Freezer Meals!

Freezer Meals!!

Wow, what a concept! I just hope they are as great as they sound. I had been Pinning several meals and such on Pintrest and came across Freezer Crock Pot Meals awhile back. I pinned them and then never did anything with them. Well, Mike isn't the most creative in the kitchen, so when I went back through and saw these, I just knew I had to make them before Little Bit gets here and then Mike can easily make me and him some dinner! It was a bit tideous, but I turned on my Pandora and grabbed a stool to sit on and started chopping away. All in all, it probably took me 2-3 hours from the time I got in the ktichen to the time I had cleaned up and was outta the kitchen. Which doesn't seem too bad for the 10 meals I was able to prepare! (That doesn't include grocery shopping time)

Yesterday, I had the day off, so I tried to get some things taken care of including the meals. I picked up a little, though it doesn't really look like it now, showered-that's becoming something I don't really enjoy--In 107 degree weather, it's like you can't get the water cool enough without turning it off! Plus, showers can be so overrated...isn't that right Melanie :) And I know there were a couple more things, I did, but I've already forgotten.

Mom and I had gone to Sam's and got the meat there and then I went to Reasor's and got the rest of my stuff there. I probably spent about $150 for all the meals, which includes these 10, and a few more I didn't get to yesterday because it required actually cooking the meat first. So I may do that tonight or tomorrow after work.

With the 10 I did prepare, I wrote out all the ingredients on the zip lock and the cooking instrutctions in Sharpie...make sure you don't put the Sharpie side of the baggie down on your countertops as I had nice little blue stains, thankfully they came off pretty easy! One pinner said they just chopped everything and then put things in their bag. For me, it was easier to get my baggies and chop what I needed for those bags and then set aside.

I did all the veggies first, then I added any sauces, spices, whatever else, then I added the meats. It worked out quite nice.

So these are the meals I prepared...

1. Honey Glaze Chicken (1 Bag)

2. Apple Dump Chicken (1 Bag)

3. Teriyaki Chicken (2 Bags)

4. BBQ Chicken (2 Bags)

5. Goulash (2 Bags)

6. Sausage and Peppers (2 Bags)

I really hope they turn out well, I guess even if they aren't the tastiest, it will still put food on the table.

So, here's what it looked like, I just kept everything out on the island and picked what I needed. This is everything minus the meats I used.

Here they are packaged and ready to be frozen.

And to their freezer home they go for the next few months.

Isn't that awesome??!! I am really excited to be so prepared.

Another thing I've been working on is cleaning...Those of you that know me, know that I really suck at it!  My good friend Amber would get "The Box" when we lived together in college, when I'd get too messy. Mike is a clean-freak...not so much on the everything has to be disinfected/scrubbed/dusted, clean-freak, he just wants everything to have it's place and be there. Me not so much. If it finds itself on the floor by the couch, that's good with me. I can go to bed with a messy room or things not put away and wake up with no problems.  I will say, I think I have rubbed off on Mike, a little. But now with Little Bit coming and the nesting really starting to set in, I've wanted things more picked up and clean lately. Once, I'm back on my feet after delivery, I get to spend up to 12 weeks at home with her and I am so excited. But I know I will need to have things picked up, so I am tyring to start a new lifestyle change for myself.

Again, with the help of Pinterst, I found some weekly cleaning chores. So far, I've only done one and a half days of it...not making that lifestyle change too quickly, am I? :) The big thing that all these different chores list have is that you don't have to do EVERYTHING all in one day. It's like they do a room/area for each day, then it's not suppose to be so overwhelming. So the Chore list that I like the most is this one.

Daily:

dishes

take out trash

wipe down stove & countertop

pick up & put away

wipe bathroom sinks & mirrors

make bed (though this will never happen unless I am washing the sheets or we are haivng people over)

vacuum as needed

laundry

Monday:

30 minutes

KITCHEN & DINING

sweep/mop

clean baseboards

wipe down walls, doors, cabinets

organize/clean out cabinets, refridgerator, & pantry

clean oven & microwave

dust ledges & blinds

clear cobwebs

wash windows

Tuesday:

30 minutes

LIVING ROOM

sweep/mop

clean baseboards

wipe down walls, doors, etc

dust

vacuum funiture

clean ceiling fan

wash windows and blinds

Wednesday:

30 minutes

MASTER BED & BATH

dust furniture

wipe down walls, doors

vacuum

clean baseboards

change sheets & towels

clean ceiling fan

hang up/put away clothes

clean toilet/shower/tub/vanity

organize/clean out vanity

Thursday:

30 minutes

GUEST ROOM & BATH

dust furniture

wipe down walls, doors

vacuum

clean baseboards

change sheets & towels

clean ceiling fan

hang up/put away clothes

clean toilet/tub/vanity

organize/clean out vanity

Friday:

30 minutes

KIDS ROOM

dust furniture

wipe down walls, doors

vacuum

clean baseboards

change sheets

clean ceiling fan

hang up/put away clothes & toys

Weekend:

NO CLEANING!!

Now, I have to be honest...I guess I hadn't really fully read ALL that was on that list, because it originally calls for Thursday being for the KIDS BATH and Friday for the GUEST BATH, so I feel I gained a little time in there.
There are definitely some kinks that I'd have to work out, but I really think this is a good start for me. When I did the Kitchen, it took way more than 30 minutes, so I don't know if they think doing all that only takes 30 minutes or if you're suppose to do a little of it each week.

Well there ya have it, my freezer meals and lifestyle change to cleaning...

Remember me mentioning Mike and I had our 5 year anniversary...and remember we went to Missouri a month or so ago to celebrate that and Babymoon.  So we didn't get each other anything. But I had this printed out on the ottoman (not where it was suppose to be) and Mike was picking up and he wanted to know where it went. I told him it needs to stay out so I will start doing it, so then he looked to see what it was, and I swear he was like a 5 year old on Christmas morning!  He was so excited that I had a plan to keep the house clean!  So Happy Anniversary to him!