Simple Tip-freezer meals

Simple Tip-Freezer Meals
Freezer meals are easier to make than you may think, plus they are great to have on hand on busy nights or on days when you just don't feel like making anything. I recently found a nice, large deep freezer used for $75.  It was a great investment in order to have meals on hand. I like to freeze pasta casseroles, enchiladas, and soups the best.  Since we are a family of four and our kids are still young and don't eat much, I can usually make about any casserole or soup and use half for a meal we are having that night and freeze the other half. If you are a larger family or have older kids, doubling the recipe is the way to go. It doesn't take much time if you are making the meal anyway, why not freeze half? Some people reserve an afternoon to make a bunch of meals at once. I have not ever tried that. Above are the last of what I made in January which includes Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti, Macaroni Beef Noodles, White Chicken Chili and homemade dinner rolls. 
Here is a list of what you need to begin making freezer meals:
Foil pans-if you are using the other half of a recipe, use 8x8 cake pans or if you are doubling a recipe, you will need the 8x10 cake pans. I buy the ones with lids, but they aren't necessary if you wrap a lot of tin foil around them.
Tin Foil-used to cover after the food is in the pan
Sharpie-write what the meal, date you made, and baking directions
Freezer Bags-Great for soups, browned hamburger, diced chicken or breads

Making freezer meals for a sick friend or a new mom is also a great idea!
 

Weekly Menu: February 27-March 4

This week I am going to make three side dishes that can be used throughout the week. I will make them on Sunday evening or Monday so they are ready for the week. I will be making an easy fruit salad, vegetable salad, and cheesy potatoes.
Fruit Salad: Wash carton of strawberries and dice. Add sliced bananas and clean apples. Mix together in bowl. You could use a side of plain vanilla yogurt as a dip.
Vegetable salad: Wash fresh broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Pour about half a bottle of ranch dressing over and mix in bowl.
Cheesy Potatoes:
In large bowl, combine 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup butter, 3 Tablespoons of dried minced onion, and 1/2 tsp. of salt. Stir in 1 package (32 oz) of frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, thawed. Transfer into 12"x9" baking pan. Toss 2 1/2 cups of crushed cornflakes and 1/4 cup butter; sprinkle over potatoes. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until heated through.
I won't actually bake the potatoes until the day I am going to use it. You can also divide between two smaller dishes and freeze one for later in a disposable tin pan. 

Monday: Taco ring, Spanish rice, apple slices
Tuesday: Chicken bundles, cheesy potatoes, fruit salad
Wednesday: Crock pot pork chops, leftover cheesy potatoes, vegetable salad
Thursday: French dip crescents, fruit salad, lettuce salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Lunch: Baked calzones  Supper: out
Sunday: Lunch:                              Supper: Pizza, carrots

Grocery List:
Meats: 1 lb. ground beef, package of frozen skinless chicken breasts, sliced deli roast beef, pork chops
Dairy: package cream cheese, sour cream, package of shredded mozzerella cheese, 2 package of shredded cheddar cheese, sliced provolone or swiss cheese
Produce: lettuce, tomato, apples, strawberries, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
Other:
Taco seasoning, Spanish rice, cream of chicken soup, pizza sauce, au jus seasoning, beef broth, ranch dressing, ranch dip mix, cornflakes, 5 crescent rolls
Frozen: southern style hashbrowns, pizza

 Crock Pot Pork Chops via Picky Pallet

• Pork Chops
• Ranch Seasoning Dry Mix Packet
• 1 can Cream of Chicken plus 1 can water as needed {or 2 cans cream of chicken}  This will depend on how fast your crockpot cooks and how long you’ll be cooking it. 

Combine all three ingredients in the crockpot and mix well.


Taco Ring via Taste of Home
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix
1 c. (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbs water
2 8-oz packages refrigerated crescent rolls
1 medium green bell pepper
1 c. salsa (optional)
3 c. lettuce, shredded (we used more — ¾ a head)
1 medium tomato, diced
¼ c. onion, chopped
½ c. pitted ripe olives
sour cream
Directions:
–Preheat oven to 375°. Brown the ground beef, then drain. Add taco season and simer
–Unroll the crescent dough; separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle on a pizza pan with the wide ends toward the center of the pan, overlapping each other. It will look like a large sun with the points hanging half off the pan. There should be a 5 or 6 inch opening in the center.
–Spoon the meat mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough. (Filling will not be completely covered).
–Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.
–Shred lettuce, dice tomato, onions, olives, green pepper, and whatever other items you want to put inside. Place them in center of the taco ring and use that as your toppings!

French Dip Crescent via MamaLovesFood.com
 Ingredients: 2 packages crescent rolls, 8 count 1 pound deli roast beef, thinly sliced 4 ounces Swiss or provolone cheese, cut in 16 equal sized pieces optional: Horseradish Sauce optional: Au Jus for dipping French Dip Crescent Directions: Unroll crescents onto a large cookie sheet. Spread a small dab of horseradish on each crescent, then place a slice of roast beef and a piece of cheese on each crescent. Roll crescents starting from the wide end and ending at the narrow end. Bake at 375 degrees for 11 to 13 minutes, until crescents are a golden color. Serve with Au Jus and enjoy!

Homemade Calzone: Click here for recipe: http://www.squidoo.com/homemade-calzone

Chicken Bundles via QuickandEasyDinners.com

Chicken bundles are delicious dough filled pockets with cream cheese, sesame seeds and more.  Ingredients for Chicken Bundles

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1-13 oz. can chicken (or equivalent cooked chicken)
• 1 Tbs. sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp. parsley
• 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls - leave in fridge until ready to use!
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped onion or dried minced onion

Directions:
Combine the above ingredients (minus the crescent rolls) and mix well.

Open one 8 count package crescent rolls. DO NOT divide into triangles. Keep every 2 triangles together, forming 4 rectangles. Pinch the seams closed and pat each one out into a larger square. 
Put a spoonful of chicken/cream cheese mixture into the center of each square. Fold the corners up into the center, layering like flower petals so the roll is sealed. (Don't stress too much on the technique, fold them up press seams together to make a bundle.)
Repeat with all 8 rectangles. You're going to worry that you're doing this wrong, but you're not, just do it, I promise they'll taste delicious.
Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
Thanks Leticia, from Rotan, TX for the recipe.

Money Tip #4

I am a HUGE Dave Ramsey fan! If you have never heard of him, I highly suggest you read a book of his or check out his website: daveramsey.com. You can learn so much from him and his viewers. You can also listen to his radio show via his website.  He teaches you how to have a place for every dollar you make and how to get out of debt first, while teaching you how to invest your money later. His plan is based on baby steps. The first one is getting $1000 dollars in a savings account as an emergency fund. Don't touch that money unless it is an emergency. An emergency does not include buying a new pair of shoes that are on sale that you have really been wanting or going on a vacation that you cannot afford. This does include things like an unexpected car or home repair. The next step is to start paying off debt. He suggests making a list of all of your debts from least to greatest. Pay the minimums on everything, except for the lowest debt. That is the one you want to tackle first. For example, say you have a few credit cards with balances of $575, $1300, and $1700. Use any extra money you have to knock out that $575. It may take only a few months to pay it off if you pay $200 a month on it. After that is paid for, go after the next one. Roll over what you were paying on the $575 card, plus the minimum you were paying on the $1300 (for example $100). So now you would be paying $300 on the $1300. In no time you will have that second one paid. You keep rolling over to the next card. Other money experts suggest you tackle the card or loan with the highest interest rate instead. The reason he suggests starting with the lowest debt, is to feel some instant gratification. Once you feel how good it is to knock out one debt, you are so much more motivated to keep at it.  After you get those cards paid off, cancel them! It is a hard thing to do, but once you work so hard to pay them off, you will never want to use them again. It is a great feeling!!

Menu February 20-26

There are always those months when money is tight. An unexpected car repair, a medical bill, or whatever the expense might be, there are times where I have to cut the grocery budget and use up what we have. So, at times like these, I go to the cupboard and freezer and make a list of what we have. Here is what I found:
pasta sauce, alfredo sauce, spanish rice, chicken rice, Velvetta skillet meal, refried beans, white corn tortillas, macaroni elbows, cream of chicken soup, tomato sauce, creasant rolls, cheese, frozen bread dough, frozen veggies, frozen egg noodles, Canadian bacon, creamy mashed potatoes, hash browns, frozen diced chicken, ground beef
It's time to get creative!
Monday: Spaghetti noodles with Alfredo sauce and frozen diced chicken, salad, bread, apples
Tuesday: Beef/bean burritos topped with lettuce, Spanish rice
Wednesday: Velvetta boxed meal (add hamburger), California blend with cheese, leftover bread, apples
Thursday: Chicken creasant rollups, green beans, banana slices
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: Lunch-Pizza, salad  Supper-Out
Sunday: Lunch -Roast, baked beans, bread, baked potato
              Supper-Soup and sandwiches
You would be surprised what you have on hand to make some meals. A great website to go to and create meals from ingredients you have is: www.allrecipes.com. Type in the ingredients you have on hand and they will give you a choice of recipes to choose from.

Simple Tip #4

Two items that I use a lot in my cooking is ground beef and chicken breasts. When I find these two items on sale, I like to stock up on them. At least once a month, frozen chicken breasts can be found on sale from $3.99 to $4.99 which is a great deal considering how much meat and meals you can get out of a bag. I can usually get at least four meals out of it. I like to thaw about four breasts and then bake them. I dice the meat as soon as it comes out of the oven. Then, I put about two cups of the chicken in a couple of freezer bags. It is so much easier to pull them out of the freezer and warm them up when needed. It is much healthier and tastes better than the precooked chicken you buy in the store, not to mention much CHEAPER. I also like to do this with ground beef.  Brown a couple of pounds of beef and freeze in bags by the pound. The meat can quickly be combined with a pasta and sauce, a soup, tacos, or any recipe that calls for chicken or beef. A real time-saver!! 
Chicken breasts also can make a great main dish. They are great on the grill, but are good baked too. Some easy things I do with chicken breasts are seasoning with lemon pepper, covering in barbeque sauce, or even doing something a little more like coating in bread crumbs.  Cover some potatoes in foil and put in the oven while the chicken is baking.  Bake some frozen bread, and add another fruit or vegie and you have yourself a hearty meal that really is not much work at all.

Money Tip #3

Setting a monthly budget is a great way to track how much money you spend each month. Some people have budgets, but by keeping tabs on every penny you spend makes even more of a difference. I separate our expenses into categories: House (mortgage, utilities, phone); Car (payment, gas, insurance); Misc. (cell phone, preschool, dance, etc); and Loans (school, credit cards, medical bills, etc.). These payments rarely change, so there isn't much room to improve upon them unless you drop your cable or refinance, for example.  Next are the expenses you can change: groceries, eating out, personal stuff, entertainment, etc. Try and decide what you think you spend a month or a week on each. If you know you are overspending on these things, this is a great time to discipline yourself and bring that spending down.  These are the things that I like to use cash for. I like to use a coupon binder and label each category. I then put the amount of cash I think we will use each month or week for each. When the money is gone, do not spend any more or you will go way over budget. This can take months to master, but will be well worth it in the end. I also leave another miscellaneous category for things like birthdays, Christmas, clothing, etc. I created my own spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel to track our expenses. Next you need to add up all of your expenses. Then add up your monthly income. Subtract the expenses for the income. Hopefully you have a positive. If you don't, you need to reevaluate your spending and make some cuts.

Weekly Menu: February 13-19

Monday: Spaghetti, garden salad, garlic bread
Tuesday: Pork chops, baked potato, bread, baked beans
Wednesday: Crock pot chicken, mixed vegies, bread
Thursday: Tacos, apple slices
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: lunch- Sub sandwiches, pasta salad, carrots and dip
                dinner- Pizza
Sunday: lunch-out
              dinner- Chicken Chili

Simple Tip #3

I like to reserve my weekends for getting out of the house and spending quality time with my family. I do not want to be cleaning or doing laundry on a Saturday.  To break up the chores and laundry, I created a weekly household schedule.  I do laundry on Mondays because it is after the weekend and it is nice to have fresh laundry at the beginning of the week and on Thursdays so I don't have to do laundry on the weekend.  I wash bedding on Tuesdays, along with cleaning the bedrooms.  Here is how I break up my week:
Monday: Laundry, Clean bathrooms, Do bills, Meals for the week (I look at my menu for the week to figure out if and when I need to thaw anything or bake anything ahead of time)
Tuesday: Clean bedrooms (wash bedding), Cut coupons, Balance checkbook
Wednesday: Clean kitchen, Clean dining room, Make next week's menu
Thursday: Laundry, Grocery list, Clean living room
Friday: Clean staircase, Do anything that didn't get done during week
Grocery shopping gets done either on Friday nights or during the weekend

If there is spare time, I like to tackle a bigger project by breaking it up through the week and add it to my to do list for the week. A recent example is our master bedroom. It got bombarded with junk while we are finishing our basement. I took a little time each day to get it decluttered and also took time to straighten up dresser drawers and the closet.

Money Tip #2

You may think I am crazy on my next money tip, but believe me it works! Use cash only...gasp! I'm not talking about cash to pay your bills.  I'm talking groceries, eating out, clothing, etc. You would be surprised how much closer you pay attention to what you are buying. Think about it...you have the cash in hand and when you have to hand over actual cash to the cashier, it makes the transaction more real. You don't think about it as much if you are putting it on the credit or debit card.  When you look in your wallet and see you've spent all of your cash, it really makes you think. Maybe try it on a weekly basis at first. Plan how much you can spend on groceries, if you are going to eat out, or if you are going to the mall. I'm guessing you won't be as tempted to throw in that extra bag of chips or DVD that you don't really need. A great book to read is "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. This book is very eye-opening. It has changed the way we spend our money and has helped us pay off our cars and credit cards.  It is not your typical "financial advice" book. It is an easy read and there are many examples of how people got out of debt and more.  Cash only....really!

Weekly Menu: February 6-12

I find it very helpful to have my "weekly menu" displayed on my kitchen counter. It is a reminder to me if I need to defrost something for the next day or if there is something I can prepare ahead of time. I use a printable from the website http://organizedhome.com. I clip it to a clipboard, along with my recipes that I will be using. I have a cookbook holder that I display the clipboard on. As I write out my menu, I have a shopping list right on the page which makes it easy to look at my menu and add to the shopping list.

 Menu:
Monday: Pepperoni string cheese rollups (new recipe I am trying)
  *Roll a half piece of string cheese up with pepperoni in a crescent roll
                Garden Salad, Carrots
Tuesday: Creamy Chicken Crescent Casserole
  *Warm a cup of diced chicken breasts and can of cream of chicken soup. Roll out a can of crescent rolls on bottom of 8x8 pan. Dump mixture on top of rolls. Add shredded cheese of your choice. Top with can of crescent rolls.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
                 Mixed vegies with cheese, banana slices
Wednesday: Ham and cheese melts
  *Place a few slices of Canadian bacon and cheese in bun. Melt butter and add sesame seeds. Spread on top of bun. Wrap sandwiches in tin foil and bake for 15-20 minutes at 325 degrees.
                   Cheesy potatoes, apples
Thursday: Lasagna, garlic bread, garden salad 
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Lunch: pizza, apples
                Dinner: Out
Sunday: Homemade Frozen Meal 
               Dinner: Baked Potato Soup, Carrots  *** I will probably tweak the soup recipe by buying real bacon bits and using only red potatoes since it's what I have on hand.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup via Disney Parks
Serves 6
1 pound bacon, roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
3/4 cup diced celery
4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Coarse salt, freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 cups heavy whipping cream
Optional garnishes: chopped chives, bacon bits, sour cream, shredded cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheese

1. In a 6- to 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp.
2. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving half for garnish. In bacon fat, cook onions, carrots, and celery until the onions are translucent. Add potatoes and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Whisk in flour and stir constantly over low heat until the flour is cooked and the mixture has thickened slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add chicken stock and half of the bacon. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Over medium-high heat, bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Mash some of the potatoes for thicker, creamier texture. Add whipping cream and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Adjust thickness by adding water or stock. Soup should have a creamy consistency.
6. Season to taste, and garnish with toppings.

Cooks’ notes: Soak diced potatoes in cold water until ready to use to keep them from turning brown. To make bacon easier to chop, lightly freeze.