freezer meals

i mentioned a few posts back that i was attempting freezer meals. well, i had an email asking me what i did and how i was liking it, so i decided to do an updated post about my experience instead of just replying to the email.

let me say, i've LOVED this, even though we haven't eaten many of the meals in the freezer, i'm already a huge fan. i love knowing i have several meals to choose from and all i have to do is to thaw (some of them) the night before. i feel like it takes off some of the pressure since i don't usually get home until 4:30 or 5 and john is usually starving by 5:30-6 because he rarely eats lunch or breakfast.

-my first task was to seek out some recipes. i searched google for blogs that had freezer meals. i wanted to make things that i knew were good frozen and i figured if someone else had done it and blogged about it, it must be okay. i also have a few friends who are on my bloglist that had some great recipes, so i was able to get some from people i know!

-after that i made a list of all the ingredients i needed. i made sure to check the pantry so i didn't buy extra things. i also picked meals that took some of the same ingredients to minimize waste and to save time.

-next, i made a list of easy prep things that i needed to do. i got these things around ahead of time (the day before) so it wouldn't be so much work on the day i threw it all together. this included things like thawing meat, cheese, cutting up things, etc.

the first meal i did was Freezer Friendly Marinated Chicken . we haven't tried this yet, but i made two meals of it. all i have to do is throw it in the crockpot and make instant rice and a vegetable to go with it. we love chicken but get tired of having it the same ol' way, so i'm hoping this proves to be very tasty when we try it! and talk about SIMPLE! this is my kind of cooking! :)

this next one i attempted is my favorite so far! who would have thought Brown Bag Burritos would be tasty? we ate some of these fresh and i've also eaten some from the freezer. with this recipe i was able to make 21 burritos. this can be a quick and easy lunch or it can be fancied up with all the trimmings for dinner. just a little tip if you try this...don't fill the burrito too full. i did on a few of them which caused the shell to rip and then it stuck to the paper towel. it was still edible, but made it much more messy when heating them up from the freezer!

Chicken Caesar Casserole was another favorite. i doubled this recipe and stuck one in the fridge for us to eat that week and also froze one. this was a hit with my parents and hubby. seriously delicious!

the last meal i prepared was Stuffed Shells (there are some other recipes within this post so be sure to take a look at all of them!). i also doubled this recipe and we had one fresh and then i put one in the freezer. john wasn't a huge fan of this meal. i think it's because when i told him we were having stuffed shells he thought we were having the stuffed shells i usually make with stuffing and chicken. i however, thought they were tasty!

overall, i think my first experience with making freezer meals was successful. it definitely has saved me time and it has been fun trying new things. i'm not a huge fan of cooking but for some reason i actually enjoyed doing this. i have some other recipes that i want to try but haven't yet. when i do, i'll be sure to share those as well. if you have any meals that work well in the freezer pass them along!

(i've been up since two and it's now five...so if any of this doesn't make sense that's why!)