This concept seems as overwhelming to me to type as it seemed to organize and complete!! However, we did it (x3) and continue to enjoy the results!! The pre-planning has been so helpful to both of my daughters' desire to put a home cooked meal on the table!
I have the menus, recipes, grocery list, prep instructions and cooking instructions in Google Drive spreadsheets that I would be happy to share. If you're interested in our Spring 2014 documents, email me at karla4cm@gmail.com and I'll send you the link. It was 25 meals each and many meals have leftovers that can be used later in the week or refrozen.
A few highlights: (easily duplicated by using your recipes - use recipes that you know you like)
Buy meat to barbecue in bulk - steak portions, pork loin chops or steaks, thin chicken breasts or tenders, fish filets
1. Portion meat in Ziploc bags, season and add sauce. Two highlights: your husband is in charge of the main dish! He bbq's while you make a salad or cook a side. And, the meat marinates in the sauce while thawing in the refrigerator during the day. I featured this technique on April 9, 2014 on this blog.
2. Buy big chunks of meat and freeze in meal size portions - gallon size. These take a couple days to thaw in the refrigerator. Here are three big chunks of meat recipes.
a. We used pork roast and added onions, bbq sauce and pineapple. Jaclyn pours the whole bag into the slow cooker on low in the morning and enjoys for dinner in evening!
b. We made meatloaf and froze in the gallon size Ziploc. Michelle put in her slow cooker at 7:30am on low and at 5:30pm, I lifted out with a slotted spatula to serving dish (lots of grease, drippings in the bottom). So good! 4 of us had dinner and there were 3 pieces left for Josh's lunch the next day. Recipe is here - Michelle added the sauce to top of loaf in the morning.
c. We made pot roast and veggies and froze in the gallon size Ziploc. The onion soup mix provides a great seasoning. Be sure and mix with hot water before pouring into Ziploc. Make sure liquid covers potatoes so they won't brown in the freezer. My crock pot recipe book says to layer your veggies under the meat when cooking. I don't think 8+ hours in the crock pot will be a problem.
3. Use a blank calendar grid on your frig to know what meal you're having on what day. Both Jaclyn and Michelle have found this helpful in organizing the week/month ahead. It helps to know what sides/veggies are needed at the grocery store as well as what needs to be put in the frig to thaw on what day.
You can do this too!!
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