Meal planning in our house goes a little bit beyond planning out food for the week. Meal planning is food for the MONTH. Like couponing, you have to go at this with a plan. So let's get started!!
1. Take a look at your freezer. No, go ahead. I'll wait. How much room do you have?
- This is pretty important. You can't make twenty freezer meals if you only have room for ten. Seriously, pretty simple.
- Our (tiny) freezer is dedicated to holding freezer meals, and very little else. We have some ice cream in there right now (got it free), and French Toast because that is all my son wants for breakfast. I'm not arguing with a two year old at 6:15 in the morning. He always wins. There are a few bags of frozen veggies stashed on the door which i use to compliment our slow cooker meals. And that is all.
- If you have a bigger freezer, or even a freezer chest, I am jealous, and you are lucky. You can double the recipes, add different recipes, or even keep things besides freezer meals stashed away. Vodka doesn't freeze... I'm just saying.
2. How do you want to cook your meals?
- I am going to focus on slow cooker meals. I leave my house at 6:45 every morning, and don't get back until 5:30. I am not interested in doing anything more than boiling a pot of water for a side dish. So, we use the slow cooker. If you are interested this is the one I use. It is the Hamilton Beach Set and Forget. I got it at Kohl's for next to nothing using Kohl's Cash.
- To make Clean up a little easier, we use Slow Cooker Liners. Don't buy the fancy pants ones at Bed Bath and Beyond. These work just fine, and you can get them at the grocery store.
3. Grab your circular. It's time to do some pricing!
- When I plan out our meals I try to base it on sale prices. You need to have a little flexibility. For example, some of the recipes for this meal plan called for a combination of chicken breasts and chicken thighs. However, chicken breast packages were buy one, get one free. Chicken thighs were full price. So, chicken thighs were out, chicken breasts were in.
- Keep it basic. This is not the time to get fancy. That isn't to say boring, but they key to being able to do this right and cheap is to stick with a few key ingredients, and use sauces and seasonings to change things up.
Recipes:
These recipes will feed a family of 4-6. We are a family of 2 adults and 1 toddler. I like to make big meals, because then leftovers get used for lunches.
1. BBQ Chicken
- 1lb Chicken breast (Boneless and Skinless. Seriously do not put skin on chicken in a crock pot. It is disgusting and gelatinous.)
- 1lb Chicken thighs (Skinless (see above) with or without bone, I prefer boneless)
- 1 Bottle BBQ sauce (18oz ish)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (light/dark whatever you got)
- 3 Tblsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 3 Tblsp Worcestershire Sauce (no, really don't skimp on this)
Freeze it. (Not sure if I needed to tell you that, but let's play it safe.)
Time to cook? Pull it out of the freezer, run it under hot water until it loosens from bag (like 20
seconds) and toss it into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 5 hours.
Serve over rice, or noodles or shred it and put it on a bun.
Throw some veggies on the plate, and you have a nice meal.
2. & 3. Garlic Honey Chicken (this is popular here so I double)
- 1lb Chicken breast
- 1lb Chicken Thigh
- 3 cloves of garlic (I buy the squeeze garlic. It is about a million cloves of garlic all minced up and in a handy squeezy jar. Love it.)
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2/3 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup honey
Freeze it.
Time to cook? Run under water, toss in Slow cooker.
Cook on Low for 5 hours.
Serve with Rice and Brocolli.
4. Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
- 1lb Chicken Breast
- 1lb Chicken thigh
- 16 oz jar alfredo sauce
- 1 lb frozen brocolli
- 1 large green pepper (big rough chunks, if you dice it it will turn to nasty mush)
- 1/2 cup bacon (turkey or pig, your call. Cook it up before you put it in the bag.)
Freeze it.
Pull out of freezer, toss in slow cooker.
Cook on Low for 5 hours.
(starting to see a theme yet?)
Serve with pasta. Cause, ya know, alfredo.
5. Sausage Peppers, Onions and Potatoes
- 2 lbs Sausage (turkey, chicken, pig, whatever)
- 1 Large onion thick cut (again, small cuts will be mush. I do nice big wedges)
- 2 Peppers thick cut
- 1 lb Red potato thick chunks, skin on
- 12 oz Tomatoe Sauce (optional, if not then I would add 1 cup of beef, chicken or veggie stock)
Freeze it.
Pull out of freezer. Throw in Slow Cooker.
Cook on Low for 5 hours.
Serve with pasta or some nice thick italian bread.
*Before serving, I like to pull the sausage out, cut in 1/2 lengthwise and stick under the broiler for
a few minutes. They get all crispy and caramelized. Sooooo good.
6. Smothered Pork Chops
- 2 lbs Pork Chops (Boneless thick cut center) If it is really fatty, trim some away.
- 1 Large Onion (thick cut)
- 1 Cup Chicken broth
- 1 Can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 Tblsp Apple cider vinegar
- 6 pieces of bacon
Pull out of freezer. Throw in Slow Cooker.
Cook on Low for 5 hours.
Serve with pasta or rice.
Add a veggie.
7. Pot Roast with Veggies
- 3 lb roast
- 1 lb red potatoes (thick chunks)
- 1/2 lb baby carrots (just toss em in)
- 1 Envelope brown gravy mix
- 1 Envelope zesty italian dressing mix
- 1 Envelope ranch dressing mix
Freeze it.
Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
Dump everything in the slow cooker.
Add 1 cup of water.
Cook on low for 6 hours.
Serve with hot biscuits.
Before we go onto the next couple of recipes, I need to make a note. The next two recipes call for steak meat. You can use any beef you want, they sell meat already cut in nice strips, you can use stew meat (it can be tough sometimes, whatever you want. This time around, I bought an extra roast, and butchered it myself. It was by far the cheapest cut of beef they had that week. Flexibility people. Flexibility.
8. Steak Fajitas
- 1.5 lb Steak, cut in strips
- 1 Large Onion, thick cut
- 2 Green Peppers, thick cut
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 envelope taco seasoning ( make my own: cumin, paprika, garlic salt, sugar and chili powder)
Freeze it.
Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
Dump it in the slow cooker.
Low for 5 hours.
Serve with whatever fajita fixins you like.
9 & 10. Pepper Steak (another popular one, so again, I double)
- 1.5 lb Steak, cut in strips
- 3 green peppers, thick cut
- 1 onion, thick cut
- 8oz tomato sauce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Throw it all together.
Freeze it.
Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
Dump it in the slow cooker.
Low for 5 hours.
Serve with Rice.
11 & 12. Meatloaf (This is actually an oven meal. I just cant do crock pot meatloaf. It turns grey.)
- 2 lb ground beef
- 1/2 onion diced
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1Tblsp garlic powder
- 2 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce
Smush it in the freezer bag into a flat layer. (This makes it easier to stack in the freezer, and will
help it thaw faster when ready to cook.)
Defrost 24 hours before cooking.
Time to cook? Dump onto cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form into a loaf shape.
Squirt a little ketchup on top.
Cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. (Check and cook longer if necessary)
Meatloaf Variations
Some easy changes to make a totally different meatloaf!
~Mexican Meatloaf - mix in 1 cup shredded cheddar, one envelope taco seasoning, and switch out
ketchup with tacos sauce.
~Cowboy meatloaf - Mix in BBQ sauce instead of ketchup, mix in some crumbled bacon.
~Italian Meatloaf - Mix in 1 cup shredded mozzarella, use marinara instead of ketchup.
~Sweet Pig Heart Attack Loaf - After you have formed the meatloaf, wrap the whole thing in
overlapping strips of bacon. Brush the whole thing with a mixture of brown sugar and melted
butter. Baste while cooking with the butter brown sugar mixture. Cook on 350 for 30-45 minutes.
(This should seriously be a once every six months treat. It is delicious and indulgent and all things
amazing.
*Get actual FREEZER bags. Don't skimp and just get a storage bag. Your meal will taste like freezer, and your freezer will smell like all of these flavors. All around gross.
*Easiest way to cook bacon - Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Lay out the bacon in a single layer. Place tray (or trays, I won't judge) of bacon in COLD oven. Turn oven to 400 degrees, and cook for 15-20 minutes. Check it at 15 minutes, and every 1-2 minutes after. For the love of bacon, set a timer. No one wants burnt bacon. Take out pans (be careful, you will have very hot liquid grease in the pan) and set to cool.
*When it comes time to prepare, I like to do each bag seperately. It takes a little bit more time, But I find that when I try to do it in an assembly line, I inevitably mix stuff up, or leave stuff out.
*You should definitely label all your bags with Meal name, Date prepared, and cooking instructions (ie add water, High or Low, how long, does it need to defrost) BEFORE you put in the ingredients.
Here is my Dinner schedule:
Monday- Leftovers(every Monday and Friday is leftover night)
Tuesday- Steak Fajitas (1)
Wed- Meatloaf (2)
Thursday- Pizza night! (we get Zio's. They have an awesome $7 large cheese pizza deal)
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday- Garlic Honey Chicken (3)
Sunday- Eat out. ( we make it a point to eat out once a week. It's not fancy, and we feel it is good for my son to have continual experience eating at restaurants.)
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday- Smothered Pork Chops (4)
Wed - Pepper Steak (5)
Thursday - Pizza Night
Friday- Leftovers
Saturday - BBQ Chicken (6)
Sunday - Eat out
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Meatloaf (7)
Wed - Chicken/Broccoli Alfredo (8)
Thurs- Pizza
Fri- Leftovers
Saturday - Honey Garlic Chicken (9)
Sun- Eat Out
Mon- Leftovers
Tues- Sausage,Peppers, Onion, Potatoes (10)
Wed- Pepper Steak (11)
Thurs- Pizza
Fri- Leftovers
Sat- Pot Roast (12)
Sun- Eat Out
So there you go - 7 days a week. 1 Dinner Out, 1 Pizza Night In, 2 nights of leftovers, and three nights of cooking. Leftovers don't need to be eaten the same way the second time around. For example, Leftover BBQ chicken, can become thin crust BBQ chicken pizza. Take some leftover tortillas from fajita night, layer on shredded bbq chicken, leftover shredded cheddar (from fajita night) and some fresh diced tomato (probably also leftover from fajita night) and bake in oven until bubbly brown and crispy. Get creative!
So if you have any questions, let me know. I think it is pretty straight forward. These are my tried and true recipes that we just love in our house. Oh and this shopping trip cost somewhere around $150. That may sound like a lot, but seriously there is like 20 plus pounds of meat/chicken, etc! And this has my dinners for a MONTH covered!!!!
Thanks!!!!!
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