My January cooking day is completed! Yesterday my hubby was awesome (it's a theme of his) and watched Squishy for me so that I could cook away.
Here's how it went yesterday:
First, I started off by beginning the butterhorn rolls (since they have to rise and all). Then I browned 3 lbs of ground beef on the stovetop.
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| Ready to tackle the day, with my butterhorn dough rising |
Next I washed dishes and worked on some Coconut Curry Chicken Soup (I will post my version of this in the future). Then I assembled the Chicken Cacciatore and the Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. For both of those recipes, I simply assemble the raw meat in freezer bags with sauce ingredients. Easy peasy! I'll toss them in the crockpot on the day we want to eat them. :)
I flash froze the butterhorn rolls (uncooked) and whipped up a super huge batch of pizza dough (enough for 6 medium pizzas). And then I called it a day. I didn't make it to the quiche and ran out of chicken for the chicken stir-fry (ooops!). But it's ok, 'cause there's not much room left in my freezer! I am going to attempt the quiche today and see if I can squeeze it in. :D
Here's the end result:
That's 16 meals, along with 2 big bags of butterhorn rolls and 3 lbs of ground beef for spaghetti sauce. Whoo-hooo! I have 3 meals leftover in my freezer from last month, so that means I have 19 nearly-completed meals in my freezer. Suuuu-weeeeet.
The groceries for this freezer cooking day (including our produce for this week) cost me $123, which is very close to last month's cost. And surprisingly, even though I thought the rest of the budget wouldn't stretch to cover the month, we actually had money left over in our grocery category at the end. Hurrah! We'll see how it goes this month. I'm hoping to revamp on my couponing skills. :D
Once again, here's proof that if I can do freezer cooking in my pea-sized kitchen with my tiny freezer, then anyone can!!!
Linked to Tackle It Tuesday.
Whoop! Whoop! That is SO impressive girl!!! I am in awe of you - cooking like that in your tiny kitchen.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day I'll gather up the courage to organize a small list, get someone to watch Susannah, and do a freezer-cooking day, too :)
ReplyDeleteOkay.. love the ideas. i'm following you on the tackle tuesday... will you please follow me back. I can't believe you are done with January meals. I'm going to love your blog posts.
ReplyDeletelaura following from http://imnotatrophywife.blogspot.com
Wow, hard working mom! Great to see you are saving money too. The food looks great. Are butterhorn rolls bread? I made a two week menuplan yesterday, maybe some day I will work out a monthly plan after all... Love and have nice meals, Amelie
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I love your pics and your taste in food. Yum!
ReplyDeleteMiriam, I have done freezer cooking during nap-time, too! Last month Andrew wasn't around to watch our little one because of school.
ReplyDeleteAmelie, yes, the butterhorn rolls are a bread! And they are super yummy! Good for you on your two-week plan, too. Don't get me wrong, I loved having a one week plan (definitely better than no plan), I have just found that the monthly plan saves me even MORE time. :)
Awesome awesome job!!!! You did so great! I still am not brave enough to attempt this, but it wouldn't matter much now b/c my freezer is PACKED SOLID with frozen veggies, bread, and meat/chicken. *sigh* Someday! Until then, I'll jsut admire your efforts from afar! I can smell it from here!
ReplyDeleteAlicia-I have a question. I am a huge pillsbury biscuit lover, but I am thinking of doing these. Do you freeze the dough and then defrost and shape? Or do you make the shapes, and then freeze? OR, do you recommend baking the whole damn bunch of them and freezing them after they are baked? I have never frozen bread DOUGH before and am a little wary. Any advice?
ReplyDeleteAmmie, you let the dough rise, then you cut out the rolls and shape them. Then you freeze them on a cookie tray. After they are hardened, you can put them in a freezer bag.
ReplyDeleteOn the day you want to eat them, pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw for around 5 hours or until doubled in size (they will rise as they thaw). Then bake at 357 for 8-10 minutes and eat! So yum. Click on the recipe link to see all of Money Saving Mom's pictures--it's her recipe!
I'd love to know how it turns out for you if you decide to try them out!
Hey Alicia! Thanks for the specifics! I went to her link, but she doesn't give those details about freezing/thawing. At least not that I found, unless I missed something.
ReplyDeleteDo they taste at all like crescent rolls or more like white bread? Thanks for your help, mama! I'll definitely let you know how it goes if I make them. I"m also exploring my Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book I rented from the library. I just watched a few video demos and they refrigerate the dough in the demo, they don't freeze it.So i'm curious how this will work with dough!
These are more like white bread...only I add 1/3 wheat flour (really good!).
ReplyDeleteI'm dying to try that Artisan Bread book! Never thought to check for it at the library. *duh*
Way to go!
ReplyDeleteYou are a rock star mommy!!! Great job and everything looks so delicious!
ReplyDeleteTHAT is inspiring!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap! That's amazing!! I can't even cook a week's worth of meals. I hate your awesomeness, and am going to follow you and try to cook better. That's even one of my New Years Resolutions!
ReplyDeleteZelma's Workshop
http://zelmasworkshop.com
Wow, you did a great job! I hope my freezer cooking day goes as well for me on the 10th.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great to know you can make a meal super quick, any time you want from your freezer? My freezer cooking stash has saved me many, many trips through the drive thru.
ReplyDelete