For the past year of grad school, I've taken advantage of the breaks in between quarters to cook like a madwoman and freeze home-cooked meals so that I don't have to cook during the quarter, and when I'm in class at night, my husband can still have his home-cooked meals that he can just warm up. He's spoiled! So this year....we got a Costco card! I always thought it was silly to have a Costco card when I live in a two-person household, but since I'm cooking enough meals to last three months at a time, meat and veggies can get expensive at the regular grocery store around the corner from our house!
Next quarter I am taking two classes, and tomorrow I'm starting to work on a new case that should be in depositions mostly every day for the next couple of months. We also may be getting an addition to our family within the next month or so (more on this later! trying not to get my hopes up too much before it is actually official), hence the need for ready-cooked meals, at least until I graduate in June.
So here's what I cooked today after a trip to Costco (which is VERY dangerous, by the way. I can see how ladies get on that coupon/hoarders show if they have a Costco card):
2 meatloaves, recipe on my blog (the two loaves are around 12 servings)
2 pots of marinara and meatballs (around 16 servings)
1 crock pot of turkey chili, my favorite! recipe on my blog (around 18 servings)
14 twice-baked broccoli cheddar potatoes, which my family will be sampling tomorrow for dinner with the meatloaf. On other nights, we can just grill up some chicken to go with it, which we bought tons of at Costco to freeze, too (so...14 servings, ha!)
This weekend I will make:
Albondiga soup, recipe is on my blog if you want to search it (around 12 servings)
Chicken noodle soup in case we need comfort food during cold/flu season (12 servings)
Tortilla Chicken Soup (12 servings)
Stuffed peppers (12 servings)
I know this sounds crazy, but that equals over 100 meals, totaling $3 a meal. I freeze them in freezer-safe, heat-safe plastic containers and thaw them the morning I want to serve them for dinner. I've frozen all these recipes before, and they freeze beautifully! You really can't tell that they weren't just cooked. Anyone have ideas for what else I could make that freezes well? Post a response!
Happy holidays, all!
OK, that's awesome. You are a rock star--100 meals all ready to go? Sheesh, lady! And did you reallly just slip a nugget of awesomeness into this post???? OK, waiting on tenterhooks, but understand about not getting hopes up. (OMG!!).
ReplyDeleteI will get my hopes up for you!
ReplyDeleteI also freeze meals. Chicken or cheese enchiladas freeze well. Broccoli cheese soup or potato soup are also good.
I freeze lentil soup, beef stew (but I take out the potatoes after we eat it fresh and put new ones in because potatoes in soup change consistency after freezing), a Moroccan chicken lentil dish (SO GOOD), and turkey/chicken soup (made after we have a roast chicken/turkey and have stock). I love Costco, especially their natural peanut butter. I wish I had enough freezer space to do that many meals--do you have a chest freezer? It's one of my life goals (unlikely to be realized while we live in NYC!). Sounds like you are keeping busy busy busy while waiting and not getting our hopes up.
ReplyDelete