Food Prep

Made the video, just gotta get it uploaded.

Since that generally takes forever I thought I'd post about something else.

Freezer cooking. Who all does it? I don't personally know anyone that does it, but I hear of a lot of ladies online who do it regularly.

I had hoped to be moved in early enough to fill my deep freezer with loads of food, but alas, that was not to be. However, I think I can squeeze in some cooking ahead. I'll have Friday and Saturday to work on it and I think this is what I'll do.

Instead of making casseroles and soups and such, I'm going to just cook up the meat etc. and freeze it in smaller portions. Tomorrow I am visiting Sam's Club and will buy some pre-made casseroles as well as several other things in bulk. I could buy several whole chickens, put them in pots and boil them, take off all the meat and freeze it, then freeze the broth. I could get a big package of ground beef and cook it to have ready for meals.

This seems manageable. If possible I want to cook a few packages of rice and beans to freeze, make some quick breads/pizza dough to freeze too. If it doesn't happen, oh well, we'll work it out. I was blessed in that the last two babies I received meals from kind people in my MOPS groups and church. There hasn't been a lot of support this time around, so I ain't counting on nothing from anyone else. I need to do something though, because a c-section recovery is so much harder and so much will be happening. I don't want us living off of junk.

So, I am planning to freeze:
meat from 3 chickens
at least 5lbs of ground meat, cooked and seasoned
2lbs of beans, soaked, cooked and frozen
2lbs of brown rice ,cooked
4 loaves of quick bread (banana and pumpkin)
biscuit mix-homemade whole wheat
storebought bread to freeze-3 loaves
storebought tortillas to freeze
cheese for the freezer

What I plan to buy:(frozen)
pizza
lasagna
meatballs
waffles
veggies
chicken breasts

For the pantry, I will buy in bulk things like detergent, paper plates, canned items, some breakfast items, diapers...whatever

I think I can do it...I still don't have a stovetop, so I will have to do the meat at my mom's house. I can do the beans and rice in a crockpot I guess, we'll see. After a few days, it feels weird to me to not cook, so I may get in there and cook after the baby. However, I have no idea how it's going to be with 4 kids- my priorities will be a lot different. While I don't want us eating junk food all the time, I do have limitations :)