Freezer Meals: Take 1

So, my sister and I decided we wanted to make a bunch of freezer meals to have on hand and reduce our cooking time/cleanup throughout the month. I was expecting it to be easy peasy. Turns out it takes a long time and you are exhausted after cooking all day. But, after enjoying the fruits of my labor I can now say that it was totally worth it. And I am planning on doing it again! We tried to stick with "clean eating" recipes. Next time I want to venture out into some more gluten-free options. I already am planning my menu for the next big freezer meal cooking day! So without further ado, here are the recipes we used and some tips and tricks for along the way.

Super Bean Burritoes
(Vegetarian and super yummy, great for grab and go lunches or dinners when you are really rushed for time)

Baked Manicotti
(This one was excellent and also vegetarian, my only complaint was that I wish I would have made it into 2 smaller pans instead of 1 big pan because my family is smaller)
-For this one we didn't use the sauce recipe, instead we put a pre-made sugar-free marinara sauce in its place and it was excellent and cut down on prep time. I find mine at Costco (Kirkland brand or White Linen Collection)

Chicken Parm Casserole
(I haven't had this one yet, but it did smell delicious when making it. I plan to put it over rice or noodles)
-We used a rotisserie chicken from Costco as well as marinara from there as well for this and it was probably the easiest meal to put together!

Slow Cooker Quinoa Chili
(I haven't had this one yet but it was also super easy to put together and also a vegetarian option if you use vegetable stock)
-We didn't put the quinoa in with the other ingredients. We left that out and plan on adding it when we cook it in the slow cooker the day of.

Lara's Enchiladas
(This is my sister's recipe and a super easy, quick, yummy meal. I made this in 2 small batches)

-Rotisserie chicken
-Softened block of cream cheese
-Red mild enchilada sauce
-Black olives, chopped
-1 packet taco seasoning (We used my premade seasoning from previous post)
-1 small can of green chiles
-Shredded cheese of choice (monterey jack is great, mexican blend, cheddar, its up to you)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and use a hand mixer or stand mixer to mix everything together. It isn't precise because we have never measured. Pour enough enchilada sauce to give it taste but not too much so that the filling is a runny mess. Put the filling in tortillas, roll up, and put in a pan. Freeze. Save a small can of enchilada sauce to go on top and extra cheese as well. To bake: Thaw in fridge, pour sauce and cheese over top. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, or until the sauce and cheese is all bubbly and delicious.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
(Um, SO good, I even forgot to add lime to mine and they still turned out amazing!)
-We used a rotisserie chicken for this one as well. I will for sure make this one again. Loved it.

Dressed Up Sloppy Joes
(I loved this one as well. It reminded me a lot of my mom's sloppy joe recipe, you could also use ground turkey if you like)

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
(I lied, this one was probably the easiest to throw together!)
-Make the coleslaw they recommend the day you make this. I hate coleslaw and I couldn't get enough of their's!

Meatballs
(I have made these before and they are probably my favorite meatball recipe that I have ever tried. I will probably make these every time we have a big freezer meal day because they are so yummy!)

Okay, so it took us 5 hours to do all of this (it was our first time and I think next time will go much quicker...I hope). I was able to break these up into smaller portions for my family and got about 30 meals out of all of this! It has made this month SO easy when it comes to cooking and cleaning...I HATE cleaning...

My tips:
-If a recipe calls for chicken, get a rotisserie chicken from Costco. For reals. It tastes delicious and cuts down on prep time! Plus they are so cheap!
-For sauces, find clean pre-made ones! Don't take the time to make them from scratch. It isn't worth it. Seriously pre-made marinara is amazing, USE IT!
-Make sure you label bags before you put food in. Trust me! I labeled everything and put instructions on how to cook everything on the bag, plus extras I may need to eat (such as buns for the pulled pork, etc)
-Get disposable tinfoil pans for items that won't fit in a bag. I got a few smaller (8X8) and a few larger (9X13). Because my family is smaller than my sister's (she has 5 kids), we ended up with different portion sizes. Next time I will for sure make mine into smaller portion sizes and skip using the larger pans.
-My last suggestion: Find someone to do it with you! It makes it so much easier if you have someone working on it with you because you can break down jobs and each of you could focus on 1 recipe for the both of you. Highly reccommend this one!

Have you ever done a freezer meal cooking day before? We honestly were beat by the end of the day and our feet were killing us. I also was questioning whether it was worth it. After 1 week of enjoying freezer meals, I can happily report that it was totally worth it. Now I just need a bigger freezer because I am a bit obsessed...

DIY Seasoning Packets

I have seen these floating around Pinterest for awhile now and had good intentions of doing them myself. I just never got around to it. Today I finally crossed it off my list and I felt super accomplished afterwards. Then I took a nap. Because that is how I roll.

I chose these particular mixes because they are the ones I use the most. Taco seasoning is almost a weekly usage in this house. Dry onion soup mix is my favorite for crockpot roasts or great for dip. Ranch dressing mix because I could drink ranch dressing (and by the amount I consume, I pretty much do just drink it). And Zesty Italian Dressing mix I love for a rub on roasts or chicken. I have never actually made the dressing for that one. Basically all 4 are awesome flavor enhancers. But the packaged ones are full of MSG, sugars, and other nasty stuff that just AREN'T needed in our diet. All of mine are also gluten free (which, yes we eat gluten in this house but these DON'T need gluten so why add it??)

There are a million and one different versions of each of these but I whittled it down to ones I thought looked the best and also omitted the sugar (because, duh, we don't need more sugar in our lives). All of these are Whole30 friendly as long as you use the best spices (watch for any unwanted ingredients, like sugar or gluten, in the spices you use, only use the best!).

I scaled these recipes to fit a wide mouth pint sized jar.

Taco Seasoning 
I used Rubies and Radishes recipe. No changes. It is by far my favorite. I discovered it on Whole30 and almost ate an entire pan of taco meat before I served it to my family because it was so delicious. I just multiplied her recipe by 6 in order to get enough to fill my pint sized jar.

I would use 2 Tablespoons per pound of meat.

Dry Onion Soup Mix
I used the recipe from Stockpiling Moms, but omitted the sugar. This one smelled so good and I am really excited about the turmeric in it. I feel like it will give such an awesome added flavor boost. I would double this recipe.

4 Tablespoons equals 1 package of dry onion soup mix.

Ranch Seasoning Mix
I used the recipe from Gimme Some Oven for this one. I omitted the dried buttermilk. Because of this you are going to need to multiply the recipe by about 5 to get enough to fill your pint jar.

3 Tablespoons are equal to 1 packet.

To make homemade ranch mix 1 Tablespoon of the seasoning with 1/3 each mayo and milk.

Zesty Italian Dressing Mix
I liked the recipe from I Believe I Can Fry the best. I omitted the sugar and the red/green bell pepper mix (because it was optional and I couldn't find it).

2 Tablespoons equals 1 packet.

To make the dressing (which I never have but maybe I will now?) you mix 2 Tablespoons of the seasonings with 2 Tablespoons water, 1/4 cup vinegar, 2/3 cup oil, best if chilled in the fridge for a few hours.

So there you have it. Now stop perusing Pinterest for the best ones out there...because I already did that for you. Let me know if you try this! I would love to see! As always, you can follow me on Instagram @darcieats (where I post much more frequently but am trying to post more here too!).

Day 26

Day 26

Meal 1: Breakfast salad {lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, chicken apple sausage, egg over easy} I used the runny yolk of the egg as dressing and it was delicious. Runny yolk is the best yolk.

Meal 2: Turkey, avocado, cucumber, tomato, mayo, spicy mustard lettuce wraps.

Meal 3: Lemon Pepper Chicken with a side salad full of veggies.

 I made a big batch of chicken for the week to toss on salads or have for dinner. The right is lemon pepper (Mrs. Dash salt-free), the left is Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning. Both are delicious!

My Thoughts:

Everything is great. I really miss cheese though. A lot. :)

Prep Days!

In order to prepare myself for Whole30 I wanted to make sure I had enough food ready to go so that I could set myself up for success. I am a busy mom to 2, so I need to make sure this is as easy as possible for me. I took 2 days to prep (you could do it in 1 but, like I said, I had to plan around my schedule, my husbands schedule, and Bubbs and MJ).

Day 1: Big Costco trip and veggie prep

I got a lot of organic meats, fruits, and veggies at Costco.

-Peppers
-Spinach
-Mushrooms
-Limes
-Raspberries
-Strawberries
-Sweet Potatoes
-Frozen Broccoli (I love these because they come in 4-1lbs microwavable baggies, I love to make my life easier)

-Frozen Green Beans (again, making life a little easier)
-Asparagus
-Cucumbers
-Tomatoes
-Blueberries
-Grapes (oh man, I LOVE Costco grapes)
-Pre-made guacamole (Wholly Guacamole and Tableside individual servings are both compliant)
-Ground Beef
-Ground Turkey
-Chicken Breasts
-Aidell's Chicken and Apple Sausage (Whole30 compliant, don't know about other flavors, read the labels)

-Kirkland brand Albacore (compliant, check other brands for sneaky things like soy, they will be a no-go)

I like to wash and chop up all my produce when I get home from the store. I then store them in mason jars. I have been storing veggies and fruits in mason jars for awhile now for a few reasons:

1. They make my fridge so organized and clean.
2. They keep food fresh longer.
3. Once everything is pre-cut and ready I am able to prepare meals faster.
4. It makes snacking much easier (hello beautiful cucumbers! Yes I will eat you right away!)
5. I am able to get my kids healthy snacks quickly instead of reaching for the crackers or sugar-filled go-gurts.
6. I know exactly what is in my fridge and have no excuses NOT to use everything up.

And here is the beautiful proof (non-Whole30 items are for the kids and hubster):

Day 2: Big cooking day

Now, on Day 2, I made a trip to my regular grocery store for small things that I didn't need in bulk (fresh herbs, spices, small ingredients for recipes). I then went home and made all these recipes.

Crockpot Sweet Potatoes from PaleOMG

Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Rice from The Clothes Make the Girl (she has some AMAZING resources on her site, BTW)

**I will warn you, this is going to make your house STINK. I was nervous about this one because I hate cauliflower (and my house smelled horrible the whole time it was cooking), but guess what guys...this is bomb. Like for reals. Super yummy. I used my Blendtec to get the cauliflower to the right consistency. I had to blend in small batches. It was super easy and I would HIGHLY recommend this recipe!**


Paleo Crockpot Meatballs from Once a Month Meals (I have used this site for recipe inspiration for a LONG time because all their recipes are freezer friendly).

**I didn't use the almond flour (because I didn't have any on hand). I also double the sauce recipe because I feel like you can never have enough sauce! Using a garlic press helps a LOT with this one. Also, I tasted this one and it seemed to be missing something...maybe more salt and pepper? Nothing that can't be fixed when serving. I got 12 large meatballs out of this and froze half of them to eat another week.


Italian Pork Roast also from The Clothes Make the Girl
**This one takes a long time to cook, so I would recommend starting it the night before and letting it cook all night and then finishing up the next day. Thank goodness for slow cookers! I don't have a picture of this one because it is currently still cooking, but it does smell absolutely amazing. I mean, slow-cooked pork. How could you go wrong with that??

Ground Turkey and Veggies (this was one of my own creations)

-Ground Turkey
-Chopped Peppers (I used a little bit of red, yellow, and orange)
-Diced mushrooms
-Diced Onion
-Salt and Pepper
-Italian Seasoning, or any seasoning you want (always check your seasonings to make sure they are Whole30 compliant)

I just tossed them all into the pan and sauteed it up. It is delicious with guacamole over it! I know the picture doesn't look amazing but really this was good.

Cilantro Dressing (another one of my own creations)
I am not SUPER excited about this one. It is good but I feel like the olive oil is too strong. I used Extra Virgin and next time I am going to use Light Tasting.

-Juice of 6 Limes (mine were tiny, you would use less limes if yours are bigger)
-1/2 a cup or so of Olive Oil
-a couple pinches of salt
-an entire bunch of cilantro (oh man I love cilantro)

Blend it up. Taste and adjust to your liking.

Mayo from The Clothes Make the Girl
**I LOVE mayo. Have you ever checked the ingredients on store-bought mayo? I have never cared until I started this journey. Hello nasty ingredients! I was so nervous to make my own, but it worked. You GUYS...I have never felt so hardcore in my life. I freaking made mayo! From scratch! And it was DELICIOUS!! I also was able to use farm-fresh eggs from my neighbors (I am lucky to have lots of neighbors with lots of chickens and lots of extra eggs). To make this work, really read through ALL her notes. And have patience!! I plan to use this with my tuna.

Ranch Dressing from The Clothes Make the Girl
**As much as I love mayo...times that by 20 and that is my love for ranch dressing. This is awesome. I don't think I will go back to store bought ever again! You GUYS...did you get the fact that I MADE MAYO?? This blows my mind.

I just had to throw in a picture of my beautiful farm-fresh eggs. Like these were right out of the chicken's butt. What a beauty!!

Prep days are SUPER important. They set you up for success, and that is what we all want, right??