Freezing Day

I used the frozen chicken and salsa (that I cooked, chopped and froze) the other day to make enchiladas and not only did they taste great, but it took me about 15 minutes to put the whole meal together. It normally takes me about 45 of stop and start preparation so I was really happy to save some time. Plus, I only had to wash a few bowls so clean up was super easy.

I decided to make a few more frozen dinners and see how they turn out before I start making it a regular thing. I made spaghetti sauce, marinara sauce and meatballs. I also thawed a bag of salsa and chicken and made Mexican Casserole for dinner that night.

In one nap time (3.5 hours ... thank you, Devon!) I made 4 meals. It was sort of a production and it took the entire 3.5 hours (with cooking and clean up), but that's 3.5 hours that won't take away from spending time with my kids or with Joe.

This past Saturday I was too tired to go to the store and get food to cook. I pulled out the meatballs and marinara sauce and voila! ... dinner. And I only had to use 2 pots. One for the sauce and one to cook the pasta. It was so awesome. I always make sure to lable what's inside, the date, the oven temp I cook it at and cooking time. I also found that laying things as flat as possible when you freeze them makes thawing time shorter.

When I made the marinara sauce I made it very basic. I just used salt and pepper, 1 large can of tomatoes, 1 can of sauce, 1 can of paste, 1 onion and some garlic then I froze it. Once I got the sauce thawed out I added fresh tomatoes from the garden as well as some fresh basil and oregano. I let the meatballs thaw enough to be broken up, but added them to the sauce cold and let them simmer until they were cooked through. It was so good! For the meatballs I did 2 lbs. ground beef, 1 lb. ground turkey, some parsley, salt and pepper, 1/2 C. Parmesan cheese and 2 eggs. I made the meatballs very small so they would thaw easily and they would be more appealing to Devon.

I don't know why more Moms don't freeze food for dinner. I am all about fresh food and I still cook fresh meals 95% of the time. However, at this stage of my life I am all about doing things that can make my day-to-day life a little easier and freezing a meal (or part of a meal) here and there has really helped me. I went to Costco yesterday and got a huge tray of pork chops. Going to try out a new recipe for them tonight and freeze the rest for another day!