is my freezer.
Why have I not used this guy to it's full potential in the past!?
I'm am slowly learning all the ways my freezer can save me time and money. Sure, in the past I've frozen some things, but have not made conscious decisions to buy things just to put them in the freezer for a later date.
Yesterday, for the first time, I cut up a 10 lb tube of ground beef and divided it into smaller portions. Instead of packaging them into 1 lb bags like they are sold in stores, I divided the tube into 12 sections, or about .8 lb bags. I originally bought the (80/20) ground beef on sale for $1.69/lb but now it comes out to be about $1.40/package. When used in things, my family will never notice the difference.
I used the cutting board to squash the meat down flat so that they would store better in the freezer. I even cooked up three packages so on my especially lazy/short on time days I can just toss it in to whatever I'm cooking. We don't even use ground beef that much, so this should last us awhile.
My next goal is to make meals ahead of time and freeze them, so they are ready to thaw and cook or just go straight from the freezer to the oven. There have been many nights that I have gone astray from my weekly menu because Wade has called me to inform me he'd be home late that night. And instead of fighting with grumpy, whiney kids while I try to make supper, it's a much easier solution to grab Subway or a pizza on the way home. So, if I know that I've got supper waiting for me in the freezer, I'll save our family some money!
Any great freezer recipes you'd like to reccommend?
Oh, and if I wasn't feeling proud enough already for dividing up my own meat (which took me about an hour from start to finish), my kids played nicely together with play-doh that I had made for them awhile back.
And finally, this is what we had for part of our lunch today. (Leftover hamburger bun, banana slices, peach jelly, cut up prunes, marshmallow, peanut butter) Cute! (Better known as "We-need-to-get-groceries-what-can-I-scrape-up-for-lunch?" Did you notice our bare freezer?!)
2 comments:
I love everything about this post! We do the same thing with the ground beef and are actually considering a small chest freezer for the basement because our freezer is almost always overpacked! I love the idea of frozen meals and if you find any good ones, send me the recipe! My favorite thing about this post is that your kids played together nicely with playdough. Can you teach me how you got them to do that?!?
Ha! I, too, was amazed at how long they played together and did so well until the play-doh started flying and landed on my cutting board.
And you'll have to give me more tips if you've been doing this for awhile! What else works for you?
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