Dinner's In the Freezer

It's almost that time of year again.  Can you feel it?  The temperatures are dropping a bit, school supplies are taking over the stores, and calendars are starting to fill up with events.  Yes, fall is coming and so is what I call "The Crazy Season."

A time when mom is pulled in a hundred, maybe a thousand, different directions and many evenings I just long for a quiet place to land and read good book.

But hold on, those people of mine want to E-A-T!  Can you even believe it?

Thankfully, during the busy seasons of life my slow cooker and my freezer have become my best friends.  With very little planning and even less effort, I can grab a baggie out of the freezer, pop it in my slow cooker in the morning right after breakfast, and there is a hot meal ready for dinner.  This is especially good for days that are crazy, days that we have "after school" events, or days that mom has reached her stopping point.  Yes, that about covers all days, right?!

There are countless ways to freezer cook and you can find many articles and recipes relating to that process.  What I want to share with you is not the process as much as just a few of our fast, easy, and no-frills meals.  We are not fancy around here.  I have four kids who have many distinct likes and dislikes.  I gave up trying to keep up with the Joneses and their menus years ago.  Simple is the name of the game here!

But blessings is the other name!  Freezing simple meals ahead of time that can be popped in a slow cooker, providing hours of yummy smells and at least ten minutes of yummy dinner time (does anyone have a fast eater???) has indeed blessed me.  It frequently takes the stress out of my day, saves me time in the kitchen, allows us to save money by avoiding those last minute "let's just order something in" panics, and provides a more nutritional choice for a meal.

Interested?
Here we go!

Chicken Meals

• Italian chicken- Just pop chicken breasts in a baggie, pour half of a bottle of Italian dressing in with a tablespoon of garlic salt.  Seal, shake and lay flat to freeze.  Pop it in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours and you are ready to go!

• Chicken and Rice- Pop chicken breasts in a baggie with a can of cream of mushroom soup (or your own homemade) and a half cup of water. Lay flat to freeze! Cook on low for 8 hours, adding uncooked instant rice the last 20 minutes.

• Shredded chicken- Spend a free day cooking chicken and then freeze in two cup portions for the following meals- Quesadillas, stuffed baked potatoes, tacos, enchiladas, and soups (add noodles or rice last 20-30 minutes)

Red Meat Ideas

• Shape meatballs and freeze with your favorite sauce (b-b-q, teriyaki). Cook on low 8 hours.

• Shape meatloaves and freeze.  Simply put in slow cooker and cook on low 8 hours.

• Freeze spaghetti sauce and cook on low 8 hours!

• Cook hamburger meat and freeze in two cup servings for the following meals- (you can add spices when you freeze or as you put your meat in the slow cooker) tacos, chili, taco salad or Sloppy Joes.

Pork Ideas

• A large pork loin found at our local large food club can easily make three or four meals for us depending on how we use it.  Cut it into how ever many pieces is right for your size family and freeze with a marinade.  (We love Italian dressing, b-b-q, and teriyaki the best!)

• You can then cook the pieces in the slow cooker for 8 hours and use the following ways- As the main meal, over rice, on baked potatoes, as sandwiches!

See?  I told you the ideas are endless!  For the most part, there are not many foods that do not freeze well, and even less that you cannot cook in a slow cooker.  No need to make it complicated, just make it and freeze it and watch your meal time stress melt away as you go about your busy day!

Blessings,

34 Weeks of Clean- Rinse and Repeat, Week 4: Fridge, Freezers, and Floors

OK friends, we are still moving our way through the kitchen and hopefully by now you are starting to feel in better control of this area.  After all, let's face it, it is a place we spend an awful lot of time.  By now you should have covered your Pantry, as well as Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers.  Don't lose your momentum quite yet, we are almost done!     We have loved seeing all the pictures this week, and appreciate you all helping us out by posting in one area.  And I love all the chatter and cheering each other on.  Not only are we taking back our homes one week at a time, but we are building friendships!  I love it!!   As we proceed with 34 Weeks of Clean, keep in mind our goals- deep clean all those surfaces, de-clutter what we don't need or simply do not use anymore, and re-organize.  Last week was the first week where you had the chance to really start to de-clutter.
  Hey, I KNOW that the de-cluttering part is the hardest.  I get it, really I do!  But hear me out.  Things that clutter our homes also clutter our hearts and heads.  Life should not be about things.  Things are nice, but people are better.  Much better.  Clear out what you don't need, you will not regret it.   This week you can add your photos here!    And because of all those pictures we have quite a few people in the running for our prize at the end.  AND, we have added a new prize to bless you...details at the end of this post!  You are going to love it!

This week - Fridge, Freezers, and Floors! 

For some, this will be a fairly easy project.  For others, it may be a challenge, as I realize that many of us have multiple fridges and freezers.  Not to mention I loathe getting down on my hands and knees to do floors, but yes, we are going to do it- together!  Here we go!

So, some tips-

• Start high and end low!  In other words- fridge and freezer first, floors last. Here is why-

• Which leads us to the second tip - do not put open cans back in your fridge.  Take the time to put the contents in sealed containers.  Not only safer food storage, but cleaner!  If you need to cover leftovers, we have found these cloth type coverings to work best.  Ashton made this set I own, but I know you can buy them (try searching "reusable food cover" or "reusable bowl cover" on Etsy.com).  When they get dirty I just pop them in the wash!

•  If you are amazing and do this on a regular basis, clean out when your stock is at its lowest.  Make your life easier by having less to move out while you wipe down shelf surfaces and bins! 

So that being said, yes, you guessed it- take it all out!  Empty your fridge and your freezer, putting anything you are afraid might melt into coolers while you work!

Take any bins, drawers, or dividers out and wash them with soapy water.  Again, I use this homemade multi-cleaner, but do what makes you happy. Do every surface, inside and out, and do not forget the dusty top.  Yes, even the top!  I know, scary, right?!

Beware! (Being completely transparent here)  When you remove the drawers, you may find a mess like this.  Obviously the kids spilled something and I did not see it because it was under the drawer.  And yes, I did just completely throw my kids under the bus! ;) 

Don't worry, it did come clean!

And here's the final product.  Now tell me exactly why we have to put stuff back in that beauty?  I mean, look how nice and tidy it looks!  And why do the people who live here have to ALWAYS eat?

• Yes, it is time to put it all back in!  Well, maybe not ALL.  Check expiration dates when returning things to the shelves.  I did not find one expired thing - but then again, my mom just spent a month with us so no telling how much she threw away when I wasn't looking! ;)

• Designate a space for things!  This is what happens when you do not -

Leftovers get lost in the clutter, do not get eaten and then have to be thrown out resulting in WASTE! Please tell me I am not alone in this!

• For those of you with large freezer and lot of frozen foods:  make an inventory of your freezer space.  This may not be an issue if you keep little frozen food on hand, but for us, I have seen it is a must.  Usually I am a paper kind of gal, but after seeing our farm friends' method, I was sold! 

Yep, dry-erase lists on the outside of the freezers!  At a glance I can see what I have and, if I can ever remember to leave the marker there, I can quickly change the amount when I take something out. Someone remind me to attach a pen with a string to the door handle or something!

Final fridge-

Done!

 Freezer-

Freezer done!

• I will say I am not a fan of things all over the front of the fridge.  For me, it adds to the clutter and makes me start to feel a little crazy after a while.  What about you?  Do you have layers of things taped to the fridge that have been there for decades? This may be a time that you want to clear off all the stuff hanging on your fridge for a nice clean look, or at least a clean slate for the new year.

• And then - the floors.  Yes, most of us do our floors weekly, at least, but remember, we are trying to do some deep cleaning this time!

         -Stick the rugs in the washing machine!

        -Move out anything that is on the floor!

        -Do the baseboards first, then the nooks and crannies.  Since our steam cleaner does not always  seem to hit those spots, we did the floor by hand this time around.

• And an extra throw in at the last minute- we took this time to wipe down the trash can on the outside and clean the inside.

YOU ARE DONE!!  Way to go!

So, about that new prize!

Our friends at Redeemed, an online handmade sign shop, have graciously offered this sign for our drawing. 

If you post a picture or pictures of your progress each week, you will be entered into a drawing for that as well as a $50.00 prize package to 621 Gifts and, you get to choose your own goodies!

 

Blessings,