My local grocer, Food Lion, marks down their meat the middle of each week. Today I stopped by with freezer meals in mind but no set menu. I tend to keep a well stocked pantry with chicken and beef broth, canned fruits and vegetables, starches like rice and pasta and of course lots of seasoning. That usually leaves me needing only meats and vegetables. The go-to veggies that are always in my cart are onions, bell peppers, carrots and celery. I try to buy onions and potatoes when they're on sale; today they were BOGO. I also always have a jar of minced garlic in the fridge. (I find that, while a little more expensive, the minced garlic is a huge time saver.)
After returning home with my goodies, I looked through my recipes to decide just what I was going to put together. I settled on six crockpot dishes: Pot Roast, Sweet & Sour Pork, Turkey Breast, Easy Beef Stew, Orange Pork Roast and Italian Beef & Barley Soup
One of the best tips I ever got from my grandmother is to setup and clean-up. She taught me to organize my meal prep by gathering all my ingredients first, looking at what needed to be chopped and measured as well as anything that might need to be drained or browned. By doing this first, putting any meal together should be a snap. She also taught me to clean as I go. Anytime I'm cooking I check that my dishwasher is empty first. I know I'll be making dirty dishes, so clearing out the dishwasher first allows me to just rinse whatever I'm using and throw it in the washer real fast. This leaves me plenty of room for prep and cooking, and BONUS less clean-up time when I'm done!
After getting all my ingredients together, chopping the veggies and slicing any meats needed I was ready to put my meals together.
I began with labeling all of my baggies. Using gallon sized freezer bags and a permanent marker, I labeled each bag with the dish, the date put together, instructions for cooking and any extras that need to be added at cook time.
Then I went through each recipe filling each bag with the necessary ingredients. It's best to put any dry seasoning in your bags first adding your meat next. That way when you seal the bag and shake gently, you should get a even coat of seasoning on your meat.
Of course, make sure your bag is sealed well and don't be too rough. Or else you'll end up with a mess like I did :-)
Here are my six meals completed and ready to freeze!
Make sure you make room in your freezer to lay these as flat as possible. Once they're frozen, you can rearrange as needed.
Now.... Here are my recipes and my cost break-down! All of these meals are plenty enough to feed my family of 3 adults plus have left-overs for the freezer or for lunches (About 6 servings).
Pot Roast
1lb. potatoes, peeled & cubed
3 lbs. boneless pork loin roast (I used beef this time because it was on sale)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 1Tbsp. from my jar)
16 oz. baby carrots (Normally, I would use chopped carrots, but I actually didn't buy enough today. So I will be adding this at cooking time.)
1/2 tsp. tarragon (Can use an Italian seasoning blend)
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth
(I added celery to this recipe because I had extra.)
Place all dry seasoning and Dijon mustard into bag. Add roast, seal bag and coat the meat. Add potatoes, onion, garlic and carrots. Seal flatten and freeze bag. Add beef broth at cook time. Cook on high for 4 - 4 1/2 hours or on low for 8 - 9 hours.
Cost:
roast: $7.46
potatoes: 40c
onion:45c
celery: 36c
Total: $8.67 or $1.45 per serving
*I will only need to add my carrots and beef broth at cooking time
Sweet & Sour Pork
2 lbs. boneless pork, 1" thick and cubed
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. white pepper (Black is fine if you don't have white.)
2 onions, chopped
1/3 cup vinegar
2 cans pineapple chunks, drained & reserving juice
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cup pineapple juice
Place all dry seasoning into bag. Add pork, seal bag and coat the meat. Add onions, peppers and carrots. Seal, flatten and freeze bag. Add 1 cup of pineapple juice at cook time. Cook on high for 4 - 4 1/2 hours or on low for 8 - 9 hours. With 15 minutes left in cook time, combine vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce and 1/2 cup pineapple juice. Add to the pot along with pineapple chunks. Continue cooking on high for 15 minutes. Serve over hot rice or couscous.
Cost:
pork chops: $6.20
peppers: 99c
carrots: 28c
onions: 90c
pineapple: pantry staple
Total $8.37 or $1.40 per serving
*I will only need to add sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and pineapple with juice at cooking time.
Turkey Breast
4-6 lbs. turkey breast, chopped (I leave mine whole)
2 onions, chopped
1 lb. carrots, sliced
2 tsp. thyme
1/2 cup white wine (or water)
1 tsp. poultry seasoning (I used a chicken rub instead)
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. pepper
Place all dry seasoning into bag. Add turkey, seal bag and coat the meat. Add onions, celery, carrots & garlic. Seal, flatten and freeze bag. Add chicken broth and white wine at cooking time. Cook on high for 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours or on low for 5 - 7 hours.
Cost:
turkey: $12.78
onions: 90c
carrots: 28c
celery: 36c
Total: $14.32 or $2.39 per serving
*I will only need to add chicken broth and white wine at cooking time.
Easy Beef Stew
4 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat (I used eye of the round this time because it was on sale)
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
14 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
Place all dry seasoning into bag. Add beef, seal bag and coat the meat. Add potatoes, peppers, onions, celery, carrots & tomatoes. Seal, flatten and freeze bag. Add water at cooking time. Cook on high for 3 1/2 - 4 hours or on low for 7 - 8 hours.
Cost:
beef: $3.06
onions: 90c
carrots: 28c
celery: 36c
peppers: 99c
tomatoes: pantry staple (I stock-up when they're BOGO)
Total: $5.99 or 95c per serving
*I will only need to add water at cooking time.
Orange Pork Roast
3 1/2 pork roast, shoulder or butt (whatever is on sale)
12 oz. can frozen orange juice, thawed
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. cold water
In a bowl combine juice, salt, pepper and sugar. Whisk to combine. Place roast and onion in bag and pour liquid on top. Seal and freeze bag. Cook on high for 3 hours. Reduce to low and cook another 3 hours. Remove roast and onions. Skim fat from pot and pour liquid into saucepan. Blend flour and water and add to saucepan. Bring to a boil whisking frequently 'til thick. Serve gravy with roast and onions.
Cost:
roast: $12.53
onions: 90c
orange juice: $2.49
Total: $15.92 or $2.65 per serving
*I will only need to add flour and water at cooking time.
Italian Beef & Barley Soup
1 1/2 lbs. beef sirloin (I used half of my eye of the round from earlier)
3 carrots, sliced
1 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 carton beef broth
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 - 1 cup barley
1 can of Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
*I use 2 tsp. Italian seasoning blend to make it easy
Place all dry seasoning into bag. Add beef, seal bag and coat the meat. Add onions, celery, carrots & tomatoes. Seal, flatten and freeze bag. Add barley and & beef broth at cooking time. Cook on high for 4 - 5 hours or on low for 8 - 10 hours.
Cost:
beef: $3.05
onions: 90c
carrots: 28c
celery: 36c
tomatoes: pantry staple
Total: $4.59 or 77c per serving
*I will only need to add barley and beef broth at cooking time.
Hopefully these freezer meals will be easy enough for Mike to make on his own. They are tried and true recipes for us. The Orange Pork Roast is one of Matt's favorites! My total cost for all six meals was $57.86. Not bad considering each is enough for 6 servings!
Give these recipes a try, with or without the freezing, and let me know what you think! Also, share your recipes and freezer tips. I'm always looking for more good stuff.
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