Freezer Meals Part 1

When my daughter Haley was born, my sister gave us the best gift possible - she came to our house while we were in the hospital and cooked 15 meals for us.  She used the "once a month cooking" (or OAMC) method that is trending on Pinterest and blogs everywhere.  After a week of eating these easy to prepare meals, I was hooked on OAMC.  My sister's meals lasted about 6 weeks.  Then, I created my own meals, spent one Friday afternoon cooking about 20 meals which have lasted 2 months - and counting!  Each meal feeds my husband and I both for dinner, and has enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

15 Frozen Meals in Ziploc Bags All Fit on Bottom Shelf of Freezer! On Second Shelf From the Bottom are Frozen Casseroles

What OAMC consists of is spending about $130 at the grocery store, chopping vegetables, measuring sauces, mincing garlic,etc, and adding all ingredients to ziploc bags.  You then label the bags with the name of meal and brief cooking instructions, and freeze.  Most meals are cooked in a crockpot, which makes for super quick and easy weeknight dinners.  This budget of $130 (including bags of frozen steamfresh veggies as sides) made me about 21 ziploc bags and pans of food - each containing at least 3 servings a piece!

Below are five of my favorite recipes. Four are "ziploc" crock pot meals and the last is an oven meal.

All recipes are meant to be frozen, then thawed before cooked.

I will be posting additional recipes in the future, but for now, try out freezer meal cooking and let me know what you think!