23 Meals in 24 Hours!

How do you turn this:into this?:by making 23 meals to freeze for later - all in a Saturday afternoon while getting laundry folded and put away. (Ambitious, I know....and I was exhausted!) Before Macyn was born, I froze a couple of meals and soups. I used them up right away and it was super handy to have something you can thrown into the slow cooker and keep it on low all day and have it ready at supper. No mess, no dishes, no slaving away in the kitchen!

There is an official name for this called OAMC (Once A Month Cooking). It is also more cost effective because you can usually buy in bulk, and you can eat out less and at home more. If you watch for sales (like beef, I only buy that when its less than $2 per pound), you can save even more. I picked up a book at the library about it as well, but just decided to try out my own recipes that I know I like, instead of making a whole bunch of new ones that could be questionable. So I thought I would give it a shot.

So first, I get out the ever-so-handy, Josh & Brittany's Cookbook! If you need an idea for a great Christmas gift, a TasteBook is the way to go! You pretty much make your own cook book with your own recipes - you can even customize it with pictures and whatever else you want! They are really easy to make and decently priced (wait until the fall when they have free shipping when you buy 3) They print out all your recipes, includes dividers, and you can always buy extra pages to add to your book. It is also hard covered and the pages have a little bit of shine to them so the ink doesn't run if you spill something on them. You can also browse other TasteBooks or grab recipes from popular websites. It is super easy, and you can choose your cover, text, and all that stuff! Okay, enough with my TasteBook love, and back to the food!Here are the things I made - I ended up using 17 lbs of beef, 4 lbs of chicken, and 3 lbs of sausage, and TONS of other groceries. I spent about $200 which isn't so bad because it also included Gladware Ovenware pans, all freezer bags, most ingredients, and our everyday groceries. If this can get me through the month, the price tag is definitely worth it.

First up-taco meat:Chili Soup:
Taverns:
Side Dish Casserole (not sure of the real name, its just what DH calls it) - It's more or less hashbrowns, beef, sausage, cheese, and topped with french fried onions (that you put on later):
Cavatini:Taco Hot Dish fillings:
Tator Tot Casserole (sans the tator tots):

White Chicken Chili (forgot to take pic, so this is from google):Those are the meals I made with each freezer bag or pan having a single (family size) serving. These can stay frozen for up to 3 months - which puts us into November, so I'm pretty sure our soups will be gone by then! I will see how all this goes, and I might oficially be on the OAMC bandwagon!