The Lord of My Freezer Cooking

If you had asked me on Sunday when I was planning my week if I’d be cooking huge amounts of food in bulk this week the answer would have been a resounding, “No!”, but God…

The other day I took a little time to visit one of my favorite blogs, Money Saving Mom. I love this girl and I’m over the top excited that we will both be speaking at the same event in late 2010! She mentioned that she was bulk cooking this week and as I perused her recipes, I got an idea that domestically-challenged people almost never get- I should cook in bulk too. At first I thought it was a wild hair thought so I waited to see if it would go away. It didn’t, which is a miracle in and of itself.

Before I share what I cooked yesterday and what I’ll be cooking today, I have to share how God blessed me, even in my ignorance, since I had no idea how much this would cost or how to organize and pull it off on such short notice. I gathered a few recipes on Tuesday and waited to see what the sales would be in the new store flyers on Wednesday. What are the odds that ground chuck and chicken would both be on deep discount in the same week? But it happened. The very first store I went to had numerous packs of chicken that needed to be sold that day on even deeper discount. That worked for me since I was going to cook it all that day anyway. I got nearly $100 in chicken for about $30.

Normally, a task like this would wipe me out physically. But lately God has done a wonderful miracle and I’m actually sleeping full nights of sleep night after night! (Thanks for the prayers!) I didn’t start cooking until 3:45 in the afternoon, yet I was able to cook enormous amounts of food in only a few hours. Only God! Plus, I wasn’t wiped out. I even stayed up late after cooking and got up early this morning. Today my daughter will help me do some more.


And did I mention that I got multiple Pyrex pans on deep discount at the Corelle outlet this summer, perfect for bulk cooking? And I didn’t blow my budget? And that I watched at least four Hallmark movies while cooking? Or that I will now be able to enjoy the Christmas season without a moment of wondering what’s for dinner? Priceless!

Okay, so what did I make or am going to make? An * means it’s already done.

Freezer meals
3- Farmhouse chicken*
3- Chicken tetrazzini*
2- Parmesan chicken*
2- Broccoli chicken casserole*
1- Quesedilla chicken meat*
1- Shredded chicken for wraps
3- lasagna*
2- enchiladas
2- Shepherd’s pie mix
2- ham and cheese quiche
5- individual hamburgers
1- hamburger steaks (4 pack)
1- chili meat
1- meat for hamburger vegetable soup
4- individual spinach rice casserole*
2- cooked rice*
1- cinnamon apples
3- dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
2- dozen sausage balls

Planned crockpot meals
Chili
Beef stew
Hamburger vegetable soup
Beef and barley soup

Other meals
Pork tenderloin
Cubed steak
Salmon
2- flounder
Homemade mac and cheese
2-homemade pizza
Pinto beans and ham
White chicken chili

Plus I got lots of fresh veggies and fruit, also on sale.

I’m stoked! Oddly, this really put me in the Christmas spirit. The meals are taken care of and now I can focus on celebrating!