Freezer Meals- Part I

I love cooking. And I one of my favorite things is to cook a big meal for my husband and watch him enjoy it. However, with school starting back up and this pregnancy well under way, I can see some exhausted days in my future. Normally on days that I just don't feel like cooking, Dan and I normally head out to grab something to eat. Dan is a champ at choosing healthy choices when we go out, me... not so much! In an effort to save some money and to be healthier on those tired nights, I decided to stock our freezer with some meals that can be cooked easily in the crockpot! Which by the way, we just got a new chest freezer and I love it! Our regular freezer was busting at the seams with vegetables and fruit from the garden, so I needed some extra space. Now with all this extra space, I could also make a lot of freezer meals.

My new freezer!

Now, freezer meals have been quite a trend on Pinterest. I'm not sure how many people actually make them, but a lot of people pin them. I enjoying reading through them, but never found one that seemed to work for me. I didn't like the idea of cooking all the food before hand, it seemed like too much of a cooking marathon. I ran across this plan and I liked the premise (cheap and more than just suppers). I also used Once-a-Month Mom for some inspiration for recipes. I decided to stick with one type of meat, since we would only be eating the meals on nights when we were busy/tired and not every night. If you want to make your own freezer meals and plan to eat them every night, you would probably want to mix up your protein so it doesn't get boring.

My Freezer Meal plan will make 25 suppers and 40 breakfasts or lunches. The best part is, for everything, it only was only $96.79 (I got everything I could at Aldi's, the meat at Sam's Club, and the rest at Walmart). So, if we don't go out to eat a few times on those exhausted evenings, the meals will pay for themselves! The meals are stored, uncooked, and are to be cooked in the crockpot. They can be served with rice, beans, quinoa, or on a bun (the total cost included enough rice, beans, and quinoa to go with all the meals!).

Over the next few days, I'll share my freezer meal plan recipes and some tips on preparation!