YOU In Bloom (Week Two, Day One)
This Hip2Save.com Deal was hand-posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 11:39 am.
Candid Kitchen – Week Two
Guest Post by Angela from The Coupon Project:
By popular demand….
Freezer batch cooking made easy: “swap” your meals!
Many people are interested in batch freezer meal preparation. After all, it can be a great time saver and money saver! Several months ago, some friends of mine started a monthly “freezer meal swap” event. This has been a perfect way for me to fill my freezer with a variety of meals for minimal cost and fuss. Being able to do this once per month has freed up considerable time in the kitchen – and ensures my family enjoys home-cooked meals.
For this month’s event, 8 of us participated. We each chose one recipe to prepare in 8 batches. This meant I only had to worry about getting the ingredients needed for that one recipe! I chose a Mango-Cranberry Chicken. One of the reasons I selected this recipe was because I already had a fair chunk of the ingredients on hand in my pantry (hooray for stockpiling)!
Here’s what I bought:
$40 worth of chicken breast (about 16 pounds)
$10 worth of mango ginger chutney (from Trader Joe’s)
$3 worth of dried fruit (bought from bins at Winco)
Total: $53
About an hour later, I had my 8 meals prepped and ready to go! All I needed to do was chop up the chicken and prepare the sauce. I simply put them in labeled, freezer storage bags.
Later that evening, everyone arrived at my friend Kellie’s house to swap their meals. She’d set up some tables to make this easier. Then, we simply made sure to leave with 8 meals total. She also turned this into a fun event - which I encourage you to do, too! She made coffee and had refreshments and we later played “guess how much Kellie paid for this item with coupons” and then she gave away the item to the closest guesser.
Wondering what I went home with? Honey Glazed Chicken, Chicken Fajitas, Ginger Beef, Molasses Rum Chicken, Basil Balsamic Chops, Chicken Parmesan, Sweet Asian Chicken, and of course the meal I prepared. Nary a casserole in sight! Since we’ve been doing this awhile, we’ve decided to stick to one core freezer meal book for our recipes – Fix, Freeze, Feast. Everyone shares their feedback so we can make sure that everyone is happy with the recipes they receive.
All told I spent $53 for 8 meals, which works out to $6.62 per meal. What’s more, I didn’t spend hours at the store or hours slaving over a hot stove. And you might even say – I had fun!
The final step you’ll want to do is make sure you know what’s in your freezer! Keep a list handy so you can refer to it when you’re menu planning for the week. Use the frozen meals for the bulk of your menu planning or simply keep them on hand for those nights when you’d rather not cook. Yesterday was a busy one, and it was wonderful to take those Chicken Fajitas out. Included were the tortillas, veggies, cheese, and marinated meat – everything I needed. Dinner was ready 10 minutes later. And it was DELICIOUS!
If you want to do freezer batch cooking, I hope I’ve given you some ideas for how you can do this without spending an entire day in the kitchen (or spending an enormous amount on tons of ingredients)! In addition, a freezer meal swap is a great way to connect with friends and share recipes. Give it a try!
About the Author: Angela writes The Coupon Project, a blog focused on helping you save money by using coupons and stockpiling. She’s also recently started sharing how her family has ripped up a sizeable chunk of their backyard to start an organic container garden. For more information on how you might organize a freezer meal swap of your own, read her post HERE.
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Anna says:
I love it! I am praying for a good group of 8 friends to try this out with. Maybe we can start this summer!
Erin says:
I have done this before and loved it. It is such a time saver. You might not think it is but it is nice to have on those days when you just don’t know what to do for dinner. Also, if you work it is nice for your husbands to have an option to throw in the oven/stove and have dinner done in a flash. I can’t wait to do it again.
Melissa says:
damn, i wish i had a group of friends that would do this! I’m a young wife and not many of my friends cook, its more like they live in dorms and have take out…maybe when i start teaching some teacher friends would like this..hummm..
Suzanne says:
If anyone lives in the Glen Allen/Richmond, VA area and is interested in doing this, email me @ suzyqpon@yahoo.com!
Jessica says:
Wish my freezer looked like that
Beth says:
I hear ya! Mine is an accident waiting to happen – don’t stand too close when you open the door…something is bound to fall out on your foot
Lori says:
If anyone lives in the Cincinnati area and your interested in doing this please get in contact with me.
Sarah B says:
This sounds fun. That’s a nice looking freezer too
Amber says:
Such a great idea! I’m gonne see if I can pull this off with my friends. On a side note…My freezer SO does NOT look like that – it’s packed with a jumbled mess of food that falls out half the time the door is opened
nicole says:
This made me laugh out loud because…..ME TOOO!!!
Beth says:
Me Too!
Heather W says:
Sounds like Collin needs to do a freezer makeover contest now since the drawer one is over..lol
Mine is the same as you guys’ and with my chest freezer nothing falls out, but good luck finding anything! lol
Anonymous says:
Just an fyi…..check out your local libarary as they have numerous books with freezer recipes available. I usually search online and order it since they usually have to ship it from a different library. This was I can copy the recipes that I like and return the book.
LeeAnn says:
What an awesome idea! Thanks!
Shannon says:
Do you have any that you could share?
Anonymous says:
If your libabry has a website, just search keywords “freezer” or “freezer meals” and you shoudl get some results. I just got the following form my library:
Prevention’s low-fat, low-cost freezer cookbook : quick dishes for and from the freezer by Sanders, Sharon.
Don’t panic, dinner’s in the freezer : great-tasting meals you can make ahead by Martinez, Susie.
The best freezer cookbook : 100 freezer friendly recipes, plus tips and techniques by Main, Jan.
Freezer pleasers cookbook. bu Taste of Home
but those are just examples, i found about 30 different onces that my library can order and usually only takes 3-7 days to get it
jen says:
RecipeZaar is great too. Type in OAMC and lot of recipes come up
Better yet, people have rated most.
Anonymous says:
As far as actual recipes go….
1. I made stuffed pepper (i cook the stuffing….beaf and rice but not the peppers, the shoul be raw when freezing, then i stuff then and wrap in plastic foil, then alluminum foil and freeze)
2. This weekend I got sweet italian sausage, browned, then added peppers, onions and corn. I put the lid on and cooked for a few minutes then poured spaghetti sauce and cooked unil corn was done. It is quite thick and tasty (you can add 1/2 of pepper in adobo sauce to make it more spicy) and i freeze it in container, then just thaw out and just have to cook up some rice.
3. I also make soups. I made a huge pot of lentil soup with spinach and froze in containers. then i just make a quick sandwich and dinner is served. I also freeze minestrone soup or really any other kind.
4. meatballs, i bake them first then vacuum pack (MUST HAVE for freezer meals, its’ sooo nice). then all i have to do is cook up past and open up a jar of sauce and dinner is served.
5. pork and sourkraut……my hubby love that meal. so i put a chunck of pork and 2 bad of kraut in crockpot for 8 hrs then just shred the post with a fork put some seasoning and freeze.
6. chilli- i make in crockpot and freeze
those are just a few i can think of right now
anony says:
so one persons meal incl veggies, bread, cheese, AND meat..while one person’s only incl the chicken and chutney? i would be pretty upset if i always end up making the expensive meal. in this case, im sure they work it out differently each time, but i bet in my case, i’d always end up making the meals ttht cost most and takes longest.
Dawn says:
I think those items are what she only had to buy because she already had most of her items ON HAND!!
Julie S. says:
Still, even if you CHOOSE the most expensive and longest timed item, at least you’d have 7 other meals that you don’t need to cook. It probably would be cheaper and healthier than take-out.
Maybe it’s not for you. Maybe it’s worth a TRY. That is for you to decide.
Laury Kossoff says:
You could all bring your receipts and then split the total by how many people were attending. So if there were 8 people attending and the total was $300 it would be $3750 per person. That way it won’t matter if one person brings items that cost her $20 and another person brings items that cost $65. Everyone will end up paying the same amount.
catey angel says:
AHem–can we have the recipe for Mango Cranberry Chicken, pretty please? SOunds tres yummy!! thx.
Angie says:
This does sound like fun! I am in Clovis, NM if anyone wants to do it. : )
MoKeaton says:
Clovis, NM Air Force Base? I’m not even close, but my best friend lived there for 8 years!
Angie says:
Wow, that’s a coincidence. Yep, we have been at Cannon AFB in Clovis NM for 4 years!
Latasha says:
my comment added to the bottom :-s my brother and his wife just arrived in clovis today to start their two years there.
Jane says:
I wonder if there is a vegetarian version of the frozen meal swap. I’d totally be up for that in Milw. WI
jen says:
Me too, but in NW WA
Jen D says:
I’m in Olympia, WA and totally interested in doing this…
Jessica says:
me too! (but I’m in south carolina). If anyone knows of any vegetarian frozen meal cookbooks, please let me know!
Annie says:
The concept sounds fun but I don’t think I would want 6 of 8 dishes to be chicken ….can you get some variety by planning a different protein for each meal? Also, if you socialize at the swap, do you have to keep all the frozen bags of food in the hostess’s freezer for a few hours?
nicole says:
I would think each participant could bring their own cooler maybe.
Stephanie F. says:
I started batch cooking about two years ago and really love it! I’m a full time student, full time Mom, and own a wedding photography company – between tests, school events, and meetings/weddings these frozen meals have saved our family in more than a few occasions. I just reached my one year anniversary of couponing and honestly when I used to prepare for batch cooking I would spend $300+ on a shopping trip. Now with couponing and knowing what ingredients I need I just start stockpiling the items.When it’s time to batch cook I just buy the veggies & breads and I’m set – it’s fantastic!
Teresa says:
How many servings are in a freezer bag? Is it single serving or for a family of 4.. Im sure it all can be decided umongst your friends..
Shannon says:
I really wish that I could do a swap but I doubt I can find people with a family of 8 to swap with. All in all, it is a GREAT idea so I will just make 2 batches (and freeze one) of meals at times to lighten my load at needed times.
Jo says:
Find a family of 4 and just swap 2 of each recipe. So her 2 will go for 2 meals, but yours will go for 1.
Jill says:
I know what you mean! My sister and I have talked about doing this, but she has EIGHT kids and I have two. It’s really hard to work out!
Guest post on freezer swapping over at Hip2Save today says:
[...] I had the privilage of writing a guest post for Hip2Save on swapping freezer meals! I shared my experience from last month’s swap. If you’ve wanted to get into freezer [...]
Jessica B says:
if anyone in Rigby ID wants to do this email me! I would be interested! bradfieldfamily@gmail.com (we have a family of 4)
katey says:
sound so great!!! If I know anyone doing that in NE ohio I will do it
Angela says:
HI all – Angela here (the author of the post). I thought I’d jump in and address a few of your comments! First, we each select the meal we want to make. The gal that organizes this has done a pretty great job of letting us know which recipes are easier than others (to help out the more culinary challenged of us!). While this particular swap ended up with more chicken meals, of course you could divide things up better if you wanted – making sure there were so many beef, chicken, veggie, etc. meals.
We use the book Fix, Freeze, Feast which we love – and yes, it is available at the library – a great way to go!
Finally, even if you had ONE or TWO people to swap with that had like-minded tastes and our diets, you could still benefit IMHO.
Any more questions or comments? I’ll try to jump back in later and see if I can address any. I’ve been doing this for several months now and I really do love it!
jeanette m says:
hey, I think that is a super awesome idea. Would you mind posting some recipes of the ones that you found really yummy, I am sure everyone would really appreciate it.
I bought a foodsaver over the weekend and dying to start using it.
thanks
MoKeaton says:
Jeanette, your gonna love that Food Saver. If you have a Sams Club Membership, buying the rolls in bulk there is the way to go!
Jane says:
Do you ever do vegetarian meals to swap. I cant find any decent veggie freezer meals. If that is your freezer, I am in awe!!
Lisa says:
I have been wanting to do this, but honestly, I don’t have any friends to swap with (yet). Anybody wanna be my friend in MEMPHIS? lol
Kate M. says:
I LOVE freezer cooking. I am a family of two & it works so great for us. You can really make freezer cooking work for your family. Tonight for example we are having a pesto chicken pasta bake ( YUM) all I did was pull it out of the freezer put it in to a greased pan and let it defrost in the fridge. Tonight I will bake it & dinners done! Tomorrow we are having sweet onion pork! I love having home cook meals on hand that take less time then ordering pizza : )
Elizabeth says:
anyone interested in swapping lewisville, TX?
SHELLY G. says:
I am in Fort Worth… still not right next door but not two states away
nicole says:
I live in Northwest Indiana if anyone is interested!!!
Liz J. says:
I live in northwest Indiana also…Lowell. where abouts are you?
nicole says:
oooooh…you are about 50 minutes…I live in chesterton but maybe if we get enough people, it would be worth it to meet in the middle…like Merrillville maybe???
jennifer says:
I’m in Rensselaer
Cally says:
Love the idea! I have done freezer meals by myself but the idea of swapping would be so much easier. That way you don’t have 10 things of chili in your freezer with no variety. The only real problem I would see, would be like others have said and not have friends to trade with. Also making sure you have similar tastes and no allergies. It’s a fantastic idea though! I’m in Boise, ID if anyone wants to be my friend LOL!! Great post Angela, LOVE The Coupon Project and LOVE Hip2Save!!
Diana says:
After you’ve gotten your feet wet swapping frozen meals, try swapping fresh meals once a week. Then you have absolutely no cooking, defrosting, etc on 2 or 3 nights a week…
I’ve been doing that for over 10 years. We’ve even adapted it to vegetarians and gluten-free eaters. For help in finding folks for your group try the book, Dinner at Your Door:Tips and Recipes for Starting a Neighborhood Cooking Co-op.
Jackie W says:
I don’t do this as much as I would like to but it can make life easier. Some other books to try are:
Don’t panic dinner’s in the freezer – Susie Martinez
Dream Dinners – Stephanie Allen
jane says:
Anyone in the Sarasota,Fl area to team up to do this,I’d love to do this.
april says:
Hi Jane, I do not live in Sarasota, but my family will be in Bradenton area next week for vacation. We have 3 small children, do you have any ideas for inexpensive fun things for us to do while we are down there?
jane says:
April,Just down the road from you in Sarasota,is Marina Jacks,next to that is a Bayfront Park WONDERFUL park by the water w/a great play ground and a fountain park for the kids to splash around in. also look up Sun and Fun Rv park,really cool water park with huge water slides.Also Holmes Beach is always nice. Also in Sarasota,we have the most amazing Mote Aquarium in LongBoat Key. also there is a water Park 30 mins south At Potter Park YMCA Amazing. I’m a stay at home mom and if you would like to reach me I have a 3 & 5 yr olds. we can talk.
Jane.M
chef_jane@yahoo.com
Julie says:
Anyone in the Bountiful area interested? email me at possum at yahoo dot com
Julie says:
oppiedos that is Bountiful Utah
Kari Marley says:
I am in a supper swap, and we keep each meal within the $6-$8 range. Our “coordinator” assigns recipes each month to all members, but everyone is welcome to submit recipes for approval. Some meals consist of more meat, while others are bundled with breads, grains, or have veggies included. Each meal needs to serve 6-8 people, and we follow the safe food handling guidelines for meal prep. We have a rating system to determine if a recipe will be used again or not. We do a lot of soups in the winter, and we do more grilling recipes in the summer. I love my supper swap, and I would highly recommend finding one to join!
Wendy Cotterman says:
I love do a lot of vaccuum sealing!! Whether it allows me to buy in bulk or extend the life of my leftovers. This saves me a lot of money!
carrie says:
I’d enjoy doing this too! Vancouver, Washington if anyone is interested!!
Jessica A. says:
Hmmmm…I think I’ll have to head to the library!! And nice freezer, wish mine looked that organized!
Dana A says:
This is a great idea… I can’t wait to call my friends and get this going. How many servings do you make in each dish?
Rachel says:
I am a newbie to this idea of freezer cooking or whatever you call it. Do you cook the food before or after you freeze it?
megan says:
Before.
You just thaw, heat, and eat.
fairydust says:
I’m not sure about that in this case – the pics look like chopped raw chicken in the baggies. I suppose you could do it either way, as long as everyone in the swap follows the same guidelines.
megan says:
For those of you who don’t have friends to do this with (me!) here’s what I do:
First of all, I have a chest freezer. That helps A LOT.
I started doing this about a year ago. When I started, I decided I’d cook 2X per week and make a GOB of extra. I usually multiply a recipe by 4. We eat one and I freeze the other 3. So each week I have 6 meals going into the freezer. After a few weeks of doing this you’ll start to see results really fast. I still only batch cook 2X per week. Some meals we do don’t do well in the freezer, so that’s another night a week or so of cooking. All told though, I only cook about 3 nights per week now.
Tips:
The more moisture the better. Soups freeze really well. Anything with a sauce on it does too.
DON’T freeze pie crust. When I make chicken pot pie filling, I freeze the filling by itself.
Ask around for recipes. I am amazed how much information people I know have if I only try to get it out of them! Half of my recipes are stolen.
lol
Good luck!
megan says:
OH, the other great advantage to this is if somebody I know gets sick, or a person in the church needs meals, I can just grab a few and be done.
Mel says:
I do a meal swap and it is so much fun!! We usually exchange what we anticipate on making to allow others to say if they want “in” or not. Each time it does seem like there’s a meal that cost way less or took no time to make, but on a busy night when I’m making that meal it never matters anf=d I’m happy to get that extra time with my kids!
Thanks for the library idea!!!
Alisha says:
You can find lots of great freezer meals on mealplanningmommies.com. We also have a post on how to chop and freeze a big bag of onions when they go on a great sale. Saves a ton of money and is incredibly efficient. You can just toss some onion into your meals without having to chop a new onion for each meal. Check it out here: http://mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-to-do-with-big-bag-of-onions.html
Amy says:
i wish i had a freezer that i could store meals in, id even attempt to cook and freeze meals for myself… but until i can get one, then meals to go it is…
Angela says:
LOL! No, that is not my freezer pictured – maybe it is Collin’s?
I also wanted to mention, sometimes we’ll make extras to have on hand to donate to families in need at our church – it is such a blessing to them! And I’d love to share the recipes I used, but honestly…I want to respect the copyright issues of the book. You can certainly find it at a library. You might also poke around on Allrecipes or Google freezer recipes to see what you can find.
For those that have asked…Fix, Freeze, Feast does have some AWESOME vegetarian freezer recipes – there’s an entire section actually – soups, curries, chilis, marinades, portabella mushroom recipes, and more. The book also includes breakfast recipes (I recently made the breakfast burritos with cheap tortillas I found on sale last week and they are SO good)!
Kimmiesue says:
What a great idea. I am all over it maybe with a little Bible Study twist.
Leah says:
I just made these last night, and they are delicious!! http://lifeasmom.com/2010/04/chocolate-butterhorns-perfect-for-freezing-perfect-for-anytime.html
Kristen says:
Those meals that Angie mentioned are GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! I have made all of them. Collin, Angie is the one who turned me on to your blog.
Sarah says:
This is such a great idea!! I do this somewhat because I buy meat from a local grocery store that has packages for $5 each and when you spend $50 in groceries you get $.25 off per gallon of 15 gallons of gas, so I stock up once a month on meat. Then I cook it up into meatballs, meatloaf, raw hamburgers, and pre-cooked ground beef that I can throw into recipes. The one thing the I would love some help on is if anyone knows good gluten-free, egg-free recipes. I have a friend who has a gluten and an egg allergy, and she doesn’t have a lot of money. Gluten-free, egg-free food that is pre-packedged is SO expensive!!! So I am always looking for recipes that I can make for her that I can freeze and she can throw in the microwave really quickly (she is also a college student with 2 jobs).
AmandaXoX says:
I’ve joined 2 freezer meal groups in Las Vegas,NV and love it! I’ve got a baby due next month so having a loaded freezer brings peace of mind to me. Both groups are ladies from my church who live fairly close, but it still could be done if you don’t live close. We all pick our recipes at the beginning of the month to ensure we have a variety of dishes and no duplicates. Here’s one blog we keep which has recipes/ pics/comments/ and other freezer meal sites we like: http://freezermealsforus.blogspot.com/
Angie says:
Thanks for the link! Even if I don’t find anyone to ‘freezer meal’ with this page has a lot of new recipes to try!
Tricia Hunt says:
neat idea
Kelly says:
When I buy ground beef in bulk on sale, I brown some into tace meat, some into meatballs, and some I just leave as raw patties. I love not having to have the mess of clean-up everynight. I really hate cooking chicken, so I’m intrigued about the chicken in the crockpot and receipes I could use it in. I need a little more variety. I’m bored of my deal meals!
Latasha says:
My brother and his wife just arrived in Clovis today! He is stationed there for the next two years. His wife may be interested in doing this. . . I’ll pass it along. . .
YOU in Bloom Giveaway: 4 Readers Win $50 Worth of Tupperware Products! – Hip2Save - Not Your Grandma's Coupon Site says:
[...] many of you were eager to try out freezer cooking after reading all the great tips featured in the guest post written by Angela over at The Coupon Project?! I know I am bound and determined to get myself [...]