Spring II is in the Freezer

There's a new month of meals in my freezer and a smile on my face.

Wednesday - print the menu and review the grocery list  (30 minutes)
Thursday - shop for the food (Sam's Club, Costco, Target) (2 1/2 hours)
Friday - quick trip to Vons for final ingredients; cook (10 minutes; 4 hours)
Friday night - relax with 32 meals labeled, stacked and ready to go!

And so went my week.  As I sit here writing I realize that once again, I spent way more time concerning myself with how and when to cook than I actually did cooking or preparing a month's worth of dinners.

I heard financial wizard, Dave Ramsey, this week talk about his plan to get out of debt and he recommends starting with the smallest bill first to build momentum for paying down the total.  Well, that is just how I approach my once-a-month cooking as well.  I always start with the easiest items to prepare and build endurance for the more difficult recipes as I see the meals filling up my freezer.  Here's what I did today:

Freeze beef and pork roasts, French rolls, hamburger patties, and Jimmy Dean sausage.
Clean the two chickens and re-bag in Ziplocs before freezing.

Attack the ground beef or ground turkey.
          Make the meatloaf and freeze.
          Brown 2 packages of meat, one at a time, for tacos and taco salad.
          Brown one package for pasta sauce.
          Brown one package for Cowboy Casserole.  Then finish the casserole.  Freeze.

Cool meats and then freeze.
Next is chicken.  Boil 6 large breasts for white chili and chicken noodle casserole.
Cut remaining 8 breasts in half.  Put 8 pieces in a Ziploc bag with teriyaki sauce for bar-b-quing.  Use remaining 8 pieces for Chicken in Mushroom Sauce.  Prepare and freeze.
When the chicken that is boiling is cooked, prepare White Chili and Casserole.  Cool and freeze.
Make cheese enchiladas.
Save quiches to make on the day of for best flavor using fresh mushrooms.
Prepare Orange-Cranberry glaze for pork roast and freeze.

The new menu is on display in my kitchen with notes.  In the bottom right corner I put a green dot when the meal is completed and in the freezer or panty.  For meals that will be cooked fresh from scratch, I write "fresh" in red over the menu item.  Of course,  I cross off each meal as we eat it.   If I purchase something pre-packaged during the month I will add it to the end of the menu plan, as I did here with Garlic Chicken.

With summer coming it's a great opportunity to try some long-range planning.  Meats for the bar-b-que freeze well and can marinate while defrosting if you store them in Ziploc bags and pour in the marinade.