Making 5:30PM Easier (freezer cooking)

My approach to dinner has evolved over the years, for the better thankfully.  Mostly out of necessity.  Back in the early days of marriage, I would go grocery shopping and buy whatever looked good.  I would get home after work, open my pantry full of food, and have no clue what to make for dinner.

A couple years ago I realized how much extra work, thought, and expense that approach created, and I started meal planning.  Each weekend I would decide what to make for dinner the following week, and I would buy just the groceries required to make those meals.  My grocery bill went down, our food thrown away decreased, and dinner time was much more predictable.

But then I had two hungry, tired, mommy-needing toddlers clawing at my legs when I came home from work, and I no longer had 30-45 minutes to cook dinner.  I had, like, minus three.  Several of the people I follow on Facebook spoke about freezer cooking and how it saved them time in the evenings, so I thought I would give it a shot.

I did my first big batch of freezer cooking in March and made the below: 3 meals of buffalo chicken, 2 meals of tacos, 2 meals of sloppy joes, one loaf of banana bread, and 1 meal of turkey meatballs.  Instantly, I was hooked.  And tired, as I did all of these alone with the kids to tend to.

I haven't done any large batches like this again, but I do spend an hour here and there stocking up my freezer.  Some of what I have made for freezer cooking lately include:

• Lasagna (here is instructions for how to freeze.  I found that I actually didn't need to cook it any longer than when it's fresh)
• Spaghetti sauce
• Basil balsamic pork chops 
• honey lime chicken skewers
• grilled pork chops with garlic lime sauce
• More of the buffalo chicken and banana bread
• Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (I'm pretty much obsessed with these.  They thaw so well- either take a couple out the night before, or take them out of the freezer in the morning and nuke them for 30 seconds.  Num). 

If you eat cheese (like most normal people), your options will be much greater.

There are a great deal of resources on freezer cooking.  Some of my favorite resources are:

• Money Saving Mom - she does a freezer cooking in an hour session each week. You can also search for freezer cooking on her website. She also insists that you don't need to have a chest freezer to make freezer cooking work for you.  
• Once A Month Mom- there are LOADS of recipes on this site.  The premise is that you only have to cook once a month and have enough meals to last you until the next month, but I've never done that much at a time.  There are different types of menus each month based on your eating preferences, and she even has grocery lists, printables, and more.  I found a couple of the recipes I linked to above in May's "Wholesome foods" menu.  
• Pinterest- if you follow me, I have a Board on freezer cooking.  If you simply search for freezer cooking too, you'll find lots of hits.  

I hope I inspired at least one of you to give freezer cooking a shot!  Especially for you working mothers...take my word that it makes your evening so much easier.  With my freezer meals, I can have dinner on the table in five minutes, which eases the frustration the children (and I) feel when I'm trying to cook and gives us extra time in the evening to spend together. 

If you try it, let me know how it goes!