This is my original article published in 2011.
You might also be interested in How to Start Freezer Cooking, Large Family Meal Plan: 4-Weeks, 90 Family Meals, 60 Snacks, Recipes, and Helps! here’s my Large Family Grocery Budget Breakdown and the Ultimate List of Tips and Tricks for Large Family Grocery Shopping. You might also enjoy my $400/month grocery budget for my family of 7 from 2011! GET FREE Family Meal Planners, Freezer Meal Planning Guide and so much more here ($59 value FREE!)
Once A Month Cooking Meat and Freezer Cooking List Printable
I’m increasingly dipping my big toe into the world of once a month cooking. It’s all about the slow and steady baby steps around here. I’ve already been big batch cooking for years. I’ve also continued to grow my freezer cooking skills. How can once a month cooking help me?
I love to read about other moms successful OAMC stories. I have frozen bread, store-bought milk (although we have a lovely local source for farm fresh milk now), peaches, blackberries from our homegrown bushes, and cooking extras for a while. Some months I’ve even cooked all of our meat in advance; I see huge time and mess savings when I do this. That is what I did this past weekend, plus some additional freezer cooking.
Cooking Meat Once A Month
When we did our once a month grocery shopping on Friday. I bought 15 .lbs of ground turkey, 7 .lbs of sausage (don’t shoot me…it’s cheap), and 10 .lbs of chicken. I planned my May meal plan around these meats.
One way that I stretch meat is by adding in beans and vegetables for additional bulk. Celery and green peppers are two of my favorite add-ins. They both go with most of the dishes that I make, or they do now since I nearly always add them.
To start my meat cooking time I chopped up all the vegetables that I wanted to add to the meat.
Throughout the day I kept my large skillet cranking with my ground meats and vegetables. I also started a large stock pot full of chicken to boil (you can read my post on how to boil chicken here). I cooked brown rice and beans in separate pots on the back burners too.
I filled and labeled gallon freezer bags with rice, meat, and beans.
Even though I did not prepare full freezer meals at this point I still have saved myself a huge amount of prep time and mess for making my meals. For example last night I made our homemade chili. I already had my meat, rice and beans cooked. It was just a matter of adding in the other canned ingredients and allowing several hours for it to simmer in the stock pot.
My Freezer Cooking Accomplishment List
- 15. lbs of Ground Turkey::My main meat for this month. I found it 40-cents cheaper per pound than ground beef. I’m happy to report that soon we’re buying a cow! Okay, maybe not an entire cow; a friend and I are teaming up to buy our meat in advance in this healthy way.
- 10. lbs of Chicken::Boiled, shredded and frozen in gallon storage bags for chicken meals throughout the month. On my May Meal Plan is Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Pot Pie, and Chicken Salad.
- 7. lbs of Sausage::Cooked with celery, peppers and onions to add to dishes throughout the month such as homemade chili, meat loaf, and spaghetti.
- 12 cups of Brown Rice (cups after cooking)::Chili, Taco Meat, Taco Soup, whatever else I can sneak it in 😉
- 8 cups of Beans (cups after cooking:: Northern Beans, Black Beans)::Chili, Tacos, Taco Soup
Here is my freezer cooking printable list. I hate to find a mystery bag of something from somewhere in the back of my freezer. With this list you fill out what you froze, the date, the amount and any additional reminders. After you use that item just draw a line through it on the list. Easy peasy, and helpful for my brain.
Free Freezer Cooking Printable
Simply click the picture, download, and print off as many sheets that you need.
Tell me, do you do any freezer cooking? What do you cook and freeze? Do you have any awesome freezer cooking recipes that I should try?
Feeding a Big Family Money Saving Grocery Articles ~
- Once-A-Month Grocery Shopping List, Monthly Meal Plan, F.A.Q.
- Once A Month Cooking Meat and Freezer Cooking List Printable
- Save Money with Monthly Meal Planning
- Homemade Chili and Printable Recipe
- Family Food Savings: Feeding Seven for $400 per Month
- Family Food Savings: How to Freeze Milk
- Homemade Butter Cookies & Butter Cream Icing
- Our Favorite No Bake Cookies & Printable Recipe
- Ten Quick Easy Family Dinner Recipes
- The Easy Way to Make Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot
- Once-A-Month Grocery Shopping List, Monthly Meal Plan, F.A.Q.
- Ten Tricks for Successful Once-A-Month Grocery Shopping
- Top Ten Ways I Save My Large Family Money
- How to Cook 40 Freezer Meals for New Moms in ONE Evening!!
- My Journey into Freezer Cooking {Storytime with Jamerrill}
- How to Start Freezer Cooking
- Large Family Grocery Budget Breakdown
- Large Family Meal Plans: 4 Weeks including Easy Large Family Dinner Ideas!
- 27 Extreme Budget Grocery Shopping Hacks to Save Thousands in 2023
FREE Emergency Pantry Planning Pack!
Don’t forget to sign up for the emergency pantry planning pack for free to help you plan your pantry meals! The free Emergency Pantry Planning Pack will help you plan your needed pantry items! Printable pages include pantry inventory, grocery lists, meal planners, list of pantry staple items, and more.