Freezer Cooking 101

I don't know what came over me tonight, but while my husband was gone at work I decided I would try my hand at some freezer cooking. Freezer cooking is the general concept of making a bunch of meals all at once and freezing them for later cooking. Many families freezer cook before new babies come, when someone has surgery, or whenever they want to make life easier. Yes you make a big mess, but you only do it once. I've seen some bloggers who can spend a whole day making weeks of meals at a time, but this was my first go at it so I decided to stick to three recipes.

Asian BBQ Chicken
Rootbeer Pork Chops
Amish Baked Oatmeal

Here's what you need for the Asian BBQ Chicken:

6 - 8 Boneless chicken thighs, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 T lime juice, 1/4 t cayenne pepper, 1/4 t curry powder, 3-4 garlic cloves minced, 1 t grated ginger,

Basically you mix everything all together and then add the chicken. Voila!

ready for the freezer

The recipe calls for you to put it all in one bag but I knew Dan and I would not eat 6 thighs in one meal so I split the recipe into two. When you're ready to eat simply thaw them and grill them!

Next up was the RootBeer Pork Chops. Here's what you need:

4 inch thick pork chops, 3 cans of rootbeer (or 36 ounces), salt and pepper, 1 cup beef stock, 2 T brown sugar, 1 t hot sauce, 1 1/2 T worcestershire sauce, pinch of salt to taste

First you put 2 cans (24 oz.) of rootbeer and the pork chops in a bag.

Then you mix everything else into a second bag and both bags are ready for the freezer.

When you are ready to cook you thaw them, salt and pepper the chops, and grill the chops.
While the chops are grilling, pour the marinade into a pot and bring to a boil.
Brush the chops with the hot marinade as they grill and again as they come off the grill.

And last, I decided to make some Baked Amish Oatmeal for Breakfasts. The recipe makes 1 big batch but I made two smaller ones since it's just the two of us. Here's what you need:

1/3 cup melted butter, 2 large eggs, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 t baking powder, 1 1/2 t vanilla, 1 t cinnamon, 1/4 t salt, 1 cup milk, 2 T milk, 3 cups oatmeal.

Basically you mix everything up in a pan and then let it sit overnight in the fridge, or freeze it for later. In the morning simply pop it in the oven at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes.

I really should have stopped there. But I didn't. I whipped up a batch of ooey gooey peanut butter brownies. My waistline yelled at me, but I did it anyways. Then I taste tested them :)

And then I made some egg salad for lunches.

All in all it took me about an hour, and I got 4 dinners, 2 breakfasts, 2 or 3 lunches, and dessert! Not too bad!

All of these recipes can be found under my recipes tab at the top!