Sunday, October 4, 2009

Freezer Meals

The last month or so has been a month of preserving. I kind of feel like a chipmunk storing for the long winter to come. I have canned salsa, marinara sauce, peaches, jams, I froze tomatoes ( to exhausted to use them). On Saturday I got together with Chalet and we did freezer meals. This idea is genius. We decided to start small because we had no idea what we were in for. We each chose 4 meals. We didn't really double anything because we both feed ourselves and our husbands so we figured if we split each recipe that would be enough for 4 people. Chalet's choices were: baked spaghetti, cream cheese chicken, meatloaf, and she prepared chicken tortillas soup the night before. My meals were: cheesy spaghetti bake, traditional lasagna, chicken pot pie, beef enchiladas. We also cooked ground beef in onions so we would have some on hand. I went to Chalet's at 8:15 am and walked out by 12:30. Huge success and we had a great time. We each went home with about 12 meals because we froze the enchiladas on a cookie sheet with no sauce then put them in freezer bags and froze the sauce separately, then we will take how many enchiladas we want and put the sauce on top and done. The chicken pot pie made a lot of filling so we each go an extra filling, just add crust. When I cook meals at home I have been cooking only half of the recipe and putting the other half in the freezer. Most meals are designed for 4-6 servings and Chris dislikes leftovers so this works great. We will do this again.