Freezer Meals- My first attempt

Ok, so I got this bug the other day to make some meals to stick in my freezer. After a long day of kids and work, the last thing I want to do is make a meal for the family, so more often than not, we scrounge, or go out. Going out is getting too expensive, and frankly, I am tired of it, because when all is said and done, going out takes just as long as preparing something would, and my kids are starting to get entitled. Last week I decided to make up some easy freezer meals that I already knew how to do, and see if I actually used them or not. I spent about 2 hours, and made 5 lasagnas (3 meat, 2 veggie), 4 casseroles (chicken broccoli and rice), and froze taco meat for tacos, taco soup, taco salad, etc.

We have been loving it! Sunday, I had stuff after church I had to do for my calling, so Brett broke out a Lasagna, and threw together a quick salad. Perfect, dinner was so fast and easy! Then, all week, when I have needed to get dinner on, but had deadlines, I have been walking out to the freezer and grabbing something, an hour in the oven, and presto, change-o dinner!

So, I decided I should make a few more things, so we would have options. I tried making a big crock pot full of BBQ pork roast for salads, quesadillas, tacos, etc. but Derrick got to it right as it got finished, and a bottle of dish soap later, it went in the trash. (Same with the baked beans I made, only it was a whole container of salt). So I gave up for a few days. Today I was feeling overwhelmed at coming up with a meal for the kids, who are home all day and bored, so I printed off my list of yummy looking freezer meals I had searched the internet for, and went shopping. 

This is my counter full of ingredients, seasonings, and foil containers for freezing the food in.

 

This is my sink full of chicken defrosting to use in the various meals I wanted to prepare (remember I had beef meals already prepared).

Another closer view of some of the ingredients...

 And this is the lovely, and oh so satisfying result of 7 hours in the kitchen.

 

Here's what I ended up with:

6 chicken pot pies

4 lasagnas

4 broccoli chicken casseroles

3 beef enchiladas (making chicken ones tomorrow)

40 individual sized pockets (some ham, cheese, and broccoli, some mexican)

Lots of bags of BBQ pulled pork

3 bags of marinating chicken strips for the grill

1 big bag of marinating chicken legs for the grill

7 cheesy ham and potatoe casseroles

3 big bags of homemade precooked breaded chicken strips

5 containers of taco meat 

Basically I have over 50 lunch and dinner meals prepared and frozen and in my freezer. I am really excited about this because I do Bountiful Baskets on Saturdays and so I always have fresh produce, which can be added to these frozen dinners for fast and easy. Tomorrow I am going to make banana bread, muffins, brownies, and cookies, as well as some quiche and other breakfast fare to add to it. Wish me luck!