Freezer Meals- Part III {Suppers}

This is Part III to my freezer meal plan. In case you missed Part I and Part II, you can read those now!

For all of the supper recipes, I used chicken tenders purchased from Sam's Club. I bought two large trays of chicken, and it was about 15-16 pounds total. I divided that evenly between all the freezer meals. For the suppers, you need gallon sized zip top bags. These meals were made for 2 people, but normally we have leftovers for lunch the following day. If your family is bigger, you may want to add more chicken and more vegetables. And as mentioned before, I used all chicken because I don't plan on eating these every night. If you want to eat your freezer meals every night, you may want to use different proteins. You can substitute pork chops, pork tenderloins, turkey tenderloins, or steak!

Supper Freezer Meals Shopping List

Chicken tenders or  breasts (15-16 pounds)

red pepper flakes

chili powder

paprika

thyme

ground ginger

jar of minced garlic

olive oil

honey

balsamic vinegar

3 cans of orange juice concentrate

large bag of carrots

4-5 bell peppers

green onions

4-5 onions

4-5 limes

soy sauce

peanut butter

dijon mustard

1 large container of chicken or vegetable broth

BBQ sauce (I used 2 bulk sized bottles)

I had a lot of the seasonings on hand, so I didn't have to purchase them. My total cost for the suppers was $75.27 = 3.01 per meal! Also, I used the Once a Month Mom website for my inspiration for some of these recipes. For the suppers, set out all of your gallon size bags, fold the top down, and divide your chicken evenly among them. Then add the ingredients below into each bag...

Honey Glazed Chicken (5 meals)

To be served with rice or on pasta

Chicken

2 tsp. red pepper flake

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. paprika

1 garlic clove

1/2 honey

4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. chicken broth

3 chopped carrots

Peanut Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

3/4 c. chicken broth

3 tbsp. peanut butter

1/2 tsp. lime zest

2 tbsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. ginger

4 cloves garlic, chopped

BBQ Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with rice or on buns, after it is done cooking, shred the chicken

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

BBQ sauce, enough to cover chicken

Orange Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

3 large carrots, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tsp. ginger

6-8 oz. of orange juice concentrate

2 green onions

Balsamic Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with pasta

Chicken

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

1 tbsp. fresh thyme

1/4 c. olive oil

...After adding all the ingredients to the bags, zip the top up and use your hands to massage the ingredients into the meat and mix them all together. It's important that all the components are mixed well. Depending on your ingredients, you may notice that you need a little more liquid to cover the meat. If that happens, mix in a little extra broth or extra ingredients. Label each bag with the type of meal it is. Lay flat (to maximize freezer space) to freeze.

To cook your meal, simply take your meal from the freezer and add all the contents to your slow cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours on high. Cook some easy rice, pasta, or extra vegetables to enjoy with your meal. These meals were relatively easy to put together and took about 2 hours! And they are delicious! It is definitely worth our money to have these stocked in the freezer. We don't go out anymore, except on date night, and these are the perfect meals to enjoy on nights that I am just exhausted!

Freezer Meals- Part II {Breakfast/Lunch}

Last time I shared with you my freezer meal plan. We all have those nights that we just do not feel like cooking supper. We also all have those mornings where we just don't know what to eat for breakfast or what to take to work for lunch (at least I sure do). This post is dedicated to my freezer burritos! They are simple to make and are really filling for those busy mornings.

For breakfasts/lunches, I used two different burrito fillers. These can be mixed up however you like. You can add or take away any ingredient that you like or dislike. There is a lot of versatility with these.

Shopping list for breakfasts/lunches

40 tortillas

2 dozen eggs

30 oz. black beans

green onions

1 large jar of your favorite salsa

cheddar cheese

bacon

frozen shredded hashbrowns

My total cost: $21.52 = about 54 cents per meal!

Mexican Burritos (20 burritos)

This recipe is from here.

Scramble 1 dozen eggs, add 30 oz. cooked black beans and chopped green onions. Lay out 20 tortillas. Add shredded cheddar, salsa, and then the egg and bean mixture. Fold the tortillas into burritos and wrap in foil/wax paper. When reheating, remove wrapping and heat in microwave for 2 minutes on defrost and 1 minute on high.

Egg Burritos (20 burritos)

Cook center cut bacon (less fat than normal and alot better tasting than turkey), crumble, and set aside. Cook frozen hashbrowns until browned and set aside. Scramble 1 dozen eggs. Lay out 20 tortillas. Add shredded cheddar, salsa (if you like), the eggs, bacon crumbles, and hashbrowns. Fold the tortillas into burritos and wrap in foil/wax paper. When reheating, remove wrapping and heat in microwave for 2 minutes on defrost and 1 minute on high.

You can't beat 54 cents per meal! And these are so much more filling than cereal! I cooked these on the same thing that I did the suppers, but none of the ingredients are overlapping, so you could definitely cook just the burritos one afternoon and have 40 breakfasts or lunches to enjoy all month!

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!