This weekend was a big cooking weekend. My husband brings his lunch to work everyday and he had run out of things to take. We took out 10 pounds of ground beef we had in the freezer. Before lunch on Sunday I made: shepherds pie, spaghetti meat sauce and chili.
It really was quick work, chopped onions and garlic once, browned meat for chili and meat sauce all at once. The three meals were made in an hour. Then later in the afternoon my husband made sweet and sour meatballs. All in all he ended up with 18 meals to take to work. From the meat sauce I can make two lasagnas later on and that makes additional meals as well.
This coming weekend I am making Thanksgiving dinner all over again. It’s a favorite meal of his and a 13 pound turkey makes a lot of meals for him. I think he should be OK for a while. There will also be leftover from meals cooked during the week for him to take to work and not have to feel like he is eating the same two things over and over.
My husband even takes his own sodas to work. Ever since I found out he was paying 65 cents every day to the vending machine, I make sure he keeps a 12 pack in his office. Now I really don’t have to worry about this category being a budget buster for us and I don’t have to worry about him eating frozen prepackaged meals full of sodium.
Hi! I am Mercedes and this is my blog Common Sense with Money! Helping other people live better, spend less, and save more is something I am very passionate about. I combine simple frugal living tips and smart shopping techniques to help moms across the U.S. become better home economists. Thank you for visiting my blog.
I have been doing the same thing, except I made black bean burritos and 15 bean cajun soup in bulk. Of course I can’t do those 2 things over and over again and your ideas give me some other good options. thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
In addition to lasagna, we have also frozen manicotti, like I said turkey, roasted chicken too.
I have everything to make your burritos. I am wondering how they would turn out if I add some chicken to them.
Mercedes,
Before I start this long comment, I have to say I love your name. I always think of the Count of Monte Cristo . . .
Anyway, I've never left a comment on your blog before – but I read it EVERYDAY . . . ok – ok . . . SEVERAL times a day! I really enjoy it . . . .
On to my question, what source do you use for your recipes? Do you get items from your stockpile to plan your meals with? Is there a website you use to come up with ideas?
This is something I have struggled with the most since stockpiling. It seems my creativity in meals has . . . hmmm . . plummeted! Before I was "couponing", I would plan out my meals and then shop based on that plan. Now – I'm kind of at a loss!
Can you offer any help?
Also, (I know . . I'm so sorry this comment is soo long) I saw on your profile that you homeschool. I do as well – what are your children's ages? I've got a 12, 10, 6, 4, & 2 . . . . . which makes of some . . hmmmm. . .interesting days!
Thanks so much for the time you put into this blog! I certainly benefit from it.
One more thing (I PROMISE) – I read your guest post on price comparison between warehouse/clubs and drugstores – excellent!
Hi RuthAnne,
First, thank you so much for reading my blog and for the kind comment.
Regarding your menu planning dilemma, have you tried All Recipes. I use this a lot when I have a lot of ingredients and don’t know what I can put together with them. It’s a great way to make sure you use everything you have in your pantry too. If you go to advanced search you can see that you can search by ingredients. I suggest you search by one main ingredient and would would be a secondary one. I actually have a lot of sources for inspiration regarding my recipes what I lack is the motivation to cook *blush*. Besides All recipes I also use the Food Network’s website, Food and wine Magazine website. Recently I came across the blog “A Year of Crockpotting” check it out she is using her crockpot everyday for a year. I am trying to get into crockpotting but I haven’t done it yet. To be honest the food doesn’t come out looking great and that’s a hang up for me for some reason.
I am very interested in homeschooling. I have a three year old and a 9 month old. I am working with my three year old on letters. We are working with hooked on phonics for preschoolers. I am also trying to teach him Spanish. We were doing really well until he was about two years and then I dropped it. SO I am trying to pick it up with him. He understand very well but won’t speak it back.
I am happy to hear you find my blog entries helpful. Blogging take some time and my kids drain my brain almost everyday. I have a couple of more entries I am working on and then I am thinking on doing a series of posts. So keep visiting, I have more stuff coming!
Ruthann –
I have found some really great recipes on recipe swaps that I participate in on a number of blogs that I read regularly. Its a great way to get some tried and true recipes.
I still menu plan even now that I stockpile. It is harder, but I tend to only stockpile the everyday ingredients that will work in a number of recipes. Then, I buy the fresh vegetables that are in season or a featured item on sale and combine it with my stockpile to make our family favorites. The real challenge is when I get in a got to clean out the pantry and freezer mode because I am concerned that the items I stockpiled are getting old. That requires a lot of creativity to use up the “extra” stuff together.
That is when I use All Recipes, like Mercedes mentions. I like the ingredient search feature on All Recipes. Enter the what to include and voila! recipes are found.
I will have to check out A Year of Crockpotting. I love my crockpot. I make a lot of different things in it, haven’t been gutsy enough to try dessert – I hear there are some great cake recipes.
Your husband might enjoy taco soup. It is super easy to make and freezes well. I’m planning to post my recipe for a recipe swap. Check it out!
I love the idea of batch cooking! Do you do it a lot? I’ve tried to do a few freezer meals here and there but have never committed to anything. I need to try to be better now that I’m reading this!!