Well, sort of.
I mentioned in my OAMC To-Do List post that I was pretty sure I was being overly ambitious in my Freezer Cooking Day this month. And I was right.
We did end up having quite a bit of snow (and ice) so we were stuck in the house all weekend. That gave me a great opportunity to get quite a bit done. Well…I’m not sure I’d say quite a bit. More like some done.
But there are a few more items in our freezer that would not have been there otherwise. I’m sure it will save us from take-out/drive-thru at least a few times in the month of February!
So here is what I accomplished:
-
Make a double batch of Homemade Biscuit Mix Roast 2 Whole Chickens in the Oven – bag a large majority of it
Actually I ended up roasting FOUR! I made almost 2 whole 8-lb. chickens into chicken salad and several freezer meals to take to a new mama and a mama with a very sick new baby. I kept the other two for our freezer.
Make 2 enormous batches of homemade chicken stock
One is still in the crockpot and I’m waiting for it to finish. The other is in the freezer.
Brown ground beef and bag for casseroles
Three 2 1/2 cup portions in the freezer
Double Batch of Meatballs- Chicken/Broccoli/Rice Casserole x 2
- Chicken Ring x 2
I wasn’t able to get to the Chicken/Broccoli/Rice Casserole or the Chicken Ring. I have all of the ingredients already in the fridge, I just need to get them put together. So that is high on my to-do list for today!
I’ll post the recipe for the Chicken Ring (oh so yummy!) later today since someone asked for it. And hopefully I’ll get the recipe for the Homemade Biscuit Mix posted because it makes the best pancakes I’ve literally ever eaten.
How did your freezer cooking go?
I had a hard time getting everything accomplished this month. I have to keep reminding myself what a huge blessing it is to go shop in my freezer for supper. Gosh, I love it. And that makes all of the hard work well worth it!
Did I mention my kitchen looked like this last night?
It’s better this morning, but not better enough to take ‘after’ pictures!
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I’ve always wanted to try OAMC or at least cooking for the freezer, but I get bogged down in the details. What exactly do you mean by “bag most of the chicken”. Is it cooked all the way through first, or do you leave it a little undercooked? What exaclty do you do with it when you want to cook it? Do you lay it out the night before, then pop it in the oven?
Is there a good resource book out there that has all of this sneaky little details?
Oh yes, I can totally relate to getting bogged down in details.
I’m sorry I made that confusing about the chicken! I definitely cooked it until it was completely done. This was my method:
– Cook chickens until done, remove from oven.
– Let cool until they are cool enough to handle.
– Get two large containers.
– Pull chicken off bone and put the edible meat into one container. Put the skin, bones, etc into the other bowl for making stock later.
– On a cutting board, I chop all of the chicken into bite-size pieces. Or you can shred it – whatever your pleasure.
– I bag into 2-2 1/2 cup portions and place in a ziploc bag. And label it, because I will certainly forget what it is and when I made it!
When I said I bagged most of it, I got most of it portioned out, bagged and put in the freezer. I left some in a Tupperware bowl in the fridge for making my casseroles today. I knew that I would need 6+ cups of chicken for those, so I portioned them out and left in the fridge.
When I want to cook it, I 1) defrost in micro for about 3 minutes, or I thaw in fridge overnight. Both ways works equally well.
Keep in mind this method above is just for cooked chicken that I want to put in a casserole, on pizza, etc. It saves the time of cooking chicken each time I want to use it for a casserole-type dish. And it is a HUGE timesaver!
Forgot to say: there are TONS of good resources out there!
I found every website I could on freezer cooking when I got started…and now there are a million more that give great tutorials.
Glean all of the tips and tricks you can from them and then tweak your own methods. The biggest hurdle is trying to wrap your mind around it and just get started!
Here a few sites to get you going:
http://lifeasmom.com/2010/01/freezer-cooking-where-do-you-start.html There are SO many great resources at Life as MOM! Click around and read her wealth of knowledge.
http://onceamonthmom.com/cooking/ Tons of resources and recipes and guides. It’s fabulous!
how do you make your chicken stock?
Hey Keli!
I’ll write a post on it next week. I took pictures and everything. Woot!
I’ll drop you an email when I get it posted. It’s a super easy!
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
awesome! Thanks! I had a recipe but i have no idea what I did with it. I tried to make some last night but totally messed it up! Looking forward to your post!
.-= keli´s last blog ..Penny Experiment Trip (Target) =-.
I would love the chicken/broccoli/rice casserole recipe!
Sure! I’m going to Blissdom Wed-Sun, but I’ll be happy to get them all posted as soon as I return!
Thanks 🙂