast! if you want a super-easy recipe for that - let me kno.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah, there is a new category up for seattle recipes - so post something!:)
what a girl! It's funny to think of you back at the C.C. Good luck with SEP!
ReplyDelete