Yes you can freeze that foods you can freeze
Yes you can freeze all these things!
Do you end up throwing away a lot of food at the end of the week? You’re not alone. An estimated 30-40 % of all food in the US is thrown in the trash. SO wasteful. But there are a few simple things you can do to save food.
The first is to meal plan based first on what you already have at home. And only buy what you need.
The second is to know what you can freeze and use later.
One thing we do in our home is to freeze our leftovers. (Cooked chicken, leftover lasagna, etc) and reheat them when we need a quick meal.
A quick tip: walk down the freezer aisle. If it’s frozen at the store you can do it at home. But there are a few things to add.
But there are also lots of foods you can freeze at home.
Butter - it does not change texture and often you can use frozen (pie crust!)
Pizza crust- you can whip one up and freeze. Thaws like a dream. This is the recipe I use.
Shredded cheese- shred and sprinkle on a cookie sheet, then once frozen transfer to a container.
Chopped onions- if you’re going to use onions in cooking you can chop and freeze
Bell pepper- cut into strips and freeze. Some people blanch, I personally do not and I freeze bell pepper frequently.
Celery- again, chop and freeze. I use this for beef stew. Amazing even when frozen.
Berries- we have multiple blueberry bushes and grapevines. I just wash and freeze. Strawberries are the same. (I even freeze them whole with the greens still on if I am going to make them into smoothies.)
Zucchini- I chop for stir fry or shred for baked goods
Bananas- peel them and freeze for smoothies and baking (not just banana bread. You can add them to almost any cake, muffin or bread recipe to make them extra moist).
Herbs- I freeze basil, thyme, sage, etc. I just chop them and put them in a container
Tomatoes- just chop and freeze
Potatoes- I recently saw a blogger talk about not freezing potatoes. Um…. there is an entire freezer section at the store dedicated to frozen french fries??? Just peel and blanch. It sounds like a lot of work, but I can do an entire 10-pound bag of potatoes in about 20 minutes.
Baking supplies- flour, yeast, cocoa. All freezable.
Baked goods- muffins, cakes, cookies, doughnuts. If I made them I wrap in aluminum foil or place them in a plastic bag. Or both. If they’re store-bought I place them directly in the freezer in the package they came in.
Bread- buns, whole loaves, tortillas. I place them in the freezer directly in their package.
Pancakes and waffles- on the weekends my husband makes a HUGE batch of pancakes. I freeze what’s leftover and heat them up on busy mornings.
Recipe: Easy peasy waffles!
Cooked rice and quinoa- yup. You can freeze that. Then put them in a ziploc bag and flatten. Empty the contents frozen into a pan and place in the oven.
Soup- I freeze chicken soup, chili, butternut squash soup. I let cool and place in a plastic container (I reuse yogurt, butter and ice cream containers). When it’s time to reheat I run a little water over it and then pop them in my Instant Pot or crockpot.
Lunchmeat- I just throw it in the freezer in the container from the store.
Want to save on groceries? Meal planning tips that work PLUS a free meal plan template
Meal planning has absolutely saved me a ton of time and money. And if you do it the way that best suits your lifestyle you can reduce food waste and make it work in your busy schedule. So here are a few tips to get you started PLUS a free meal plan template.
Free Meal Planner at the bottom of this post!
Meal planning has absolutely saved me a ton of time and money. And if you do it the way that best suits your lifestyle you can reduce food waste and make it work in your busy schedule. So here are a few tips to get you started PLUS a free meal plan template.
1. Keep track of what is in your pantry and freezer.
I feel like this is a huge budget leak. When you don't keep an accurate track of what is in your pantry you can end up spending your grocery money on things you already have.
Take a pen and paper and write down what is in your pantry. Or you can use these free printables.
When you're ready to meal plan scan this list.
Before you hit the store see what you have that can be combined to make a meal. A couple of chicken breasts, a cup of uncooked rice, a bag of frozen vegetables. Boom! Dinner.
2. Grab your phone
Go to your favorite supermarket’s website and do a quick scan to see what's on sale. Then I will quickly compile a list of ideas and order groceries using Walmart grocery pick up. I already have my phone in my hand so it’s super easy and fast.
3. Look at your schedule
So you might have a late meeting one night, soccer practice another and something going on at your kid’s school. Plan for quick and easy meals those nights, maybe a bag of orange chicken from the freezer section and some bagged salad.
Or plan too…
4. Double batch it and have a leftovers night
We do this all the time and it saves SO MUCH TIME! I might make a double pan of sheet pan fajitas that we eat on Monday night and then again on Wednesday. (The key is to break it up so you don’t have it two nights in a row.)
5. Buy food you actually want to eat
Don’t walk into the grocery store and decide you’re Gwenyth Paltrow (I saw a recipe on goop where she put steamed broccoli on a meatball sub. I mean I LOVE broccoli - for real I eat it almost daily- but it doens’t belong on a sub sandwich).
Yes, buy healthy foods, and yes, try new things. But also buy and cook things you actually want to eat and things you’re family actually wants to eat.
Don’t waste food in your fridge because when 5: 30 rolls around you just couldn’t stomach it.
6. Keep meals simple.
There is no need to reinvent the chicken! A roast bird, some roast vegetables and brown rice are not expensive and can be cooked very simply and easily. In fact, the entire meals will only cost you about $1.35 per serving!
7. Keep a list of your favorites
I know my kids will eat fish tacos, roasted vegetables, chicken sausage and anything pasta. I have a list of 20 go-to recipes that I know they eat. We throw in new things to give them exposure (it can take up to 10 times for a child to decide they like .a new thing) but we also stick to what we know.
8. Keep ready to go things on hand
I ALWAYS have turkey meatballs and sub rolls in my freezer and spaghetti sauce in my pantry for nights we are late or I just can’t cook. I can throw the meatballs in my slow cooker that morning or on a sheet pan that night and dinner is done in minutes. (Throw the sub rolls in the oven frozen for 10 minutes at 350 and you’re good to go!) Then it’s bagged salad and some fruit and we’re off to the races. (And by races I mean our hours long bedtime routine.)
9. Have theme nights.
Again, not complicated. Do something like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Sandwich Wednesday, Meat and Three Thursday and Pizza Friday. That is just an example, but it really puts meal planning on autopilot.
DOWNLOAD your free meal plan template.
10. Work those leftovers.
I call this redeeming leftover. For example one of my favorite recipes is Change Your Life Chicken, made by the Lazy Genius. But I am often left with a ton of chicken and roasted vegetables. We could eat this again. Orrrrrr I could make chicken soup or our favorite chicken and biscuits by making a simple roux and adding in the leftover chicken and vegetables and then serving over biscuits.
You can turn one roast chicken into many meals just by planning ahead for the leftovers.
Meal planning isn't a science. In fact is just takes about 30 minutes a week to meal plan and will help you save a bucket of money.
What about you? What tips to do you have for meal planning?
How I grocery shop and meal plan in 30 minutes. Money saving tips for moms
Grocery shopping and meal planning. I don't know about you, but it's not my most favorite activity. But it's necessary. Let's talk about how to get it done faster!
Grocery shopping and meal planning. I don't know about you, but it's not my most favorite activity. But it's necessary. Let's talk about how to get it done faster!
I have no doubt in my mind that meal planning absolutely saves our family money:
1. We're not throwing away food because we forgot to cook it.
2. We're not buying things that we don't need.
3. We're not going out to eat needlessly.
4. We're able to use our leftovers and take them as lunch.
So we're able to stretch our grocery budget as far as it can go.
So how do I meal plan?
1. Check my planner
It begins with me checking my faithful planner. I just scan through the week: see what I've got going on, see if we have any later afternoon appointments. And then, I can plan around that.
2. Check your pantry
Next, I see if I have anything in my pantry, freezer or refrigerator and see what I can make out of what I already have. This is a great way to stretch what you already have. I jot down some ideas based on what we have.
3. Schedule a pickup
Now, there was a time when I would actually physically go to the grocery store. But now, I'm just in a very busy time, so I do a grocery pickup service. But if I was still going to my grocery store, I would pull out my sales flier and see what is on sale, fill in the gaps of what I already have, and form my meal plan.
Right now, I do Walmart grocery pickup. I'll pull up my phone and I'll just start making a grocery list based on what I need.
4. Have themed nights
Something I've done that's really simplified meal planning is to have regular nights. So Monday might be meatless Monday and Tuesday is Taco Tuesday. And then Wednesday is some sort of something really quick because we're gone all day and then we have to be at church early. So that may be the day that I throw some stuff in the InstantPot or in the slow cooker and have, like, chicken sandwiches out of the crock-pot, that sort of thing.
Time-saving tip:
Set yourself a timer if you need to pull out chicken breast from the freezer, or frozen vegetables, or something that you cooked ahead of time and froze them (because I'm a big advocate of "cook once, eat twice"). If you have stuff in the freezer and you're prone to forget it, set yourself a timer, an alert on your phone, to go off before you go to bed or first thing in the morning, to remind yourself to pull that stuff out of the freezer so it will be thawed in time for dinner.
Five tips for successful meal planning on a TIGHT budget
I know as a nation our belts are as tight as they can get. Many of you have eliminated luxuries like cable, cell phone plan extras, date nights and movie rentals. If you budget down to the penny and the last penny gets stretched till Abe starts screaming, you're not alone.
So, I wanted to talk about menu planning when you're on a tight, tight, tight budget. Trust me this will save you tons of time and TONS of money.
I know as a nation our belts are as tight as they can get. Many of you have eliminated luxuries like cable, cell phone plan extras, date nights and movie rentals. If you budget down to the penny and the last penny gets stretched till Abe starts screaming, you're not alone.
So, I wanted to talk about menu planning when you're on a tight, tight, tight budget. Trust me this will save you tons of time and TONS of money.
1. Plan the main dish around the sales.
Each week I grab my local sales flyers (they come in the mail here) and go through the sales flyers, I see what's coming up on sale and I plan our meals accordingly.
Even if you don't get the paper there are tons of sites like Southern Savers where you can look at flyers. Also, you can visit the grocery store's website.
A couple weeks ago Winn-Dixie had their whole roasting hens on sale for $.99 a pound.
That meant on Monday we had a roast chicken tacos. Tuesday we had chicken and rice casserole and Wednesday we had chicken pot pie. $12 for all three meals. And I am sure I could have done this much cheaper. But there were a ton of leftovers, and it all came out to $1 per serving once the leftovers were accounted for.
Three days of meals already planned.
2. Plan side dishes around your stockpile.
Rice, pasta, and frozen vegetables are often on sale. When the prices are particularly low I buy several of these items and put them in the pantry of the freezer.
It helps to keep a list of what is in your freezer or pantry so meal planning can be extra simple. You can click here for a FREE PRINTABLE to keep your pantry organized.
Remember those chickens I talked about? Those went right into the freezer.
3. Cook once, eat twice.
Monday night I made a lasagna casserole. For around $10 I made two casseroles, including the meat (which I purchased for $2.99 a pound). Since I can usually get six servings per lasagna that is $.83 per serving.
I cut my meat in half and divided it among both casseroles. That is a big savings.
4. Plan a meatless meal.
The meatless Monday trend is growing. My husband doesn't always stand for this, so I don't always tell him. ;) But you can make things like red bean burritos for around $.65 per serving. Other great ideas are spinach and cheese quesadillas or breakfast for dinner on a Friday night.
5. Have a list of go-to recipes you know how to make.
Here is a list of every recipe on this website. Many, many of them are around $1 - $2 per serving.
What about you? What tips do you have for quick meal planning?
Fast meal planing to save BIG on groceries without coupons
Oh look! Another blogger writing about meal planning. Zzzzzzz....
No. Today I am going to talk about combatting the sky rocketing price of groceries by following a few simple meal planning strategies.
This is part of a 30 Day series on how to begin saving money.
Oh look! Another blogger writing about meal planning. Zzzzzzz....
No. Today I am going to talk about combatting the sky rocketing price of groceries by following a few simple meal planning strategies.
1. Keep track of what is in your pantry and freezer.
I feel like this is a huge budget leak. When you don't keep an accurate track of what is in your pantry you can end up spending your grocery money on things you already have.
Take a pen and paper and write down what is in your pantry. Or you can use these free printables.
When you're ready to meal plan scan this list.
2. Grab the sales flyer.
Do another quick scan of your super market's sales flyer or website and see what's on sale.
Then match those items with your pantry items and plan around them.
For example, if you see that chicken is on sale and you have brown rice and vegetables you can make a quick stir fry.
3. Keep meals simple.
There is no need to reinvent the chicken! A roast bird, some roast vegetables and brown rice are not expensive and can be cooked very simply and easily. In fact, the entire meals will only cost you about $1.35 per serving!
4. Keep track of what you like.
Create a binder or even just a pin board of your favorite recipes. Having about 20 or so recipes you know your family loves and that you can easily replicate will take most of the brain power out of meal planning.
5. Have theme nights.
Again, not complicated. Do something like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Sandwich Wednesday, Meat and Three Thursday and Pizza Friday. That is just an example, but it really puts meal planning on autopilot.
6. Work those leftovers.
You can turn one roast chicken into many meals just by planning ahead for the leftovers.
Meal planning isn't a science. In fact is just takes about 30 minutes a week to meal plan and will help you save a bucket of money.
What about you? What tips to do you have for meal planning?
No Spending Update, Meal Plan, and Why I LOVE the library
Good morning. It is a chilly Monday morning here in South Alabama. I hope you and yours enjoyed a glorious weekend.
We enjoyed some down time and family time and frugal time. As you know Danielle from Blissful and Domestic and I launched #NOSpenduary last week.
Let me tell you... I almost failed just a few days in.... confession, I am a no spenduary fraud!!! On Friday I lost a pair of pants I love. At least I thought I lost them. As some of you are aware, I got rid of half my clothes. So now I only own a few pairs of pants. And these were my FAVORITE. I only owned them a week, but still my FAVORITE.
When I couldn't find them I started to panic and I was convinced that I had accidently stuck them in the purge bag and hauled them to Goodwill. So I was nanoseconds away from ordering a new pair when my husband found them hanging on the back of a chair. FRAUD I TELL YOU. I AM A TOTAL FRAUD.
Okay so now that that meltdown is out of the way let's move on!
This weekend we had lots of frugal (read: FREE) fun at our house.
Friday night Jason and I enjoyed a "date night" at home courtesy of some Christmas gift cards. We got a little take out using a gift and then rented a movie via Amazon courtesy of another gift card. Whoot!
Saturday we took the boys to a new park.
They had so much fun running on the castle, playing on the slide and rolling down the play equipment and we had fun chasing them. It felt good to get out of the house and just play!
Then we hit up the library where I can honestly tell you our family saves over a $1,000 each year by using the library.
Having fun as a family doesn't have to cost anything.
I also wanted to share with you our budget-friendly meal plan for the week. We will be hitting up the market for some fresh produce and milk, but that's pretty much it.
Monday- Tortilla bowls with rice and veggies. This is a really simple meal. You literally turn the tortilla into a bowl and eat out of it! I will show you how I do that on Wednesday.
Tuesday- White Chicken Chili simple and delicious. I am using leftover chicken!
Thursday- Frittata
Friday- BBQ Chicken Pizza!
What's on your meal plan??
Don't forget for meal planning tips and tools pick up a copy of The Poor Girl's Handbook to the Kitchen for just $2.99! It's loaded with tips, tricks, and recipes.
For more great meal plans hop on over to Org Junkie.
What's on your meal plan this week?