Impromptu Freezer Cooking

I love the idea of Once A Month Cooking, where you cook once (one day) and have meals for the entire month in your freezer. We have a deep freezer which we bought a few years back so we have the capability but I've never wanted to pony up that kind of money or time commitment. Plus I think it would be more fun to do with a friend anyway. I did some back when I was pregnant and trying to get ready for the baby but haven't planned and big hauls in a while. Today I got some motivation, which is hard for me to come by these days, and decided to do a little impromptu freezer cooking. So I grabbed some frozen meat and a few other things and went to town.

Utilizing multiple burners at once to save some electricity. Things were going smoothly but I realized it was taking quite a while to defrost the burger. Then little perfect Lincoln woke up from his nap right in the middle of everything so that slowed me down to half speed but I still got a lot done.

The makings of a big pile of Mexican Filling which include ground beef (about 2 lbs.) onion, bell peppers (which I had previously chopped and frozen when they were on sale) many a seasonings, can of chopped tomatoes in juice and chopped carrots. Love my food processor for things like that. Filling can be put into casseroles, tacos, nachos, chili, enchiladas, etc.

So with three pounds of ground beef, some leftover shredded chicken, two cups of rice and a few other things I managed to pull together 8 different meals.

Chicken Pasta Bake
Teriyaki Marinated Chicken
Teriyaki Marinated Beef
Dirty Rice
3 Bags of Mexican Filling
Meatloaf - not my special recipe but just a quick substitute
3 Servings of Rice - Planned to use with enchiladas, rainbow rice, and stir fry

This is what happens when you try to pacify a baby while finishing up the cooking process. Carrots everywhere!

The devastation

Big front teeth, a few more trying to make their way out

Deep in thought

Move Quick!

Just before he grabbed the camera with those nasty carrot hands. Luckily it was easy to clean and I got the kitchen back in shape. We are eating the chicken pasta bake tonight with some crusty bread and salad. I used two different types of noodles since both boxes were almost out so hopefully no one notices. Summer is right around the corner and it's nice to know I've got some dinners started in the freezer when our routine gets thrown out the window.

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