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“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.
This week I prepared chicken soup and meatloaf for the freezer (well, I will prepare the meatloaf tonight).
I ran across a recipe for chicken soup that suggested 2 things I don’t do when I make chicken soup and I loved the ideas!
- skim the “scum” off the chicken as it is cooking (now why have I never thought to do that) and simmer, don’t boil
- do NOT cook the noodles in the soup…cook them separate, put some in the bottom of the bowl and pour the hot soup on top of it (this works for leftovers, store the leftover noodles in a container and put them in the bowl cold, and pour reheated soup on top)
For my meatloaf, I do not make them in a loaf pan. It sort of gags me to think of meat cooking and sitting in its own fat for an hour. *shudder* And we all like the crusty part. When I make it I make 4-6 (depending on how many pounds of hamburg I cook) large patties and cook them in a 400 degree oven on a broiler pan. The fat falls below, they get nice and crusty all over and they cook in 15-20 minutes.
For freezing, I cook them, cool and freeze. Sometimes I’ll slice them before I freeze so I can use slices in Kevin’s lunches. Either way, they thaw quickly and just a quick reheating and they taste great!
So, what did YOU prepare for your freezer this week? Do you have a post you’d like to link up? Or just share a freezer meal in the comments. Let’s encourage one another to prepare ahead for lean times or times of ministry!
- 6 Weeks To A Faithful Freezer
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
- Week 5
- Week 6
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What's Up Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Raising Mighty Arrows Thursdays, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Home Focused Friday, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end
Not cooking the noodles OR the potatoes in the soup was a revelation to me too! It just sat so much better in the bowl and our tummies! here is a GREAT meatloaf “trick”…place slices of bread under the loaf while it bakes. This absorbed a LOT of the greases and makes for a much tastier meatloaf! Any bread will do…just toss the grody bread afterwards :0)!
I cannot wait to stock our freezer again. It was sorely depleted after our vacation and we have just not been able to bounce back yet! It sure would have helped this week with my wrapped/stitched up hand!
Our ALL time favorite freezer meal has GOT to be lasagna! Or even Ziti. It always tastes scrumptious!
Donna, what a great idea with the bread. I never would have thought of it. Yep, lasagna is also a favorite here. But if I made 2, I’d have to freeze the other one SUPER fast or it would just be gone! ;D
I will join you starting this coming week. We have been on vacation the past 3 weeks, so I depleted my freezer before we left. I need to restock for my family and for ministry meals for all the expectant moms at church.
Wow 3 weeks for a vacation…what a HUGE blessing for you all!!! Restocking seems to be on the rise for many of us.
I’m single, and hate cooking for myself everyday, but I’ve gotten sick of buying food at work, so I’m on the freezer bandwagon now! Last week I made a chicken crockpot thing. 4 chicken breasts, can of corn, can of black beans, jar of salsa, cook all night. In the morning, put a block of cream cheese for the last half hour, then add juice of half a lime, some green onion, and salt and pepper to taste and some cilantro if you like it, and stir it up. I eat mine with tortilla chips, but it would be also good over rice. Super easy.
Today I’m making potato soup, and I’ll freeze most of it in baggies.
Goosey, that sounds wonderful — except I’d leave out the cilantro!
Thanks for stopping by.