Saturday, May 12, 2018

Freezer Cooking Day: Crockpot Sausage & Peppers, Slab Apple Pie, Apple Pie Filling, Muffins, Ziti, and Taco Meat and more...

Our garage freezer was almost empty 2 weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to see if I could slowly fill it up — on our $70/week grocery budget. This is one way you can save SO much money. Buy […]

Intentional finance. Intentional family. Intentional business.

Freezer Cooking Day: Crockpot Sausage & Peppers, Slab Apple Pie, Apple Pie Filling, Muffins, Ziti, and Taco Meat

Our garage freezer was almost empty 2 weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to see if I could slowly fill it up — on our $70/week grocery budget.

This is one way you can save SO much money. Buy ahead when things are on a low, low price and you'll rarely ever pay full price for anything. Then, use what you already have on hand in the freezer/fridge/pantry as the basis for your meals and freezer cooking.

I did an impromptu freezer cooking day on Tuesday and here’s what I made (well, “freezer cooking day” might be a bit of an overstatement since I actually only spent a little over two hours on this cooking and the clean up! But hey, “freezer cooking day” sounds better so we’ll go with it!)

We had a bunch of peppers and some onions that I had gotten marked down, so I combined them with some sausage I had gotten for $1.99 per package plus a little celery I had left in the fridge to make sausage and peppers in the Crock-pot. I cooked this on low most of the day. We ate half for dinner (served over rice) and I froze the rest for another day.

I had a bunch of apples that I'd gotten marked down at Kroger over the past few weeks and turned them into one of our favorite recipes — Slab Apple Pie! I baked it and we froze it to have on hand for quick desserts in the next two months when hosting guests!

I had enough apples left over to make a bag of Apple Pie Filling (sliced apples with lemon juice and cinnamon/sugar).

I used some marked down bananas I had gotten recently and stuck in the freezer to make some amazing Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I used our favorite Banana Bread recipe and just added some chocolate chips to the batter. My kids love these in their lunches and they also make great snacks. We store them in the freezer and then just pull them out as we need them!

We had some cream cheese that needed to be used up and some blueberries in the freezer, so I searched online for recipe ideas and found this one.

I taste-tested one and it was delicious! I stuck these in a freezer bag and put them in freezer fit quick snacks!

The Final Results of My Freezer Cooking Day:

And I did a little bit more freezer cooking on Thursday and Friday, too…

We had frozen cottage cheese and browned sausage I had gotten marked down + pasta sauce in the fridge that needed to be used up and pasta I'd gotten for $0.49/box, so I found a deal on mozzarella cheese and made 3 pans of Ziti. One for dinner that night and two for the freezer.

I found ground turkey marked down to $1.99 per pound, so I bought 2 pounds and browned them with homemade taco seasoning and stuck two bags of taco meat in the freezer.

It makes me so happy to see that our garage freezer is starting to fill up a little bit! I'm going to keep challenging myself to add more deals and freezer meals to our garage freezer every week without spending more than our $70 grocery budget.

We'll see how long it takes to fill it up! (And of course, we'll be eating some what's in this freezer every week, upping the challenge even more!)

I love looking at saving money as a fun challenge! This makes my competitive side come out in a good way AND (in our super lean years) it kept me from feeling trapped!

Instead of saying, "Ugh! This is all the $$ we have to spend!" Change your perspective and say, "How well can we do on this small amount?!"

Have you done any freezer cooking recently? What are your favorite recipes to stick in the freezer? Any suggestions on recipes I should try soon?

P.S. See my previous Freezer Cooking Sessions here.

    
 

Does Healthy Food Really Cost More?

If you feel frustrated that you can’t eat a nutritious, wholesome diet on a budget, you’ll definitely want to check out this super interesting post that Laura from Heavenly Homemakers put together!

In it, she sets out to prove that healthy food actually does NOT cost more than processed food! And she uses goldfish crackers to prove it!

    
 

Brigette’s $58 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6

Aldi

2 64-oz cartons Orange Juice – $3.38

1 gallon Whole Milk – $1.36

1 16-oz carton Whipping Cream – $1.55

1 5-lb bag All-Purpose Flour – $1.15

1 5-lb bag Self-Rising Flour – $1.25 (I wrote “bread flour” on the list, and this is what my husband came home with.🙂 Oh well, we will use it!)

1 box Pure and Simple Bars – $3.99

2 boxes Macaroni and Cheese – $0.50

1 canister Parmesan Cheese – $2.29

1 pkg Taco Mix Seasoning – $0.35

1 jar Organic Apple Cider Vinegar – $1.99 (35.06)

1 16-oz bag Mini Cucumbers – $1.69

1 3-lb bag Pink Lady Apples – $3.39

1 pkg Baby Lettuce – $1.79

1 3-ct pk Multi-Colored Peppers – $2.49

2 pkgs Baby Carrots – $1.58

2 1-lb pkg Asparagus – $2.98

1 head Cauliflower – $1.95

1 pkg Radishes – $0.49

1 pkg Zucchini – $1.45

1 16-oz pkg Medjool Dates – $3.99

1 pkg Broccoli Crowns – $1.45

1 jar Green Olives – $0.95

1 large tub Organic Spring Mix – $3.79

1 bag Lemons – $2.75

1 32-oz pkg Spaghetti – $1.09

1 pkg Hamburger Buns – $0.65

1 pkg Hot Dog Buns – $0.59

Total: $50.88

Harris Teeter

All of the things in the picture were bought earlier in the week when Harris Teeter was running a 3-day Double Dollar Coupon event, so these deals are no longer available. I wasn’t able to make it to the store until the final day of the sale, so they were out of many of the freebies, but I still was happy with what I got (especially the free Sola ice cream and ice cream bars ;))!

Total after Coupons and Rebates: $7.25

Grocery Total for the Week: $58.13

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Everyone is responsible for making/cleaning up their own breakfast. Choices include:

Cereal, Oatmeal, Fruit, Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe from a church cookbook), Scrambled/Fried/Boiled Eggs, Veggie Omelets, Toast (Easy Whole Wheat Bread)

Lunches

Refried Bean with Cheese, Cucumbers, Apples x 2

Rice Cakes with Peanut Butter, Peppers, Applesauce x 2

Pasta with Cheese, Carrots, Applesauce

Leftovers x 2

Dinners

Three Cheese Spaghetti Bake, Make Ahead Butterhorns, Tossed Salad, Roasted Broccoli, Chocolate Sheet Cake, Ice cream (Mother’s Day)

Italian Chicken, Tossed Salad, Simple Strawberry Muffins

Grilled Hamburgers (I’ll use a combo of ground venison and ground turkey since we still have plenty of both in our freezer stash), Baked French Fries, Steamed Cauliflower, Pineapple (leftover from last week)

Pan-Fried Fish (My guys are going fishing this weekend!), Macaroni and Cheese, Asparagus

Cheesy Hashbrown Potatoes with Ham (I will follow the recipe but add diced ham), Asparagus, French Breakfast Puffs

Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Green Beans, Baked Potatoes, Buttered Steamed Carrots

Leftovers, Roasted Parmesan Zucchini

    
 

Easy 5 Minute Prep Slow Cooker Meals

Looking for some easy weekday recipes? Check out these 5 Minute Prep Slow Cooker Meal Ideas.