At one point, I even went out and bought one of those FoodSaver machines to stop the waste. Yes, it is wonderful for preserving food in the freezer and preventing freezer burn, but if you don't use that food, it's still not truly helping. I mean the food isn't going bad but it still wasn't being used. The FoodSaver is great for things besides meat. As with Ziplocs or anything else that goes in the freezer, label and date everything!
I was off work between Christmas and New Year's and really put a lot of thought into how I was going to fix things. I bounced a lot of ideas off of my husband. I did a lot of Pinterest-ing. I came to the conclusion that I really couldn't do anything until I knew what I had. Do you dread going to dig in the upright deep freezers because you know if you touch something, it's all gonna fall out on your feet? No? Just me? I put on good shoes and went in....
I just started with the big freezer because I knew the little one was where I put the "overflow" and knew it was the newest stuff. I did not do a full clean out but I did toss some things as I came across those items that had dates I didn't like. I did have a package of ham hocks land on my foot but the turkey breast missed me! Ha! I ended up tossing a couple of kitchen trash bags worth of more wasted food. I can assure you, that is going to stop!
I did a quick run down on what meat was in there and then made a list of some meals that I know we like, that in all honesty is what part of that meat was bought for. I looked over the things I'd pinned on Pinterest and made a list.
Side note, I love a good list! Here is the list of meals I came up with:
Yes, I'm old school to a point....paper and pencil lists! What you see crossed off is what we have used to date. I figured out what i needed to complete the meals and went to the grocery for pretty much dairy and produce and a few canned goods. Oh, and I made sure that I had plenty of FoodSaver bags.
Every Sunday, I make a menu...having the food prep done will definitely help us stick to it. Here is this weeks:
The Meatloaf isn't really a recipe, it's just something I make. I used 2 pounds of 80/20 ground beef and 1 pound of ground pork, not sausage just pork. With that, I add a diced onion, a little garlic, 4 slices potato bread (we use Aunt Millie's 35 calorie potato bread around here so that's what goes in this) torn into little pieces and soaked in about 1/2 cup give or take of milk, 2 eggs, about 6 strips off uncooked bacon cut into little pieces (use scissors, it's easier) and some tomato sauce, about half a can. Of course there is salt and pepper and some paprika. I used the other half can of tomato sauce to mix with brown sugar and salt and put on top of the meatloaf. This made two meatloaves. I liked the meatloaf pans with cling wrap and put half the meatloaf in each pan and put them in the freezer. Once they were frozen, I lifted them out of the pan with the Cling wrap and then wrapped the cling wrap around it and then two layers of aluminum foil. Back to the freezer until ready to use. When you take the wrap off it just drops back into the pan to cook it. Bake it for about an hour at 350 or until a thermometer is at 165 degrees.
The French Dip sandwiches are made with some shaved beef I bought at Kroger, it fries up really quickly, like a cheese steak meat. I toast Ciabatta buns in the broiler. I put the meat on the bread with provolone on top and back in the broiler to warm the cheese. Make a packet of au jus and you have a meal in like 15-20 minutes. We made french fries in the air fryer and I'd made up a batch of Coleslaw on Sunday for two meals this week.
Gotta be honest, the Chicken Tortilla soup was bought at Sam's for a night that we needed quick...I just tossed it in the freezer so I set it out the night before and it warms up by the time you have grilled cheese made.
The Honey Garlic Chicken was shared by a friend, it's so easy. The marinade is 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 clove minced garlic and 2 tablespoons water for every 1/2 pound of chicken. Mix the marinade right in the Ziploc (FoodSaver bags aren't for liquid unless you freeze it first and then it won't lay flat) then put in the chicken. Get as much air as you can out of it and seal it lay it flat in the freezer. This allows you to stack them and it thaws quicker if it's flat. Move from freezer to fridge the night before and bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.
The taco meat I made, I added some veggies in it to add some health benefits to it. I used the frozen mix of carrots, onions and celery...not a lot but every bit helps. I also add black beans to it. When I made it, I doubled the batch and divided in FoodSaver bags.
Finally, the slow cooker cheese chicken spaghetti is an experiment. It sounds good and I hope we like it, but it's one of those that make you go hmmmm....Here's the recipe:
16 ounces spaghetti-cooked
1 pound Velvetta Light cheese
2 cups cooked chopped chicken
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 4 ounce cans mild green chilies
1 cup mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup water
1 small onion diced
Combine all in a gallon Ziploc bag, seal, flatten (as you can, it's a lot in that bag) and freeze. When ready to use, thaw for 24 hours then pour in a crock pot for 2-3 hours. Stir before serving.
Now, I didn't use cream of soups....I made a white sauce (equal parts butter & flour and instead of milk, I used chicken broth) it's healthier.
There is week one of the menu. I worked about 5 hours on Sunday to put together 29 meals that should not take long to make on a week night.
This is longer than I expected but I wanted to at least share where I started. I'm going to be as brutally honest as I can in reclaiming our home and diet! This whole journey of balancing working these particular full-time hours, eating decent meals, and trying to keep my house somewhat decent is going to be a process. Let's hope this makes it not so painful! Thank you for reading!
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