Freezer Meal Night

Last night we made a lot of dinners--about 130 to be exact. It was a organized crazy production. We made Maui chicken, Candied Chicken, Heavenly Chicken, Orange Chicken, Crab-filled crescent rolls, Pasta Fagioli, Pumpkin Pie Cake, Mexican Lasagna, Pineapple and Tomatillo Pork, Chicken Tetrazzini, Twice-baked potatoes, and Breakfast Burritos.

The results from 3-4 hours of food preparation: you don't have to cook dinner for 2 weeks the next month--or longer, depending on how many of each item ordered and how much your family eats. Some have said that you save an hour of time for every meal you have in the freezer that you can just throw in the oven. Frankly--making a meal takes a lot of time and it's not always time that we have set aside without anything else to do. We throw things together that sometimes make the kids go "hmmmm...." (or the adults :) or get something to eat on the run. Freezer meals save a lot of time and money.

Why I Love Freezer Meals:

Ready-made meals give us an hour of "free-er" time during the meal times. If we have places to be, dinner and it's preparation doesn't conflict with where we need to be. If you take a casserole out in the morning to thaw, it's ready to go in the oven when the kids get home and the running around starts. I especially love things that I can pour into a crock pot and let cook all day. My house smells like Super Mom's--like I've been prepping gourmet meals all day. When in reality, I probably hadn't even stepped into the kitchen since breakfast, unless it was to grab a can of sweet nectar from the fridge.

Money. Coming from the "coupon queen" perspective: most food is bought between the hours of 3 and 6pm. People are on their ways home from work, school and other activities. The price for dinner becomes irrelevant in comparison to the time crunch. Just a few trips like that every other day or so will put you in a financial crisis. With a ready-made meal at home waiting, the guess-work is taken out of what's for dinner and why you have to stop and deal with hundreds of other cranky, hungry people at the grocery store. Think of the $30 you'll save 2-3 times a week that you shelled out because you were hungry and in a quandary as to the main meal of the day.

I'm sure I could say more about the greatness of freezer meals...but another time, another menu will come.