Freezer Meals and Menu Planning

This year I have really started using The Big Cook again. It is a wonderful recipe book written by a couple women from Alberta who understand the chaos of being a working mom with a busy family who don't want to be going through drive thrus for dinner all the time. They have created recipes that are easy and amazing. I have yet to make something from that recipe book that my family didn't rave about. Recently, my kids asked what was it that made me decide to be so gourmet. Now there's a compliment you don't get often from kids!

This week we are gearing up for some more busy-ness. Peirce is working at the stampede, cat sitting and looking after exercising our neighbor's dogs and so Allen will be helping facilitate all that while working working working himself. Jill and I are headed off to Edmonton for Provincials and so the boys are staying home. I made some meals today that Jill and I can take and that I can leave at home to make life easier for Allen and Peirce.

What I usually do when I am shopping is keep my eye on good deals on meat and snap up a stack of it. The book has recipes for one meal, four meals, six meals and eight meals. In the past, when I have made freezer meals, it takes all day. These sure don't. They're so easy!

Here is how you do it:

Label the bags with the name of the recipe and the instructions for oven, BBQ and crockpot (whichever works best that day is what I use).

Throw the meat into the bags.

Make the sauce. The sauce recipes are easy and made from simple ingredients and oh so good! Then at dinner time you add potatoes or rice and a salad and vegetable and you're good to go. 

This whole concept has improved the quality of our meals and the quality of my life immensely. We all love it!

Today I put together and froze eight meals. It took me about an hour. Actually, I did it while this wonderful rhubarb cake was baking. Yum!!

The Big Cook. Get the book. You will love it.