Life with the Mauldins: Freezer Meal Frenzy

This last week, I decided it was time to have a make cook fest and stock up on some meals in the freezer for when Lexi arrives. I know as new parents, we will probably be sleep deprived and the last thing we are going to want to do in the evening is go grocery shopping and put together recipes. Instead of resorting to drive thru and take out, I decided we should get some meals prepared ahead of time, so that we can just thaw something delicious in the fridge and heat it up in the oven in the evening. I got together a list of some freezer meals I have tried before, looked up a few new ones, put together a monster grocery list and spent Friday afternoon shopping. BAGS of groceries later, we were ready. I got freezer container 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree, and stocked up on freezer Ziplocs and saran wrap. All the necessities of freezer meal planning. I also printed labels with the recipe title and directions for reheating to stick on each recipe. This saved me time later, because I could just stick them on the meals instead of having to write things a million times with Sharpie.

Here was my freezer meal plan:
1. Chicken Enchiladas
2. Chicken Spaghetti
3. Hamburger Patties
4. Pulled Pork
5. Chicken Packets
6. Chicken and Black Bean Chili
7. Mom's Goulash (a take on Baked Ziti)
8. Stuffed Green Pepper Filling
9. Bacon Lover's Mac n Cheese
10. Mushroom and Herb Mac n Cheese
11. Beef and Bean Burritos
12. Breakfast Burritos
13. Pizza Crust
14. Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
15. Pineapple Passion Fruit Muffins
16. Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins
17. All-Spice Crumb Muffins
I had written out a plan so that we could get all the ingredients ready for the recipes, then I assemble everything at the end. On Friday evening, I trimmed all the chicken (7 packs of 4 breasts from Sprouts, which was on sale this week for $1.77 a pound). Then I put half in chicken packets for grilled chicken, which we eat all the time. The rest went into the crockpot overnight to shred in the morning to add to recipes. I also made a spice rub for the pork shoulder and wrapped it in saran wrap to marinade overnight. I also had 5 small pizza crusts that I placed in press and seal wrap, ready for the freezer.

11 chicken packets

On Saturday, we started prepping. I shredded the chicken first (which feel apart from a long night a slow cooking) and then unwrapped the pork and put it in the slow cooker to cook throughout the day. Nick was a HUGE help. He chopped up all the veggies and seperated them into bowls so they were easy to grab when I was putting the recipes together. Then he cooked up all the ground beef and sausage, some of the veggies, helped with any lifting and CLEANED! Anytime I needed the sink cleaned out or dishes rinsed he was there to help. I couldn't have made it all day without him. My sister, Meagan, came over and shredded all the cheese (I'd bought blocks) and organized it into a large baking dish by type.

I cooked all the pasta, spent time making burger buns that didn't turn out well, and assembled recipes as the ingredients were ready. Some recipes required some individual cooking, but having most things prepared ahead of time helped us out so much. I decided to save the muffins to bake on Sunday, so we just did all the main meal recipes on Saturday.
Here is a little picture tour of our Saturday of cooking! It was a long day, but I felt so good by the time we were done. And we had a freezer full of meals to help carry us through that first month with Lexi. Now we can spend time focusing all our attention on her!