Freezer Cooking

I have been thinking about attempting some freezer cooking for quite some time. I always seem to have plenty of food on hand but nothing ready for supper. Can anyone relate?

My sister also wants to do some batch cooking so we sat down for a few hours this afternoon and came up with a game plan. We are going about our freezer cooking a bit differently than most I think. Instead of spending a day cooking, we split up the meals we think will work best. We will spend the next three weeks putting together enough for two families. At the end of the month we will be getting together to swap meals. This should ensure at least two weeks of dinners and a month (or more) of breakfast/snack things.

Since this is the first time either of us have attempted this type of preparation, it will be interesting to see how it all works.

We are including breakfast foods in our freezer cooking for a couple of reasons. One, I dislike mornings and to have to get up and cook immediately just isn't going to happen. From the time my boys could fend for themselves, they have been in charge of making their own breakfasts. It's usually cereal or granola bars. It's certainly nothing fancy, but after this, they may enjoy it more.

Breakfast Plans
Waffles (thankful my sister is taking these one)
Regular Pancakes (I will be making some gluten-free ones as well for my youngest).
Oatmeal Cinnamon pancakes
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins (and probably some regular ones as well)
Banana Muffins
Blueberry Muffins
Donut Muffins (so yummy!)
Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Certainly lots of muffins, but this will also allow for snack time as well.

For main meals what we decided to do was to essential double the recipe. We'll keep one and give one to the other family. Since we are pretty new to this whole thing, I'm wondering how it's going to work, but I'm certainly eager to sample the goodies!

Main Meals
I will be making:

• Pizza crusts (flash frozen and stacked with waxed paper for easy use)
• Pulled BBQ Pork for sandwiches
• Pizza Pasta Casserole (aka lazy mom's lasagna)
• Bacon Cheeseburger Buns
• Crunchy Chicken Strips
• Teriyaki Chicken Dump
• Caribbean Chicken Dump
• Sticky Chicken Dump

My sister is tackling:

• Meatloaf
• Chicken pot pie
• Chicken Parmesan 
• Beef pot pie
• Meatloaf Volcanoes (muffin-tin style)
• Teriyaki Marinade (we'll add this to steak we already have on hand)

Meal Extras

I am going to be trying my hand at making freezer biscuits. My goal is to make two dozen for each of us. These are suppose to be similar to the pop-can style. Hopefully they are! My sister is also an excellent break maker so she will be making some oatmeal rolls (hopefully!) to share as well as kaiser rolls. She sent me home with a nice big sample of these to try. She made them for the first time a few months ago and is now using them for sandwiches, burgers, and more.

We decided to be really ambitious and also tackle desserts - mostly cookies. I didn't write down what she was going to make, but I'll be making some yummy chocolate caramel cookies, molasses crinkles, brownies, and congo bars (family recipe - essentially tollhouse cookie bars). I know she's making chocolate chip cookies, but I can't remember the rest.

I have a feeling our families are going to be happy with our new venture. I'll be posting progress and will let you know if it works as well as we hope!