Meal Plans and Freezer Cooking

It has been a while since I have shared my meal plans. I have been doing freezer meals for about 5 months now and I have enjoyed this new way of cooking and planning very much. It has been a bit challenging to find foods that the whole family can and will eat but with a few months of practice I feel like I'm getting the swing of this thing.

First off, here is a meal planning printable from Disney Family Fun

This is a great tool to help you keep your family on track with healthy and complete meals. I like to plan out my freezer cooking recipes, then check out the current sales at Publix to decide on side dishes and things like breakfast, lunch and snacks. 

I also found this cool menu planning tip from This Week For Dinner

This one I love because you can print it, frame it (she suggests an inexpensive Ikea frame) and then use a dry erase marker to fill in the days and start fresh the next week without printing it out over and over again. You could even hang it on the fridge with magnetic strips if you find the right frame. What a great and cool way to stay on top of your plan.

As I get ready to start my first full time semester at College I am really trying to get ultra organized. This is the only way that I feel I can still provide home-cooked meals and keep myself and my family on a healthy diet. My planning usually looks like this:

It's almost payday. I need to stock my fridge/freezer. Let's look through my recipes and see what is looking yummy and in season.

I find about 8-10 recipes with a variety of foods like fish, poultry, beef, pork and vegetarian (even vegan as I am now trying to eat almost no dairy). I make sure to find recipes that correspond to sale pricing and then build my freezer menu.

This month this is the plan that I used and so far it is going great:

Breakfasts:

A batch of Gluten Free Pancakes to freeze for me

A batch of Alton's Pancakes for the kids and Hubby

A loaf of Banana bread

Frozen fruit and protein powder smoothies

Oatmeal with Cranberry Sauce and Pecans

Bagel's and English Muffins

Lunches:

Quesadillas

Grilled Cheese

Chicken Tenders (homemade)

Bean Burritos (El Montaray, still haven't figured out how to make homemade taste that good)

Vegan Enchiladas (Left overs frozen from dinner)

Ham Chowder (I had frozen after Christmas using leftover Hone Baked Ham)

Salami Sandwiches (Gluten free, yeast free bread on hand)

PBJ

Dinners:

Spicy Chicken Cordon Blue served with roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes

Sweet Asian Chicken (Fix, Freeze, Feast) Served with rice and sugar snap peas with a mandarin and almond salad

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken served with rice and roasted green beans or sauteed kale with garlic

Steak Skewers with blue cheese dipping sauce (from Fix, Freeze, Feast) served with roasted asparagus and popovers (Gluten free recipe from Blackbird Bakery Cookbook)

Cilantro Lime Pork Tacos served with beans 

Chicken Sausage Jambalaya served with grape salad and cornbread

BBQ Onion Crusted Catfish served with rice and sauteed kale with pepitas and craisins

Vegan Potato and Kale Enchiladas served with beans

Vegan Moussaka served with greek salad

French Onion Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin served with roasted potatoes and sauteed kale

Roasted Chicken served with baked potatoes and corn