freezer cooking day Archives - Feathers in Our Nest

Host a Soup Swap (In Lieu of a Cookie Exchange)

November 15, 2012 by Aliesha

I recently participated in a Soup Swap (it’s like a cookie exchange!) with some friends in Richmond. Instead of bringing cookies to exchange, everyone brings soup and then goes home with several meals of soup for their family.

It’s a brilliant idea, really. I mean, who doesn’t want to have a few nights off from cooking around the holiday season?

My freezer is now stocked with bags of soup that I can just pull out as needed on a busy day in December!

Here are some ideas for you if you want to plan a Soup Swap with your friends!

-Determine how many people want to participate (6-8 is good; less if the families are large). You could also do this with a larger group (like 12) and still have each person only cook for 6 families.

-Let everyone know how much soup to make (i.e., 8 bags of 4 servings each) so that everyone who brings soup will get to take soup home. Four servings is good for families with 2-4 people.

-You can have people “sign up” for different types of soup ahead of time, but you don’t have to. We didn’t, and we still had an awesome variety of soups with no repeats! Here is a great source for soups that freeze well.

-Ask everyone to package their soup in Zip-lock (I recommend the name brand) freezer bags. (I like to ladle my soup in once it’s cool.) It’s helpful if everyone labels their bags of soup (even if it’s just with a Sharpie) with the type, the date, the servings, and any heating/serving instructions.

-Designate a time and place where you can exchange your soups. Have everyone bring a cooler so they can transport their soups home after the exchange.

-I recommend freezing the bags of soup flat (before or after the exchange) so that they store better in the freezer and so they thaw more easily. I also recommend thawing the bags of soup inside a bowl or on a dish of some kind just in case the bag leaks.

Have you every participated in a soup swap? Aren’t they great?

Happy swapping!!

Ways We Save Money: Groceries, Pt. 2

November 2, 2012 by Aliesha

Today I am continuing with my series of Ways We Save Money. (See all of the saving money posts here.) As a reminder: just because this is how our family does it, does not mean that you have to do things this way as well!

This post is part 2 of Saving Money on Groceries. Part 1 (planning and shopping) is here.

1. Eat out of the pantry & freezer
We often stock up on great deals and good buys, but are we actually eating all of that good food? We try and take a week off from grocery shopping to just eat the food that we have stocked up on in our pantry and freezer. Chances are, you probably have enough food on your shelves and in your freezer to feed your family for at least a week (or maybe more)! It’s always fun to get creative and come up with new recipes based on what I have on hand.

2. Eat less meat
We eat a lot of vegetarian meals to save money. It is rare for us to eat meat for lunch and dinner, and we make a lot of meals without any meat. When we do eat meat, we serve it as part of a meal, not the main event. Examples: ground beef in sauces or casseroles, sausage as a pizza topping, chicken combined with beans or rice inside quesadillas or taquitos, bacon sprinkled on a soup as a garnish, etc. We don’t feel “deprived,” though we are both meat lovers (on the rare occasions we eat out, we both love to order things like Philly cheese steaks or hamburgers)! If you eat meat with every meal, try some meatless dishes. If you are serving chicken breasts, steaks, hamburgers, and fried chicken, try cutting back your meat usage and incorporating meat inside casseroles so it goes further.

3. Use what you have or substitute
I try really, really hard not to run to the store just to buy one thing I’m missing for a recipe. I have learned so many tricks and substitutions by googling! If you menu plan and shop from a list, this shouldn’t happen very often, but when it does, just find a way to use what you have!

4. Cook from scratch
I don’t cook everything from scratch, but I cook a lot from scratch! I make (not all of these every week, by any means!): bread, waffles, biscuits, pizza crust, bagels, pie crust, English muffins, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, taco seasoning, chili seasoning, stir fry sauce, chicken stock, yogurt, popcorn, granola, granola bars, occasionally salad dressings, guacamole, hummus, and pretty much all of our breakfasts/lunches/dinners are made from fresh, real food ingredients. You can save a lot of money by making lots of things from scratch. Don’t be overwhelmed; just start with one thing next week (something easy, like yogurt). I didn’t get to this point overnight either. It’s a process of slowly changing your mindset from opening a package to cooking from scratch.

5. Try freezer cooking
I haven’t done any major freezer cooking days in a while (the last one was June, I think), but I really enjoy being able to cook one day and then enjoy the fruits of my labor every evening by simply thawing dinner instead of preparing it from scratch! I do a simplified version of freezer cooking on a regular basis when I haven’t done a major freezer cooking day. When I make a large amount of something (spaghetti sauce, soup, etc.), I freeze half (or more) of it to enjoy at another time. Sure, we could eat on it all week, but we’d probably get tired of it. By freezing part of it, we can enjoy it again next week!

Your turn to share! How do you save money on groceries by what you do in the kitchen? I’d love to hear your ideas!

May Freezer Cooking Extravaganza

May 11, 2012 by Aliesha

I discovered an AWESOME website recently called Once a Month Mom. This site helps make freezer cooking more do-able. Every month, new menus are posted (whole foods, traditional, gluten-free, vegetarian, diet, etc.) and everything you need is put together so you can have a successful freezer cooking day. You are given all of the recipes, instructions, and grocery shopping lists. All you have to do is shop for what’s on your list and then get to work cooking! They even provide labels to put on your frozen meals.

This was the first month I tried cooking and freezing a menu from OAMM. I made the Whole Foods menu, which is filled with lots of awesome, healthy recipes I was very excited to try. I shopped on Saturday and started cooking that day as well. I finished up my cooking on Tuesday, so it took me several days to complete all of the cooking. But I do have two under two, so I think that’s understandable. If I had had one big section of time to work, I probably could have finished it in a day.

I ended up making 46 meals (plus several breakfast foods) for our family!! I love the variety of the menu… from southwest paninis to veggie enchiladas to beef lettuce wraps to grilled pork (it is FAR from just casseroles)! I am thankful that God gave me the time and energy to accomplish so much, and that I was able to use OAMM!