Freezer meals

When Candace and I aren't dreaming of summer time and how we plan to spend every single day at the water park... bouncing calls off of each other and griping that flu season is too long this year... or sharing funny stories about our babies...
We are talking about this day.
The day that we would cook all day and freeze our meals to simplify our life!

We have hunted recipes on Pinterest...
And shopped for our freezer gear...
but today, we put our plan into action and I came away with 20 ready-to-go meals.

I will do my best to share the recipes, but I will let you know right now--
It isn't healthy...
It isn't divine eating...
And if you are afraid of cream-of-whatever soups, exit now.

What it is, however, is a way to help me simplify and keep us from eating out when I don't want to cook!

I should also add that we are not big eaters in this house...
and we also are not left-over eaters...
so recipes that would normally make a 9X12, filled 2 8X8 and turned into 2 meals for us.
Which is how I reached the grand total of 20.

Here goes...
Let the fun begin!

We each came prepared with cooked chicken.
I cooked thighs in the crockpot over night, sprinkled with seasoning, topped with chopped celery, onion and capers.  And a stick of butter, like Paula Deen, y'all.
The entire package was like $4.

Candace cooked her first whole chicken in the oven, which quite frankly sicked us all out.
And I think she said he cost her about $7.
Both gave us what we needed... shredded chicken, both tasty.

First I made lasagna.
Mixed the ricotta, with an egg and Italian seasoning.
Layered between oven-ready noodles (not cooked), spaghetti sauce and Italian cheese blends and topped with Mozzarella.  (you can layer baby spinach, which I planned on doing... but forgot)
Meal 1 and 2; complete.

Similarly, Candace's first 2 meals were also a pasta.
However, she is trying to manage one of her baby's ADHD with dietary changes and has cut most all gluten, dye and preservatives from their diet.
This is ground beef (cooked), spaghetti sauce, Italian cheese blend and Quinoa noodles mixed and topped with more cheese.

Next, we each made chicken spaghetti.
I believe she used rice noodles in her's and she found dye free/ gluten free cream of's too...
I added Velveeta to mine but she had to omit it because of the dye.
And I tried the veggie noodles, which were actually really good.
Meal 3 and 4; complete.

I used the big cans of cream of's so that I could make 2 portions of king ranch casserole as well.

Same mixture used in chicken spaghetti above (cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, Rotel, shredded chicken from my slow-cooked thighs, chicken broth and Velveeta) but this time layered it with tortilla chips and shredded Mexican blend cheese.
Not too inventive...
but meal 5 and 6; complete.

Candace had great intentions on making twice baked potatoes...
except she forgot about them and they were left in my oven!

We each made our own batch of tortilla soup.
Mine has the shredded chicken, sauteed onions, minced garlic and bell peppers, frozen corn, frozen carrots, rotel, diced tomatoes, chopped zucchini, chopped yellow squash, chicken broth, ground cumin, cilantro and chicken bullion.

I believe Candace's was similar, keep the corn-- cut the cilantro and other veggies.

The soup was split into 4 containers, which we will call meal 7, 8, 9 and 10...
but if you know me and tortilla soup; this will only probably make 2 meals.

Candace nor I, either one, will eat hamburger meat-- however we don't mind feeding it to our crews.
This is just your good 'ol sloppy Joe, divided and froze for another quick dinner.
Meal 11, and 12.

We each made 2 loaves of meat... aka meat loaf.
I didn't get a picture of this, so we will pretend that's what Candace is whipping up there above.
I just used the can pre-made jazz, egg and oats-- but Candace used Paula Deen's homemade recipe.
1 lb of HB meat, split, made meal 13 and 14, complete.

2 thighs shredded, a bag of the frozen, chunky stew vegetables, a small can of cream of chicken and a small can of cream of mushroom soup, a little garlic salt and the rest of the jazz that was sitting beneath the chicken (broth, onions, capers, and celery) were all stuffed into a set of pie crusts.
Two pot pies...
Meal 15 and 16; ready.

We each made one large pan of cheese enchiladas... (only because we were out of the little pans.)
This is just a large can of mild enchilada sauce mixed with a small can of cream of mushroom, poured over rolled corn tortillas and stuffed with shredded cheese and topped with more cheese on top.
Meal 17.

Finally, I had bought a pack of 6 large chicken breasts.
I bagged them up, 2 per sack
One, I added teriyaki sauce and sliced pineapple.
Another, a packet of fajita seasoning and sliced peppers.
And the third, BBQ sauce.

Completing today's meals, 18, 19, and 20.

Well, actually 21, if you count the last bit of pork leftover from last weekend's pulled pork tacos and last night's nachos.

This little $3 pork roast turns into 3 meals for us.
Season salt, a little rub, a lot of minced garlic and a stick of butter in the crock pot, start it off.
Eaten shredded on tacos make meal one.
I freeze the remains in baggies and we usually eat it on buns with BBQ sauce to make meal two.
And for the little bit left over, we layer refried beans, Velveeta, the pork, and shredded cheese.
While that's baking, I saute up a little onions and top it off with cilantro.

And that's all for this round.
not too shabby for our first go at it...
and the chicken spaghetti was fabuloso, we had it tonight with a side of steamed broccoli.
The boys liked it, both Lance and I had seconds, and there's still a little serving left over for Toby dog.

I think our portions were perfect!
And I certainly had a blast with one of my favorite chicks...

Can't wait until our next go!