Meal Prepping...Freezer Meals

 I went grocery shopping early on Saturday morning as soon as we got home, I started on my freezer meals.  Here is a photo of 21 finished meals that went into the freezer!

 I mixed up a couple of pounds of meatloaf mixture...

 I ended up putting them in the mini loaf pans.  Sometimes we only need a tiny meatloaf and if I need more then I will bake a couple of them.  You can either bake them ahead of time or just freeze them raw.  I do it both ways but these are frozen raw.  I ended up with 6 of these.

 I covered them with some sauce and covered them with foil and into the freezer they went.  Just thaw and bake!

 I made 7 more Tater Tot Casseroles...this is before I added the cheese.

 I added a good thick layer of cheese, covered with foil and into the freezer they went!

 Also 5 more Baked Spaghetti's!

 Also I forgot to take a photo of them but you can see them in the complete photo here....Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops.  They will just go in the freezer and then cooked in the Crock Pot.  I ended up with 3 of those. 

 I also had a package of boneless chicken breast that I split up into 4 packs of 2 chicken breasts each.  Those will be used for various meals. 

 After a few hours of work everything was finished and in the freezer!  Then I decided that we would have one of the baked spaghetti's with some garlic toast for supper. 

 Just some freezer meal ideas!  This is so much easier for me not to mention it also saves money in the long run!

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Tater Tot Casserole Freezer Meal...

 Early this morning I started making a few Tater Tot Casseroles!  Yum-Yum!   These are very simple to make ahead and freeze and also very versatile.  You an add anything that you want and I usually add more than I did in these but I just used what I had.  :)

 I started with 2 lbs of lean ground beef and a chopped onion.  Fried those up and also added some garlic seasoning, salt, pepper, and some chili powder.  If I have it on hand I will also add some green peppers or even a can of kidney beans. 

 Here are the other ingredients that I add....cream of mushroom soup, tater tots and cheddar cheese!!!

 First I spray my pans with nonstick spray and drain my meat mixture really well.  I divide out my meat mixture into my pans.

 Add a layer of cream of mushroom soup over the meat mixture...

 Add a layer of tater tots....

 Another layer of cream of mushroom soup...

 Top it with a good coating of cheddar cheese!!!

 In total I ended up with 5 loaf pans...that's 5 meals!!!!  That comes to a little over $3 per meal!!!!!

 I covered these with foil and wrote the baking directions on top.  Since everything is precooked all I have to do it pop them in the oven to heat through.  I usually bake them at 350 until the cheese is good and melted then I remove the foil and brown the cheese a little.  

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A big ole pot of Chili....recipe

 A couple of days ago I decided to make a big pot of chili.  It is getting that time of year but actually we could eat it all year long.  I raided the pantry and freezer...this is what I started with...

 Chili Recipe

2 lbs of lean ground beef ( I used 96/4).  ($7.18 marked down)

2 large cans of tomato juice (.99 each from the pantry)

2 cans of diced tomatoes (.49 each from the pantry)

3 cans of dark chili beans (.49 each from the pantry)

3 cans of light chili beans (.49 each from the pantry)

1 green bell pepper, chopped (from the freezer out of our garden)

1 jalapeno, chopped (from the freezer out of our garden)

1 large onion (out of the garden)

chili powder, to taste

minced garlic, to taste

red pepper seeds, to taste

Brown, drain and rinse ground beef.  Drain the cans of beans and rinse.  Add all of the ingredients and cook until done.

This made a big pot of chili so I decided to can part of it.  I ended up canning 8 pints of chili.  I could have done more but I didn't feel like digging out more jars.  This also freezes really well if you don't want to can it.

I had more left in the pot, which was hard to get a good photo because of the steam.  With the remaining chili in the pot we had it for supper and also supper the next day. 

 A good filling, hearty meal that "sticks to your ribs"  :) I absolutely love chili!!!!!  Occasionally I will even eat it for breakfast.  :)

YUM!!!!!

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Baked Spaghetti Freezer Meals...$3.10 each

 Always trying to be frugal and simple, I decided to make some freezer meals a few days ago.  Here's what I started with...4 cans of store bought spaghetti sauce (.99 each), box of spaghetti (.89), mozzarella cheese (marked down to $1.39), 1 lb of 85/15 ground beef (marked down to $3.47).  I usually like to buy leaner meat but that is what they had and it was a good price.

 I also threw in a can of Mexican Style diced tomatoes.  I stocked up on these the other day.   Found them on sale for .49 a can so I bought 2 cases. 

 This came to a total of $9.31 and I ended up with 3 meals at $3.10 EACH!!!!  

Very simple and fast to make.  I cooked my ground beef, drained and rinsed it.  Added the 4 cans of spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes.   I added a little bit of this to the cooked spaghetti just to keep from sticking together.  I put the noodle/sauce mixture in the pans that were sprayed with nonstick spray.  I then put a good thick layer of sauce over the spaghetti and covered with cheese.  We like it saucy!  

 I cooked the spaghetti but not completely cooked.  I also let it cool.  The noodles will finish cooking when you reheat it in the baking process.  If it is fully cooked before freezing it will end up being a little soggy when you reheat it.

Two of these went in the freezer for later and one went in the fridge for later that evening. 

 Now all that I have to do is take one out of the freezer and into the oven.  Just needs to be heated through and the cheese melted.  :)

I had a little extra sauce leftover so I put it in a freezer bag for later use. 

 These freezer meals are great when we are busy or I just need a night off from cooking.  

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