I did my cooking on February 24 using their February menu, while Mark was out of town. I even wore an APRON for the first time - I got it, after all, at my bridal shower almost 14 years ago! :) Here's the breakdown of what I did:
- I chose 12 recipes of the 15 menus for the month of February (I skipped the soups, pizza dough, and tuna casserole). The recipes are meant for 4 entrees to be split between 2 cooks. So, I cut the recipes in half and basically had 2 entrees of each recipe.
- I purchased $160 of groceries, including some freezer friendly container/bags.
- I prepped the night before: chopped 9 cups of onion, green peppers, and tomato. I also made the pancakes (1/2 banana, 1/2 chocolate chip) the night before. I also cooked 6 lbs of chicken and 5 lbs of ground beef in 2 crockpots overnight. This took about 1.5 hours.
- On "game day," I baked and cooked for about 10 hours in total, making 15 dinners, 26 breakfasts (the pancakes go a long ways and they are awesome), and 18 lunches/light dinners. This works out to be $2.71 per MEAL of four servings. Not bad...however, side dishes are not included. I also made the granola....a very yummy topping on yogurt.
The ironic thing is Mark came home from his business trip with 2 smoked trout and 1 smoked pheasant, all frozen. I was able to squeeze those into the freezer, too!!
So far, the food has been great. The Pork Roast with Apples & Pears is awesome. The Curried Chicken Tidbits remind us of our favorite Thai recipe. I've been eating the Stuffed Pancake Cupcakes and Beef Empanadas for breakfast and lunch, respectively.I did mess up a couple things: The Easy Taco Bake just didn't turn out right. The topping never baked like it should. I also misread the quantity of soup in the Sue Sue's Casserole, so I have a note to add more when I go to bake it. And, I was short on ground beef. I cooked it all at once, but the recipes called for 1 or 2 lbs. at a time. I am not sure how much COOKED ground beef equals 1 lb. However, my last recipe to use the beef was sloppy joes. So I just cooked up another pound when we ate them last week, added it to the prepared sloppy joes, and it was perfect. Very good.
The website has published their March menu and I am considering cooking it once the freezer empties out a bit. The menu/instructions are made for 2 people to work together, so maybe I can convince Lisa to do it with me next time!
Here's some pictures:
Kendall helping with the Beef Empanadas
Trays of Stuffed Pancake Cupcakes...ready to be flash-frozen.
4 comments:
Great job! I'm a little nervous about the easy taco bake myself. (Fingers crossed). Thanks for participating and I hope your family continues to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
i have the same problem with the cooked ground beef. This last time I bought a pack of ground turkey I divided it up into pound portions then cooked it. LOL It was a lil more work upfront but it's cooked and in the freezer for a simple night when I need it!
hey, you even have the OnceAMonthMom lady leaving you comments! I think that is one step away from being famous!! :)
I will continue to keep clearing out my freezer in hopes of making your next cooking day. Every time I open it up, bags of frozen stuff fall out and almost break my toes. Something must be done!!
I will be having the roast with the pears tomorrow and now I can't wait since you said it is good :) The pizza is really good as well.
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