What I COOKED Wednesday-FREEZER PLEASERS!

It's a WIAW first! Normally, my #WIAW posts involve a whole lot of...well... the things I ate on Wednesday. But I realized that lately on my Weigh-In Wednesday posts {dang, I post a lot on Wednesdays!} I've been doing a lot of complaining about being so busy and having that prevent me from eating properly. I finally came to the realization that it was time to quit bellyaching and 'pony up to the bar'- I needed to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Making the decision to do so doesn't necessarily mean that all of a sudden my schedule cleared up, we came into beaucoup amounts of money, or the hubs was given 3 straight weeks off of work and unearthed a heretofore unknown fountain of youthful energy with which to pull off all of our DIY projects. What it did do, however, was give me the desire to find a better way to manage our food so that I could pull off healthy meals each day and not resort to eating out, ordering in, or grabbing something quick (but inevitably unhealthy) to shove in my mouth in an effort to fill the ache in my tummy!

After bumping around in blogland and checking out various other sites, I ran across Karrie @ Happy Money Saver and her post about the day she made freezer meals. EUREKA!  I found my answer! I suddenly realized that my problem wasn't just about making bad food choices- it was about terrible time management as well. I knew that if I followed Karrie's example, bit the bullet, sequestered myself in the kitchen, and cooked my tushie off making a ton of freezer meals- then dinners would be a SNAP to pull off any given night of the week! That way, I could still be terrible at managing my time yet stay on a pretty straight and narrow eating plan. Yay me!

My 'smaller than I thought it would be' shopping list

I did a bit of Googling and found several sites with tons of freezer meal ideas (which I quickly bookmarked) but decided to initially go with Leanne Ely's '5 for the Freezer' recipes (which I promptly adjusted and made my own). I chose her recipes though, because I love how she not only breaks each recipe down for you, with shopping lists and everything, but gives you side dish suggestions and more! It's dummy proof (and if you know me, you know why that's important!)

I had several requirements of the recipes I chose- they had to be relatively few ingredients (that my kids would actually be willing to try/eat), the ingredients had to be fairly inexpensive and relatively easy to purchase (I'm not in a huge city), and it had to be fast and simple to pull together and/or cook.

I printed out a stack of recipes as thick as my fist, sat down, and made my shopping list (which I honestly thought would be MUCH longer) and headed for the store. It took $200 and a trip to Sam's Club, Aldi, and Harris Teeter before everything was bought and ready to cook- my kitchen table was completely covered and there wasn't an ounce of room in our fridge!

But man, the amount of food I was able to whip up! All told, to date I've made 35 'Freezer Pleasers' (I'm totally trademarking that name) and I'm already chomping at the bit to make more. (I know, I'm a total glutton for punishment). It's such a joy to know those 35 meals are sitting pretty in my freezer and you can't imagine the relief I feel knowing that if I went on strike and didn't lift a single spatula or wooden spoon for the next month (literally a whole month!), not a one of us would go hungry or gain 30 lbs. from eating McDonald's every night!

I did my best to make a variety of meals so that we wouldn't get bogged down by too many pork dishes or an overabundance of chicken. I even managed to make them fit into the daily meal categories that my kids find so amusing:

• Meatless Mondays (Vegetarian)
• Tasty Travels Tuesdays (Ethnic)
• Wet N Wild Wednesdays (Seafood)
• Throwback Thursdays (Comfort food)
• Pizza Fridays (Pizza, duh!)
• Souper Saturdays (Soups/chilis)
• Slow Cooker Sundays (Crockpot Cooking)

          {Can you tell I'm a sucker for alliteration?!}

Here's what I made (and yes, you can click the title to get the recipe!):

Recipe	Main Ingredient	Nightly Category(ies)
Manic Meatloaf w/ Tomato Relish	Ground Beef	Throwback Thursdays
Caesar’s Burgers	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Italian Throwback Thursdays
Fajita Burgers	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Mexican Throwback Thursdays
Garlic Spaghetti Meatballs	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Italian Throwback Thursdays
Mock Gyros	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Greek
Havana Hash	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Latin
Two Bean Chili	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Southwestern Souper Saturdays
South of the Border Quiche	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Southwestern
Kandi’s Keema	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Middle Eastern
Gingery Beef Stir Fry	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Asian
Shepherd’s Pie #3	Ground Beef	Throwback Thursdays
DaVinci’s Meatloaf Supper	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Italian Throwback Thursdays
Montezuma’s Muffins	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Mexican Throwback Thursdays
Mino’s Meaty Minis	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays- Greek Throwback Thursdays
Git Along Little Doggies	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Southwestern Throwback Thursdays
Calcutta Cups	Ground Beef	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Indian Throwback Thursdays
Turkey Tico Taco Chili	Ground Turkey	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Southwestern/Mexican Souper Saturdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Herbed Grilled Flank Steak	Flank Steak	Throwback Thursdays
Crock Smothered Steak	Flank Steak	Throwback Thursdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Baby’s Got Back Ribs	Baby Back Ribs	Throwback Thursdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Peruvian Pork and Potato Stew	Pork Shoulder	Tasty Travels Tuesdays- Souper Saturdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Crock Lemon Pork Tenderloin	Pork Loin	Throwback Thursdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Lemony Baked Crusted Tilapia	Tilapia	Wet ‘N Wild Wednesdays
Mustard Thyme Tilapia	Tilapia	Wet ‘N Wild Wednesday
Fish Amandine	White Fish	Wet ‘N Wild Wednesdays
Sweet and Sour Salmon	Salmon	Wet N Wild Wednesdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Halibut in Wine Sauce	Halibut Steaks	Wet ‘N Wild Wednesdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Spinach and Artichoke Pie	Vegetarian	Meatless Mondays
Italian Frittata	Vegetarian	Meatless Mondays Tasty Travels Tuesdays- Italian
Crock Pot Split Pea Soup	Vegetarian	Souper Saturdays Slow Cooker Sundays
Kandi’s Favorite Chicken Stirfry	BL/SL Chicken Breast	Tasty Travels Tuesdays-Chinese
Chicken Cordon Bleu	BL/SL Chicken Breast	Tasty Travels Tuesday-French Throwback Thursdays
Moroccan Chicken with Honey Couscous	BL/SL Chicken Breast	Tasty Travels Tuesday-Middle Eastern
Crock Barbecue Chicken Supper	BL/SL Chicken Thighs	Throwback Thursday Slow Cooker Sundays
Easy Sunday Slow Cooker Chicken	Whole Chicken	Throwback Thursdays Slow Cooker Sundays

Now, my freezer is bursting at the seams and my wallet is only slightly lighter. If you divide the $200 spent on ingredients by the 35 meals I've already made, it breaks down to ~$5.71 per meal. Considering each meal stretches far enough to feed 6 people (completely!) at dinner with some leftover for lunches... that's not too shabby!

All together I managed to surprise even myself with my dedication to completing the task and I'm very excited for how it's going to help us now and in the future. I've made a personal goal to take one weekend per month (at least) to make more freezer pleasers to replenish the supply and, honestly, because I really just enjoyed it. (Seriously!)

We had our first inaugural Freezer Pleaser meal last night (Tasty Travels Tuesday)- Moroccan Chicken with Honey Couscous Mashed Potatoes and Sicilian Broccoli- and it was A-MA-ZING! Most definitely something you need to make. Now. Seriously... get in your kitchen and make this. Your whole family will thank me.

If you feel inspired by one of my recipes, or have a great freezer pleaser of your own to share, feel free to hit me up in the comments. I'd especially love any vegetarian meals you have hidden up your sleeve- I've got to break my kids' meat habit... it's getting out of hand!

Until next time... may the fork be with you!