Dinners in the Freezer!

Before I got married, I lived with my parents after college because 1. I love my family and it was nice to be home again 2. rent is superrrrr high here and not having a job yet wasn't going to cut it.  My hubby (fiance then) was living on his own renting an apartment close by so I would try my "culinary skills" on him :)  At first, it was pasta, pasta, and more pasta... Eventually I started to make chicken, chili, burgers, etc.

Eventually, we started going back to my moms to eat some days {thanks Mom} and some days were take-out nights.  Last school year, I got a full time teaching job with about a 45 minute commute.  My hubby was working weird shifts and I was so busy lesson planning and getting ready for the next day that there wasn't much cooking going on.  Long story short, it was July {wedding!!} and summer vacation! Yayy for teachers...to all those who complain we have summers off - we need it after all those kids! I love them but boy did it get crazy some days! :)

After the wedding and honeymoon, we were finally living together in our new {rented} home and I was super excited to start cooking for my own little family.  

My sister gave me this awesome book, because she knows me so well and lovingly doubted my cooking skills.

The book is great, I highly recommend it to everyone who works, or has kids, loves their Crockpot, etc...basically everyone would benefit from it I think :)

Being that I was on summer vacay, I decided to create freezer meals that I could throw in the Crockpot in the morning and dinner would be done when I got home from work.  Shoprite was having a really good sale on Perdue chicken so I stocked up and marked recipes both my hubby and I would like.  Most of the recipes I tried first had chicken in them, but there are some really good red meat recipes and pasta recipes.  I do need to be creative at times, as he is somewhat picky.  He makes a face if I make stirfry...so it has a new name of "saute" and he eats it up!  The little things we do for them...

Anyway, in the book they recommend using the "freezer bag method."  Definitely saves room and you still have your containers for leftovers in the fridge.  I also use the freezer bag method to freeze homemade tomato sauce.  I fill the bag {enough for 1 pasta dinner for 2-4 people} and then zipper seal the bag and lay them out on a baking sheet.  Normally I have about 3-4 bags and lay them on top of each other and throw the whole baking sheet in the freezer.  I freeze them overnight then take them off of the baking sheet and stand them up right or flat in the freezer.  When I'm ready to use them, I just defrost them in the fridge and they're ready to heat up and use.

This doesn't look great, but it shows the freezer bag method...it's so yummy

Also, what's great about the freezer bag method is that you can write the directions right on the bag.  This saves time from having to look up the recipe in the cookbook and if the hubby puts it in the Crockpot in the morning, the directions are right there.  Written veryyy clearly just for the reason :)

Crockpot recipe example:

Oven recipe example:

We also have a dry-erase board in our kitchen to write down our crazy {opposite} schedules for the week.  This really helps with meal planning and thinking ahead to what needs to be prepped or defrosted.  On the days we're both working nights, we normally eat at work or leftovers will do. {I'm subbing and waitressing now, due to budget cuts no more classroom for me this year grrrr}  We also have a master calendar on our desk to help keep track of work schedules and commitments we have.  It seems to work for us, so if you're looking to be more organized with meals/schedules try it.  

I hope this inspires you to create some freezer recipes and saves you a little time in your busy day!  Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day :)

Oops...almost forgot: Update on the painted wallpaper wall:

I think the bottom is the hardest part...only because there's not too much room to move around so close to the floor so I left it for last :) I hope to be done by tonight!!