Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to my new blog! I’m so excited for this new adventure. I can’t wait to share with you the many ideas and ways that I have made my home with six young children function as easily as possible! Now that does not mean that there is not any yelling (I’m in prayer and working on this daily)…messes…or fighting, but I try to solve the areas that are a struggle for me by simplifying them.
One area that I set out to master was the dinner time situation… It’s 3:47 PM and my four beautiful children come flying off the bus. They are all yelling to me about the wonders that have happened at school that day. We walk up the street and into the door to my two youngest children eagerly fussing to get up from naptime. Backpacks are flying everywhere along with school papers and lunch trash. My two littles need their diapers changed and everyone is asking what is for snack…well…let’s check the pantry…out fly the chips and fruit snacks and Oreos.
Another mom win for snack time. After snack time is done homework assignments come out, the piano is being practiced, and bath time starts to happen. In the midst of doing a French braid on one of my girls, I look at the clock to realize it’s 5:30 PM. I have NO idea what we are eating for dinner…guess I could order some pizza, it should be here before dad gets home at 6 PM.
Eeek!!! Does this happen you? For me, it wasn’t just happening…it was an everyday cycle. I was sick of feeling drained and worried about what I was feeding my family. They deserved the best and I was not providing it for them.
Freezer Theory
Today I want to tell you about how I cook good healthy warm meals each and every day for my family. I do this in an easy way that makes my after-school chaos time NOT the time I am prepping food for dinner. One day a week I have chosen to cook four of the SAME meal. Doing this the same day each week is key to my success. If I changed my grocery day around or my cooking day it makes it hard to stick to the plan. Monday is my cooking day and I do it EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I meal plan and make my grocery list over the weekend. Grocery shop during the day on Monday. Then I get crazy cooking it up on Monday evenings after my kids are in bed.
I said each week I cook four of the SAME meal…what does this mean you ask…do we eat the same thing all week…NO! Does this mean I spend HOURS in the kitchen…NO! I’ve found that if I cook four of the same meal once a week, we eat one that week and I freeze the rest. I keep my freezer stocked up enough that Monday is the only day I cook.
Now four meals you say…but there are seven days in a week? Yes, I do realize this but with grilling one night, leftovers, date night and what not it really works out. I do have to admit I usually add a few more than four because I also like to bless people in need with meals. This means I like my freezer stocked even more.
How to Start
Obviously, if you are just getting started you will need to build up that stock. You can do this slowly by doing just one four-meal cooking day a week and then cook normally the rest of the week. You could do a couple cooking days a week to build up. Or even do a large cooking day where you make a bunch of meals in one day. This is a nightmare to me, so I have just slowly built my stock by cooking more than one meal each time I cook.
Honestly, I almost never cook any other day except Monday now unless there is a special occasion! It’s such a blessing for me during the crazy time of the day from when the bus arrives until bedtime. It’s also good healthy warm food for my kids and my hard-working husband!
Freezer cooking Tips
Now that you know a general idea here are some tips for you. I use aluminum pans from Sam’s Club. They come in a pack of 30, you buy the pans and lids separate but together they cost about $12. WHAT…$12 that is cheaper than the dollar store and these pans are awesome. They are sturdy to stack in the freezer and I write the directions easily on the lid. I also use an address label to put the name of the dish on the side. My freezer is upright and it makes it easier to see what options I have!
Lining these pans with parchment paper so that they easily pop out to cook in glass is another thing that I try to do. Mostly so that we aren’t always eating out of throw away pans but I have also heard that cooking in aluminum isn’t great for our health.
Trim Healthy Mama
Next up… although I do cook other meals I will weekly be posting about the meal that I make for my personal family which follows The Trim Healthy Mama Eating Plan (THM). If you do not know anything about this plan I highly recommend you get the plan book and cookbook from amazon. I also love the Brianna Thomas Necessary Foods cookbook, which I may reference from time to time. You can click these links below.
If I am able to share the recipes I use I will but sometimes I cannot because they are from the cookbook.
This plan is a gluten-free, sugar-free food freedom plan and has been amazing for easy weight loss for me and great for my family. The food is good and is something you can easily make and freeze each week! With that being said I will be doing a post weekly about the freezer meal I make, complete with any directions I can give to make it easier and the recipe or page number in the cookbook!
Sausage Balls
Without dragging this on any longer I want to go ahead and tell you about the meal I made this week! One thing I love to do is time myself because I feel like people get so caught up thinking this will take ALL NIGHT. IT really doesn’t and it is so worth it, I promise!
This week I made Brianna Thomas’ Cheesy sausage balls. Of course, these are from Brianna’s amazing THM cookbook called Necessary Foods (page 64). I can’t reference the recipe but there are other THM sausage ball recipes online that would freeze just as well if you do not have the cookbook.
I jumped right in and made this recipe in 23 minutes! It was so easy and actually, I didn’t make just four (which I had planned to) but there was so much I ended up with seven full pans of 12 and two smaller portions. My best advice for this one is using LARGE bowls and just mix it all together using your clean hands! This recipe was so easy and if they taste anything like the recipe in the THM cookbook I’m sure we will NOT be disappointed!
Thank you for joining me and supporting me on this new journey! Please feel free to ask questions. I am very happy to help make you into the super mom that you dream to be!
I’ve been following your THM freezer meals group. Thank you for your weekly inspiration! What sides are you planning to serve with these sausage and cheese balls?
I actually did sprouted rolls (making it a cross over but more for my kids than me) and a side salad tonight with them. Thanks for following!!!
Do you COOK the recipes ahead of time and then thaw them/reheat them? Or do you go straight from freezer to oven? Do you ever freeze raw meals that you then pop into a crockpot for all-day cooking so working moms come home to complete meals ready to eat? Perhaps a little more information on that end of the process would help! Thanks for the great recipes, too!
Such a great idea. I was very resistant to that foil pan idea because of the waste, but the parchment is brilliant! I have a real problem with keeping my freezers too full, but if I pick something that uses a bunch of stuff from my freezer for the first recipe, I can make some room. I know September is going to be a crazier than usual month for me, so I’m going to get on it!
I also started a little file on Google Keep with a list and general location of everything in my freezer. It has been such a help to know exactly what was in there. I have tried this before with notebook paper, spreadsheets, wipe erase boards. Nothing worked. But Keep is accessible from all my devices, I can see it at home without even getting up when I’m looking at recipes, and I can access it at the grocery store too. And my family can edit the document, too, so if my son uses the last of something, he can zap it off the inventory.
Great advice!! Thanks so much for sharing!!