"That made you.....um...grouchy!"

That is what my dear sweet, and totally RIGHT hubby said to me last night after I had just spend the better part of two days making freezer meals. It is hard to cook a bunch of meals and take care of 4 kids and one dog. UGH! I hope it was worth it cuz I wore myself OUT. And wanna know what? I didn't even make enough to last a whole month like the book told me to do. I shudder to think what I would be like if I had. I kinda did a two week supply, or close to it! I made a few of the same meals but don't plan on eating them every week. But, since I was making one pan, I thought I should just make two, KWIM? The book did say I could try that instead of going all out and doing the whole month. Here is what I made:

• Two batches of split pea and ham soup. Just used my own recipe and froze it in freezer bags. We probably won't eat this until the weather cools off a bit. I don't like eating soup when it's hot outside, but that's just me.....


• Two pans of lasagna. Don't tell the kids I put chopped up zucchini in there.


• Two pans of chicken enchiladas. Again my own recipe.


• Two meals worth of Chicken Curry to be served over rice. New recipe. It called for cup up apples. Hmmmmm, it did smell good. I hope we like it!


• Enough pancakes to last at least several weeks or maybe a month. I made a bunch, put them on cookie sheets, froze them and then put them in freezer bags. You just pop them into your toaster, NOT the microwave. That way they will be crunchy not soggy.


• Cooked up 5 pounds of hamburger to be used for whatever I want. Tacos, spaghetti and so on.


• Cooked so much chicken I lost count of the pounds! I cubed it and put it in the freezer to be used for whatever! I also saved the water I boiled the chicken in to be used as stock or chicken broth. Good idea I found in my trusty "$3 a meal" cookbook I got from the library.

I think that is all. I wanted to make a bunch of beef and bean burritos and freeze them individually but I ran out of time and steam. Plus I didn't have my pinto beans soak overnight, so I was not prepared. Maybe next week. I ended up buying some disposable 9 by 12 pans at Sam's for just under $7 and it came with like 20. I also bought a HUGE can of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes at Sam's for under $3 each and just froze what I didn't use this time in quart sized freezer bags. Way cheaper than using the smaller cans. I also bought my tortillas at Sam's for under $4 and it had 30 of the bigger sized ones in it. I think buying in bulk for this type of cooking is the way to go. So, I hope this helps me at dinnertime. :) I will let you know.

p.s.

I finally tried Bountiful Baskets and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. I can't wait for next week!

p.p.s

I forgot to mention that I also borrowed the canner and canned ALL our powdered milk (53 cans) and ALL our noodles (24 cans) over the last few days. (I was planning on doing my potato flakes, and oatmeal as well, but they didn't calculate how many cans I needed to buy from them and I didn't get enough or else I woulda done that too!!) Good grief, no wonder I am grouchy! LOL!