First Freezer Cooking Of The Year

I received this cookbook for Christmas.

Needless to say, it was one of my very favorite gifts---full of freezer cooking wonderfulness! I could hardly wait to get home and start cooking!

I've long been a fan of Jessica Fisher's blogs--Life As Mom and Good Cheap Eats. Mostly for the recipes! We have enjoyed every recipe that I've tried from her sites. She's frugal but still a foodie--kinda like us!

The cookbook is even better! It's full of recipes, tips and tricks for successful freezer cooking. This cookbook takes freezer cooking way beyond canned cream soups and casseroles. One aspect of the book that I really like is that most recipes call for frugal ingredients I would normally have in stock with some special ingredients thrown in here and there.

I've already had a lot of fun with this cookbook and highly recommend it!

Last week, I worked on a list of freezer cooking. It took most of the week to complete--I had one day off so I spent that morning doing the bulk of the list--then the rest was completed one or two recipes at a time during nap time the remainder of the week.

Not everything was from the new cookbook but those are marked with ** below.

• 2 carrot cakes. A 9 x 13 recipe divided into 2 smaller pans.
• 4 meals pancakes. Using this brown rice pancake mix that I got for cheap at a salvage grocery store.
• 3 meals carnitas.** Using a pork roast from the freezer.
• 10 bags cooked brown rice. Frozen in 2 cup portions.
• 11 bags shredded cheese. Frozen in 1 cup portions. It would be easier to buy it pre-shredded, yes, but using the block cheese tastes so much better! And doesn't have the additives that pre-shredded does. Call us cheese snobs--hahaha! It's not much of a chore to shred using my food processor.
• 1 pound cooked bacon.** For recipes. I baked it in the oven while cooking other things at the same time--similar instructions can also be found here. 
• 3 jars spice blends. Taco seasoning **, Onion soup mix and Rotisserie chicken spice mix. 
• 5 containers seasoned pinto beans.** Frozen in 2 cup portions. 
• 7 servings smoothies. Frozen berries, crushed pineapple, and coconut milk.
• 3 meals meatballs.
• 3 meals Catalan meatballs**. Used my recipe for the meatballs then used her sauce recipe. 
• 3 jars chicken gravy**. Chicken gravy served over rice is one of our favorite frugal meals around here! I added some diced chicken to this recipe. If we like it after it's frozen, I'll make a big batch of turkey gravy using turkey broth and turkey that was frozen after Thanksgiving. 
• 2 pans Sweet and Sour Chicken.  Divided one recipe into two smaller pans.

Love having  my freezer full of ready to eat foods!