For the past few weeks, like any expectant mother, I have been thinking about doing some prep work and planning ahead for when the baby arrives. One of the ideas that I had was to plan out, shop for and prepare some crock pot meals that can be frozen then thawed and cooked with little time or effort on my part. I spent some time browsing around online and found a few websites for inspiration. My initial plan was to select several recipes, prepare a shopping list with all of the ingredients we will need then go from there. However, since Kevin and I pretty much never cook from a recipe, we scrapped that idea and decided to just wing it.
Before I go any farther, I have to say that I have the absolute most awesome husband in the world. When I told him about my plan, he was all about it and jumped in head first to help. So... we made our plans for Saturday (mind you, we only get one out of every 6 weekends off together and this weekend was our last weekend off together before the baby arrives)... and Operation MakeAShitloadOfCrockpotMeals was born. :)
Saturday morning, we went to the local farmer's market and stocked up on as many fresh veggies are we could. Unfortunately, the selection wasn't too great this weekend, so we didn't end up with much. I would love to buy our meats and such from the market, but the price
is just unreasonable. :(
So... next up was BJs (Similar to Sams Club or
Costco)
We loaded up on meats- bought a HUGE beef chuck roast and pork roast,
then asked to have them cut into smaller roasts and stew size pieces (less work for us later!). We got 2 large packages of boneless skinless
chicken, a large package of ground beef and a large package of hot sausage.
We needed more vegetables, since the farmer's market wasn't so hot this week. We were torn on what kind (fresh vs frozen) of veggies to get, but
ended up going with frozen... less hassle/prep and BJ's prices were great on
their organic bulk frozen veggies.
Last up, we bought a handful of popular spices/seasonings in bulk (Ranch dressing mix, Onion soup mix, Italian seasoning, BBQ seasoning/sauce) as well as a few marinades, everything
else we had at home.
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| The prep... |
When we got home, I began labeling gallon size Ziploc freezer bags and
making index cards for each meal with the ingredients and the recipe. I highlighted anything we will need to buy
later.
Meanwhile, DH prepped all of the veggies that were not frozen (potatoes, onions,
carrots, garlic), then put all veggies (fresh and frozen) in their own
individual bowl.
Finally, we started preparing the bags.
DH worked on the meat, then I went through with a measuring cup and
scooped the veggies into the bags. Last,
we added any necessary seasoning and sealed the bags. Dropped them into the freezer and... voila!! We were able to make 36 meals out of our ingredients, several of them large enough to yield seconds for sure. I must say, we are quite proud of ourselves. :)
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| The finished products!! 36 meals!! |
I did a price breakdown,and the total came to about $200...
I did use several ingredients that I had in my pantry already (olive
oil, hot sauce, different seasonings, etc) that I didn't account for...
Also, a few of the meals will require some sort of dairy to be added
prior to serving, but it makes no sense to buy it now because it will spoil
before we need it. We will just buy
these as we need them. As such, I did
not account for this in the total, but it shouldn't add more than $10-$15.
Also, several of the meals will be served with pasta, rice or bread...
which I also did not account for. We
have a ridiculous pasta/rice stash and will buy the bread as we need it. These were not factored into the total, but
shouldn't add more than $10-$15.
That said, all in all I think
the grand total is probably closer to $6/meal.
Below is the price breakdown and a list of the meals I made... If you are interested in any
recipes, let me know. They are all super
super easy!!
We are soooooo very glad we did this today. Not only did we take one hassle away from the
hectic transition to parenthood and save a boatload of money... but it was
actually a really fun day with the hubby.
Win win!!
Price Breakdown...
Meat:
Ground Beef: $2.75/lb, approximately 6 lbs- total $16.56
Beef Roast: $2.99/lb, approximately 15 lbs- total $45.60
Pork Loin: $2.49/lb, approximately 8 lbs- total $20.10
Boneless skinless chicken breast: $1.89/lb, approximately 11.5 lbs-
total $21.90
Hot Italian Sausage: $2.99/lb, approximately 3 lbs, total- $9.12
Veggies:
Potatoes: $4.69 for 10 lbs (only used half, so $2.35)
Carrots: $5.58 for 6 lbs
Broccoli: $6.59
Corn: $6.39
Green Beans: $5.99
Peppers & Onions: $5.99
Peas: $6.39
Canned diced tomatoes: $5.39 for 8 cans
Canned tomato sauce: $6.59 for 12 cans
Onion: 3 at 3 for $1.00
Garlic: 3 at 3 for $2.00
Seasonings and Marinades:
Onion Soup Mix: $3.49 for 12
packets (only used 2/3, so $2.33)
Italian dressing: $2.99
Ranch Dressing Mix: $2.99 for 4 packets
Basil & Garlic: $4.99
Various seasoning packets: 6 at $1.00/each- total $6.00
General Tso Marinade: $4.19
Teriyaki Marinade $1.99
Soy Sauce: $1.00
Ziploc Bags- Gallon Freezer- $11.99- $3.00 coupon (used ¼, so $2.25)
Total: 195.27
Meals
- Sausage with Peppers and Onions with sauce
- Sausage with Peppers and Onions without sauce
- General Tso Chicken
- General Tso Chicken
- Crack Chicken
- Italian Herb Chicken
- Chicken Fajitas
- Chicken with Corn and Black Beans
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Jerk Chicken
- Chicken-n-Dumplings
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Brown Sugar Bourbon Chicken
- Beef Stroganoff
- Beef Stroganoff
- Beef Stew
- Beef Stew
- Extra Veggie Beef Stew
- Savory Beef Roast
- Italian Style Beef Roast
- Asian Beef and Broccoli
- Spicy Tomato Beef Roast
- 3 Envelope Beef Sliders
- Philly Cheese Steak
- Dino BBQ Pulled Pork
- Paula Deen Pulled Pork
- Savory Pork Roast
- Creamy Ranch Pork Roast
- Asian Pork Roast
- Spicy Asian Pork Strips
- Hawaiian Luau Pork
- Beef Tacos
- Spicy Ranch Burgers
- Meat and Pepper Sauce (for Spaghetti/Ziti)
- Meat and Pepper Sauce (for Spaghetti/Ziti)
- Meat and Pepper Sauce (for Spaghetti/Ziti)
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