One of the biggest factors I had for doing this freezer meal project was that I did not want anything to go to waste. I used the tops I cut-off of the stuffed bell peppers for other recipes and other little things such as that. I split meals that should have made one bag into two just to assure that we didn't have any leftovers in the future that may go to waste. Last night, I used some of the roast from Tuesday night to make stuffed baked potatoes.
When I've made crock-pot roast in the past, I noticed that we always had a lot of veggies and roast left over. I started cutting off about a quarter of the roast before anyone served their plate, putting it into a Tupperware container, and sticking it into the fridge. After everyone eats, I store the extra vegetables in a Tupperware container in the fridge as well (these are added to another meal as a side or eaten as a lunch).
I noticed on a visit to Publix that they have some massive potatoes sold by the pound in the produce section. I buy three (I split one of the potatoes between my six year old and my two year old). I have found that these cook pretty well on 425 degrees for two hours. As the potatoes are cooking, I take the refrigerated roast and tear it into strips and heat barbecue sauce on the stove. I put all the roast strips into the pot with the sauce and adjust the barbecue sauce to our liking (you can start with a small amount and then increase if you like more). Be careful not to burn the barbecue sauce. Once it gets warm enough, turn it to simmer!
Once the potatoes are done, I slice them open and use a spoon to kind of "gut" the insides. I don't take out any of the potato, I just move the "inside" around a bit so the butter and other toppings spread better. We like simple potatoes so I just put on a little salt & pepper, butter and then a big spoonful of BBQ roast. Occasionally someone will add cheddar cheese to their potato as well so I leave it on the table as an option. One large potato with a piece of bread will feed my husband, whom has a large-appetite, no problem. Last night I made macaroni-and-cheese as a side to make sure my kids got enough food and I also made cornbread so we could have bread. I guess I could have made the meal a little less starchy. Oh well...
Sorry there wasn't much funny stuff tonight. Last night was kind of slow. I spent more time watching and listening to my kids play than cooking.
As for tonight, I know we are having a salad and that's as far as I've gotten. It's currently 6:22 PM so I guess I need to start raiding my kitchen since dinner should be ready in about 8 minutes. I have a feeling tomorrow's post will be an interesting one!
Happy cooking!
Oh yeah. I forgot to update everyone on how many freezer meals I made! I made 29! I also used the groceries purchased for an extra 4 meals that didn't make it to the freezer so I had a total of 33 meals. I somehow lost my Sam's Club receipt and will update this if I ever find it, but I spent roughly $320 on dinner items between Sam's Club and Publix. We were out of everything except spices and a huge bag of Vidalia onions so this is the total of pretty much everything I needed! So, $320/33= $9.69 per meal. That equals about $2.42 a person. I am pretty happy with that figure. Our food bill was around $450 a month so I'm slowing bringing it down! As an added bonus, I found 9 bags of meat that were frozen and forgotten so I am all set for the next 38 days! Woo hoo!
*I'm pretty sure the cost at Sam's was lower, but I can't remember all the side things I bought. I hope to find the receipt soon!
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