I headed to Pinterest to get some inspiration. Here is a link to my Pinterest, and here is a link to a blog I found that is EVERYTHING, y'all. This lady is amazing. She gives detailed instructions on how to prepare everything (little to no pre-cooking is involved), and she also provides you with a grocery list! I don't really like leftovers for longer than a couple of days, so meal prepping for the week is hard for me. Also, I get tired of having the same thing over and over again. By freezing the meals, you get the convenience of meal prepping without the leftover taste.
I got home from work today and decided to bite the bullet and prepare the meals. I honestly had everything finished in less than an hour. The meals I prepped were chicken fajitas (2 freezer bags), spicy BBQ pulled pork (2 freezer bags), and crock pot chicken pot pie (1 freezer bag). The thought behind these meals is that you will have the main dish of the meal ready to go when you get home by cooking it in the crock pot. Then you can add any sides/extras to the meal when you're ready to eat. For example, with the chicken fajitas that I froze, I can make regular fajitas in tortillas with a side of refried beans. With the second bag I made I could do a burrito bowl with the chicken and peppers and add in Mexican cheese and rice.
Just some pointers for the whole process:
1) Get out everything you will need for each meal
2) Work on one meal at a time
3) Use ziplock freezer bags not just regular ziplock bags
4) Make sure you squeeze out as much air as possible before freezing
5) Thaw overnight in the fridge before putting food in the crockpot
6) Each freezer bag will last in the freezer for about 3 months
7) Date the freezer bags with a "use by" date
How cute are these measuring spoons?! I placed the spices next to the teaspoon amount that you will use in each recipe in the following pictures.
Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie - This recipe calls for you to add frozen tater tots at the end.. yum!
1/2 tsp of black pepper, salt, and celery seed
1/4 tsp of poultry seasoning
For this recipe, I had to make a sauce. This is the only recipe that required pre-cooking. Here is the finished product.
All of this made two freezer bags of chicken fajitas. I just cut up the chicken and peppers, sprinkled everything with juice from a lime, and added the spices.
1 tbsp of honey and 1 tbsp of chili powder
2 tsp of ground cumin and 1 tsp paprika
Chicken fajitas ready to go in the freezer.
Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork - For this recipe, you combine all of the ingredients then freeze. When you are ready to cook, add the contents of the freezer bag to a crock pot and a can of Dr. Pepper.
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
Pulled pork ready to go in the freezer.
As you can see, the recipes are very simple and straight forward. It is not complicated at all, and most of the ingredients I had on hand already. In less than an hour, I prepared five make ahead meals. I can't wait to make one and give y'all an update on if it is good or not. I don't plan on doing any more of the freezer meals until I test these out to make sure I like it. Let me know if any of you try these out! Again, these recipes are not mine. For the full recipe and grocery shopping list, click the link I listed above.
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For NYE, Tyler and I went to our friends' house. We loved getting to ring in the new year with some of our favorite people! I got to visit with my sorority sisters, friends from undergrad, Ashton's friends from law school that I came to love, and new friends from Charleston. We had a great time together! Evidently I was so consumed with hanging out with everyone that I didn't take a single picture the whole night. Okay, there is one picture on my phone from NYE that won't be making it on the blog. Tyler and I tried to take a selfie, and Lawdy was it bad! LOL Half of my face is cut out, and it is so blurry. Instead, I'll just end the blog with a picture that I stole from my friend Bree. Until next time.. Take care y'all!
