Freezer Cooking- April 22- Part 2

We did it!!! We got all of our meals in the freezer and finished around 9:00 pm. Below is a picture of the dining room table with Ham and Hash brown Casseroles, Pizza Roll Ups, Northwoods Wild Rice Soup, and in the back left corner is the dehydrator full of beef jerky.

In the picture above, we had to set tables up in the living room to hold more soup and more pizza roll ups. We had coolers full of meat and Debbie's coolers in the garage. It was a lot of work, but when you see the next picture you will understand why it was all worth it!

A very full freezer, it's a beautiful thing, folks! The very top shelf holds homemade breads, biscuits, English muffins, coffeecake muffins, blueberry muffins, scones, English muffin sandwiches, ham and cheddar biscuits and cinnamon rolls. The next 3 shelves hold our freezer cooking day's efforts. The 5th shelf holds what's left of last year's garden- 3 bags of shredded zucchini, 4 bags of green beans, 3 bags of blueberries for muffins, 1 bag of blueberries for pie and 4 hash brown casseroles. The very bottom shelf/bin holds all our remaining meat. The top 2 freezer door shelves hold the remaining jars of strawberry jam, sweet corn and squash puree. The 3rd door shelf holds my Amish butter. The 4th door shelf holds various boxes of frozen treats. The 5th door shelf holds my surplus of milled wheat and other baking flours.

We'll start to use up some of this bounty in time for berry season. Then when it starts to get low, I'll have room to put up my garden produce. Believe it or not my kitchen freezer is practically empty. Maybe we'll have to fill it with cookies, short cakes, pound cakes and coffeecakes!

Freezer Cooking- April 22- Part 1

Freezer Cooking has been a great blessing to my family. It is nice to not have to stress about a good meal on busy days. I generally bulk cook every 3-4 months. I usually do it with a friend, which helps to lighten the work load and makes it more fun too. My friend Debbie has been doing the cooking with me for over 2 years now. Sometimes we have added in a third person but this time it's just us!

We usually prepare between 40-55 meals per family and spend between $185-$250 each. You can do it cheaper, but we are both particular about our meat quality, all of our meat is organic, has no growth hormones or antibiotics and is from Yoder's in Shipshewana. It is a balancing act, but I would rather spend a little more for quality than to skimp. I don't think $3-$5 an entree/meal for a family of 5 is bad at all.

Here's what we have planned:

Grill Ready Items:
Sweet Asian Chicken- 4 meals
Italian Chicken- 4 meals
Cheddar Jack Chicken- 4 meals
Teriyaki Chicken- 4 meals
Jacki's Pork Chops- 6 meals
Grill Packets- 8 meals- hash browns, onions, carrots, garlic & smoked sausage
Bacon Cheeseburgers- 6 meals
Mini Garlic Herb Burgers- 8 meals
Glazed Ham Steaks- 2 meals
NY Strips w/ Steak Sauce- 2 meals ( a splurge!)

Indoor Prep Meals:
Chicken Enchiladas- 4 meals
Ham & Hash brown Casserole- 8 meals
Pepperoni Pizza Roll-ups- 8 meals
Sausage Pizza Roll Ups- 8 meals
Pulled Pork- 6 meals
Pork Chimichangas- 6 meals
Turkey Chimichangas- 2 meals
Cincinnati Chili- 6 meals

That's 96 meals total.
That's 48 meals per family.

We are also making:

• homemade beef jerky
• cinnamon rolls, if time allows

Tomorrow is the big day! I'll try to remember to take pictures! If anyone would like any of these recipes, I'd be happy to post them. Leave a comment on which one(s) you want.