Cooking Bonanza!

Ok. Here goes nothing.

So, it was time for my monthly cooking bonanza as I like to call it. Now the only reason I do this is because A) I don't get home from work until 6:30 and that is WAY to late for a 3 and 5 year old to be eating and B) it just makes it easier on all of us not to have to worry about what's for dinner.

So the first thing I do is sit down with a pad of paper and my computer. First site I hit is....you guessed it.....Pintrest! (I'm an addict lol) I search "freezer cooking" or "crock pot meals" there are all kinds of things that come up. Yes a lot of them are the same and yes it does take time to look through each one and figure out what you want. I just look for things that I know my family will eat.

This is what the menu looks like for this month. I make 2 of each meal. Now I know this is not enough for an entire month.....Friday night is pizza night. These also all make left overs and Wednesday nights we go to my fabulous in-laws for dinner (yes they spoil us!) So I don't need to make a full 30 meals.

Breakfast Burritos
Orange Chicken
Island Chicken
Apple Sauce BBQ Chicken
Saucy Pork Chops
Pork and Apples
Pizza Casserole
Million Dollar Spaghetti
Beef Stroganoff

As I decide what we are going to have I make a list of every item that I need. I then go through the list again after I see what I have on hand already. I usually do this the day before I go shopping after every one goes to bed.

Next is off to Costco! I always seem to hit this dang store at its busiest time so I either go with my boyfriend or alone. I stick to my list and I really watch my prices. After doing this a few times you will know what to buy at Costco and what you should buy at the grocery store. I buy all my meat at Costco. As well as our normal staple items I buy every month like coffee (it's the cheapest place to buy k cups!), creamer, bacon, bread, lunch meat and cheese for sandwiches. I make it out of Costco usually for about $250 or so. I try and keep my total as low as possible but my monthly budget is $350. Then I head to Winco (it's across the street from Costco) and I pick up the last few items that I need as well as our sides like rice pilaf or noodles. Then it's home bound with my haul of food!

Now at this point I send Mike and the kids out to do something. It is way easier to do this without a 3 and 5 year old demanding your attention. For this round Mike and Kohlten went shooting (Brooklyn is still with her mom). I got me a glass of wine and turned up the Christmas music and went to work.

For the assembly....I start by writing on my freezer bags the date, what is in the bag and how to cook it. I only work on 1 recipe at a time (if I know that more than one calls for onions or something else I need to chop I do that all at one time). It gets way to overwhelming if you try and do too many at once.  I usually do all of the chicken ones, then all of the beef ones, then all of the pork ones. The only thing that I actually cook is any ground beef.  I usually keep a couple pounds cooked in bags for emergency.The pork chops at Costco are so thick that I filet them so it doubles the amount of meat. Also with the stew meat I cut it down more because the pieces are so big and then we get more out of it.

I just put everything the recipe calls for in the bag. If there are noodles in the recipe, I add those at the time of cooking. In to the freezer they go.

Like my snow man towel? Dollar tree!! Ya I'm addicted to that place haha

For the breakfast burritos.....Mike leaves at 4am so that is the only way he is getting food in the mornings haha. I make everything that I am putting in it. Eggs, sausage (I use spicy pork), bacon, hash browns, and jalapenos in a big bowl and mix it all up. On to the burner the tortillas go and I just wrap them up adding cheese as I go. Once they cool down I wrap them individually and throw them in to freezer bags. They will keep a couple months I think. They are gone by the end of the month for us though.

The night before I take out whatever we are having and put it in the fridge along with the inside of my crock pot. In the morning the entire thing goes in the crock pot and the timer is set! Off to work I go!!




 Yes it really is that easy! Don't let a whole month scare you. You can do this every week, every couple weeks, whatever works for you. Monthly just works out best for us since we lead super busy lives.

Oh and if your crock pot doesn't have a timer on it I would suggest investing in a timer from Home Depot. Best $10 I ever spent! And no more dry meat!