Freezer Cooking

{Reminder} Boneless skinless chicken breast from Zaycon Foods just $1.79/lb (available nationwide)

by Melody on March 4, 2013

Just a quick reminder that you can still place your order with Zaycon Foods for boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.79/lb.  I’m going back and forth about ordering a second box, as they mentioned they won’t be back with chicken until the Fall.  It would be nice to get it all done and in the freezer in one fell swoop.

There are events all over Washington and several other parts of the country.

Our local events in Richland, Pasco and Kennewick all have a delivery date of April 11th and 12th.  Orders must be placed before the delivery dates, although they have sold out in the past.

Read my post here for more information.  To find your exact location, date and time, register or log in to your account here and click on “View My Account”.

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Amazon: Healthy Eating Cookbooks just $2.99 or FREE for Prime members

by Emilie on February 19, 2013

PAleo Slow Cooker

Amazon has a few healthy cooking eBooks available right now that are less than $3 each or FREE to borrow for Prime members.

EAting ORganic

Freezer Meals

Coconut Oil

Make sure and check out the Kindle ebooks available for $3.99 or less on Amazon this month.  They have some great titles.

If you don’t have a Kindle or other notepad, you can view these and other eBooks on your PC with the free Kindle reader.

Learn how to earn Amazon gift cards by using Swagbucks as your search engine.

Thanks to The Coupon Project & Thrifty and Thriving!

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{Reminder} Boneless skinless chicken breast from Zaycon Foods just $1.79/lb (available nationwide)

by Melody on February 9, 2013

Just a quick reminder that you can still place your order with Zaycon Foods for boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.79/lb.

There are events all over Washington and several other parts of the country.

Our local events in Richland, Pasco and Kennewick all have a delivery date of April 11th and 12th.  Orders must be placed before the delivery dates, although they have sold out in the past.

Read my post here for more information.  To find your exact location, date and time, register or log in to your account here and click on “View My Account”.

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Zaycon Foods: Super lean ground beef event now live ($3.29/lb)

by Melody on November 1, 2012

I’m excited to tell you that Zaycon Foods is running a new super lean ground beef event.  Ordering is currently live for 93/7 super lean ground beef at just $3.29/lb.  There are TONS of locations listed all across Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Last I checked, this is right around the same price as Costco’s super lean ground beef.  I haven’t tried the Costco ground beef, but this Zaycon beef is excellent.  The taste is wonderful and there is very little fat.

With your ground beef order, you will receive a 40-pound box of 93/7 super lean ground beef.  The meat is raised in the United States with no antibiotics or hormones and their products have never been frozen upon delivery.  They use no chemicals or additives and the cows are grass-fed up to 700 pounds, then supplemented with grain (great to know!).

For more information and details, register for a free account with Zaycon Foods.  They do carry a limited quantity, so I suggest ordering right away if you are interested.

If 40 pounds of ground beef sounds like WAY too much for your family, consider splitting with a friend (or two). Your beef will come in (4) 10-pound chubs so very easy to split.  My mother-in-law and I split our ground beef last time and it definitely minimized out of pocket cost and time spent prepping.  You could also plan a Freezer Cooking Day around your ground beef order.

Click here to register for an account with Zaycon Foods. To see all delivery times and place your order, click on the “My Account” tab. Delivery dates for our local area will be December 6th.

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Last few days to order $1.69/lb chicken from Zaycon Foods

by Melody on October 3, 2012

Just a quick reminder that you only have a few days left to place your order with Zaycon Foods for boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.69/lb.

There are events all over Washington and several other parts of the country.

Our local events in Richland, Pasco and Kennewick all have a delivery date of Wednesday October 17th.  Orders must be placed by Thursday October 11th, although they have sold out in the past.

Read my post here for more information.  To find your exact location, date and time, register or log in to your account here and click on “View My Account”.

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Freezer Cooking: Amazing and Healthy Whole Wheat Pancakes & Waffles

by Emilie on August 29, 2012

Recently, I (Emilie) attempted to do a full freezer cooking day.  I didn’t blog about it because honestly, I thought it was going to turn out terribly and I should get one under my belt before I added the extra stress of posting pictures and recipes.  I’m happy to report that it wasn’t a total disaster, but I hated it.  The mess afterwards was so overhwhelming.

Sorry about the ridiculous picture above.  I had nice, pretty pictures for you of my frozen pancakes and individual sized frozen syrups but my mother-in-law deleted them.  She hates me.  Or, maybe she hates you.  I don’t know but either way she insists it was because it was the Sophie’s choice of camera memory cards.  The pancakes or my adorable children.  I guess she made the right choice.

I realized from the freezer cooking day how helpful it was to have meals stashed in the freezer.  As an alternative to cooking several items at once, I’m trying to make a large batch of one item a week.  I’ve started with pancakes, waffles and granola (which actually isn’t freezer cooking, just batch cooking).

Speaking of my adorable children, can you tell they like reheated pancakes? I told them to say cheese but they just kept eating and asking for more. They normally wear shirts. Just kidding, they don’t.  Truth be told, I only make them wear clothes when we leave the house.  That’s normal, right?

Anyway, back to the freezer cooking…

We fell in love with these whole wheat pancake & waffle recipes.  We’ve tried about a million whole wheat recipes for these items and we’ve had a lot of terrible and mediocore ones.  These are by far the best in my book.

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Whole Wheat Pancakes (makes 12 pancakes)
*Adapted from Our Best Bites

1 1/2  whole wheat pastry flour
3 Tbs sugar or sucanat
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C low-fat buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs canola oil or coconut oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
Cooking Spray or butter for pan

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together.  In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk well.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until moistened and combined.

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Whole Wheat Waffles (makes 10 waffles)
*Adapted from Weelicious 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk or almond milk
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt, applesauce or homemade yogurt
1 large egg
1/3 cup vegetable, canola oil or coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey or agave
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat waffle iron.  Mix the first 3 ingredients into a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining wet ingredients.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until combined. Do not over mix.  Pour 1/2 cup of batter into a greased waffle iron and cook about 3-4 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

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A few tips I’ve learned along the way:

  • Don’t freeze your pancakes and waffles until they are cool, otherwise they stick together.
  • Put a layer of wax paper between each layer so they don’t stick together before you freeze them.
  • Butermilk is super cheap so I’ve just been buying the huge one .  If I have extra, I’ll sub it for the milk in the waffles.
  • You can also use your extra buttermilk to make Homemade Caramel Syrup. I freeze it in individual containers that are just enough for one breakfast.  This way I don’t have extra in the fridge which I’ve been caught drinking when my kids aren’t looking.  I’m teasing.  Sort of.
  • To reheat them I microwave them for about 40 seconds and then put them in the toaster until they are hot and crispy.
  • Make a lot.  It’s amazing how fast you can blow through these things. I’ve been doing 4x the original recipes to make it worth the time and effort.

You can see more freezer cooking recipes & tips from Melody here. She’s really good at freezer cooking days!

Do you have any other easy freezer cooking items to share?  We would love to hear!

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My quick & dirty Zaycon Foods freezer cooking plan

by Melody on April 18, 2012

While I know that several of you will be picking up your Zaycon Foods chicken here in a few days, I still have plenty in my freezer.  I thought I would mock up a quick and VERY basic freezer cooking plan for you and put it into action myself.

This will by no means use your entire 40 pounds of chicken, you will have to either have a secondary plan or just individually freeze the remaining breasts.  This will just give you a basic jump start on getting that chicken ready for your family.  I like to freeze most of mine individually to use as we please, but I also like to have a few easy dinners made that can supplement when we have busy days, nights or even weeks.

I’ve had several people ask me recently how we manage cooking for the freezer and keep the recipes on the healthier side.  While it’s true that there are tons of freezer recipes and casseroles out there that call for pounds and pounds of cheese, butter, milk and cream of something soup, there are also tons of great options.  I deliberately chose recipes that were leaning more towards the lighter side this time.  However, not one of these recipes contains ingredients that are too out of the ordinary.  I would venture to guess you have everything in your pantry right now.

For the following recipes, I used approximately 7-8 pounds of chicken.  The only thing I really prepped ahead of time was chopping up a few large onions to use throughout the recipes.  Most everything else (and there wasn’t much), I did on the fly.  My plan was to get all this done in one day, as they are all fairly straight-forward recipes, but ear infections, dental surgery and nasty coughs got in the way.  I ended up spreading this out over 2 days and was able to complete everything easily with my kids underfoot.

With minimal effort, I now have 4 full meals in the freezer, 2 made for this week’s dinner and 2 lunches for my husband to take to work.

Day 1

White Chicken Chili x 2 – This takes very little prep and really can simmer as long as you want it to.  It’s a great recipe to start out with, as you can get it going on the stove top, set it to low and forget about it.  We ate some for dinner and I froze an additional meals worth.

Honey Sauced Soy Chicken x 2 – You could either start this before or after the White Chicken Chili.  Very little prep, everything basically gets thrown in the crock pot and you forget about it until you have to chop up the chicken.  I made two rice bowls for my husband to take to work with this on top and then froze the rest in two quart-sized freezer bags.  Don’t dump the sauce, it’s the best part!

Day 2

Slow Cook Thai Chicken x 2 - Again, very little prep.  I threw this in the crock pot in the morning and was able to divvy it up during nap time.  I ended up using frozen chicken breasts for this and only cooked for about 2 hours on low, which was more than enough in my crock pot.  I pulled out enough for two nights worth of dinner and threw another dinner’s worth in the freezer.

Pumpkin Enchiladas – I’ve said it before, you MUST try these.  They really taste nothing like pumpkin, it just adds to the complexity of the flavors.  These can easily be prepped while the Slow Cook Thai Chicken is in the crock pot.

If you are interested in trying out these or other recipes, I’ll list what I think are the most important steps in planning.

  • Quickly browse through the ingredients for each recipe BEFORE you start.  You can make substitutions, but you don’t want to find out half way through that you’re out of something crucial.
  • Prep any like ingredients at the same time.  For example, chop onions, grate cheese, mince garlic for all recipes at once, not just one at a time.
  • Try to stick with one recipe per cooking element (stove top, oven, no-bake, crock pot).  This way you can have multiple recipes cooking/marinating at once.

You can also check out my Zaycon Foods Pinterest board for more recipe ideas.

Let me know if you have any questions.  This is a very basic set-up, if you’re looking for something a little more time-intensive that will guarantee you more dishes in the freezer, check out my last Freezer Cooking Day.

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Zaycon Foods: Super lean ground beef event now live ($2.99/lb)

by Melody on January 26, 2012

I’m excited to tell you that Zaycon Foods is running a new super lean ground beef event.  Ordering is currently live for 93/7 super lean ground beef at just $2.99/lb.  The following locations were listed in the email I received:

  • Spokane (North, South and the Valley)
  • Airway Heights
  • Ritzville
  • Moses Lake
  • Wenatchee
  • Ellensburg
  • Yakima
  • Zillah
  • Kennewick, Pasco and Richland

Last I checked, this is right around the same price as Costco’s super lean ground beef.  I haven’t tried the Costco ground beef, but this Zaycon beef is excellent.  The taste is wonderful and there is very little fat.

With your ground beef order, you will receive a 40-pound box of 93/7 super lean ground beef.  The meat is raised in the United States with no antibiotics or hormones and their products have never been frozen upon delivery.

For more information and details, register for a free account with Zaycon Foods.  They do carry a limited quantity, so I suggest ordering right away if you are interested.

If 40 pounds of ground beef sounds like WAY too much for your family, consider splitting with a friend (or two). Your beef will come in (4) 10-pound chubs so very easy to split.  My mother-in-law and I split our ground beef last time and it definitely minimized out of pocket cost and time spent prepping.  You could also plan a Freezer Cooking Day around your ground beef order.

Click here to register for an account with Zaycon Foods. To see all delivery times and place your order, click on the “My Account” tab. Delivery dates for these areas will be between February 2-4.

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The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Friendly Meals just $2 + 100% of proceeds go to local food banks (Portland, Tri-Cities, Pierce County, Salem)

by Melody on January 26, 2012

Did you order your 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods?

Angela and Kate of Frugal Living NW have created a fantastic eBook titled “The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Friendly Meals”, a re-launch of their original eBook “40 Simple Ways to Prepare 40 Pounds of Chicken”.  This is an amazing resource!  They have written very simple, easy to follow instructions with TONS of delicious recipes that incorporate all the different ways you have frozen your chicken.

I feel like I am a decent cook and fairly well organized, but this puts me to shame.  I never could have come up with such a great plan on my own, this cuts out so much of the legwork.  We eat a lot of chicken in our house, it’s inexpensive and so versatile.  Somehow, we always seem to get stuck in a chicken rut.  The recipes I have tried from this eBook are so delicious and simple.

“The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Friendly Meals” is available for just $2.  Once you have completed your purchase, you will be able to download your book and reference it whenever you need it.

The best part about this sale is that they are donating 100% of the proceeds from the sale to several local food banks, including Tri-Cities Second Harvest!  Use the following promo codes to make sure the donation goes to the food bank of your choice:

  • Use code TRICITIES to support Second Harvest in Tri-Cities
  • Use code PORTLAND to support Snow-Cap Community Charities in Portland
  • Use code PUGETSOUND to support FISH Food Banks of Pierce County
  • Use code SALEM to support Hope Station Community Services in Salem

This will truly be an invaluable resource for you if you decide to purchase.  Even if you didn’t have the opportunity to order from Zaycon Foods, you will find tips and tricks that will work for you.  If you have already picked up your chicken (like me), this will give you tons of inspiration on how to use your chicken.

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A slightly boring week in the life of a fairly average couponer

by Melody on January 23, 2012

Each week I will be sharing a round-up of all the different ways I saved our family money.  The purpose of this series is to highlight the fact that there are SO many different methods you can use to lower your overall budget that don’t involve mad-crazy coupon shopping.

I will even be mentioning those methods that may seem insignificant to you.  I truly feel that anything that saves time is saving money in some form or another.

Do a little research

Our printer is a little bit older (4-5 years) and the software/drivers weren’t compatible with my new laptop and Windows 7.  We have hung on to our ancient laptop (that we actually could print from) until it went belly up last week.  I immediately panicked.  How will I print?  I need to print something now!  I actually didn’t, but was anticipating how sad I would be when I did need to print.  We started thinking about getting a new printer.  On top of the new washing machine we just bought.  And the new hand truck.  And a new laptop.  Ugh.

It took me a few days to realize that I could possibly just download new drivers.  I checked the HP website and sure enough, brand new drivers for Windows 7.  For free.  I printed something this morning just because I could.  Serious money and serious time saved.  Lesson learned?  There is often an alternative to buying something brand new if you’re willing to put a little time in.

Taking advantage of prescription transfer offers

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a good prescription transfer offer, but I received a great one from Safeway in the mail a few weeks ago.  Basically, the store is offering you a bonus coupon or gift card to transfer a prescription to their pharmacy.  I’ve done this at Rite Aid, Walgreens, Fred Meyer and now Safeway.

I happened to have a very basic prescription for my son that we fill every 2-3 months that needed refilled.  All I had to do was drop off the prescription bottle at Safeway and they did the rest.  When I went to pick it up, I gave them my transfer coupon and they handed me a $30 gift card to spend at Safeway.

We’ve been a little behind on the budget this month as I’ve basically been playing catch-up from a little overindulgence in December, so this was perfect timing.  I was able to get the following for just $.54 after my gift card:

    • 8 lbs of oranges
    • 5 lbs of apples
    • 4 lbs of cheese
    • Cilantro
    • 2 boxes Celestial Seasonings tea
    • Dozen eggs
    • Head of lettuce
    • Celery
    • 5 gallon water refill for our water dispenser

All I had to do was pay for a prescription we were going to pay for anyway.  Who says you can’t save money on produce?

My poor husband

I’m pretty sure I’ve never made his lunch for him.  It all started when I was working outside the home too and we were both leaving early.  We just took care of ourselves.  Some people were shocked that I didn’t get his lunch ready for him.  Is this a requirement when you get married?  He has 2 hands and is perfectly capable.

HOWEVER, I know how boring it can be to eat the same darn thing for lunch every day.  While I still won’t actually get up and pack his lunch for him (I use the precious morning hours to blog), I can do a few things to help him along his way.  This weekend, I made a double match of Ellie Krieger’s Minestrone Soup.  I saved half for leftovers and portioned out the rest in those small Ziploc containers to go in the freezer.  This way, my husband can grab one out in the morning and have something hot for lunch.  This helps beat the lunchtime boredom and saves money, he’s definitely not as tempted to go out to eat.

My other favorite thing to make for his lunches is these Brown Bag Burritos.  I won’t lie, I eat them sometimes too.

Our Zaycon Foods chicken pick-up

My husband braved the storm this week to pick up our 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods.  He got there right as the pick-up opened and it seems that everyone else had the same idea, get in and get out and get home.

Normally, I just trim the fat and freeze the breasts in gallon Ziploc bags, but I decided to put a little of the chicken to work for me this time.

I threw about 4 pounds in the crockpot to make Honey Sauced Chicken.  This recipe only takes about an hour and a half on high, so it was done about the same time I was.  I chopped up the cooked chicken, tossed it with the remaining sauce and then froze in quart size freezer bags.

I also threw about 4 pounds in the oven to bake.  I chopped up the cooked chicken when it was done, split between 3 quart sized freezer bags and covered with Cilantro Lime Pesto.  In to the freezer it went.

Another easy idea, if you don’t want to make a specific recipe, is to just throw a bunch of chicken in the crockpot without any added sauces or seasonings.  Cook until done, then either shred or chop and freeze in quart sized bags.  This will give you pre-cooked chicken to add to any recipe in the future, without much fuss and certainly less dishes.

For more ideas, check out my Zaycon Foods Pinterest board.

My freezer is now busting at the seams with chicken that cost me just $1.69/pound.  Anyone up for another Freezer Cooking Day?

I would LOVE to hear how you saved your family money this week.  What methods do you find are the most efficient and effective?

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Zaycon Foods: Boneless skinless chicken breasts $1.69/lb

by Melody on January 1, 2012

Zaycon Foods is running another fabulous event on their boneless, skinless chicken breasts at just $1.69/lb.  The details with specific dates and locations will be available Wednesday January 4th at 5 PM.

Zaycon offers 100% natural chicken with no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients.  They deliver straight from the farm to the consumer, so their chicken breasts are fresh, never frozen.  They deliver to several different areas and only sell by the case. Each case is 40 pounds and separated into four separate bags.  This will take some prep work when you pick up the chicken to trim, separate, prepare and freeze the chicken, but at $1.69 per pound, it’s really hard to pass up!

For more information and details, register for a free account with Zaycon Foods here. You will be notified by email when events are going to be available in your area (I have seen chicken, extra lean ground beef, bacon and various fruits).  I’ll give you a quick reminder as well.

We have been super happy with our chicken each time we’ve purchased.  There was minimal fat to trim and the chicken was really delicious.  I’m thrilled that this deal is available again.  I can NOT find prices this low, especially in this large a quantity.

If you are thinking 40 lbs of chicken sounds like a lot, consider splitting with a friend.  My friend Sarah and I have split our chicken twice and it’s worked out great.  Lower initial cost and less prep time on pick-up day.

Our last Freezer Cooking Day was planned all around Zaycon Foods chicken, if you’re interested in making an initial plan for your prep time.  We spent about half a day in the kitchen and ended up with about 10 meals each.  For more details on how to plan your own cooking day, click here.

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Recap of our Fall Freezer Cooking Day

by Melody on November 20, 2011

My friend Sarah and I spent about 4.5 hours last week cooking up a storm and attempting to make her kitchen look like a war zone.  Sarah’s mom was watching her kids and my husband stayed home with ours, so we were on a mad dash to get as much done as possible while we were kid-free.  I showed up at her doorstep promptly at 7 (trust me, I’m not usually prompt to anything), armed with a car full of chicken and my cooking shoes on.

A few weeks prior to cooking, she and I sat down with the Official Ingredient List and decided what we would each provide from our pantries and what we would purchase.  Between the two of us, we had most of the ingredients on hand and only had to pick up a few things at the store.  We used chicken as our main ingredient for two reasons: To keep the baking simple and the dishes to a minimum and because we were able to get it for crazy cheap last time Zaycon Foods came to town.

We followed the Prep & Cooking Schedule almost to the letter.  While we were prepping all of our ingredients and putting together our crockpot recipes, we threw most of the chicken in the oven to bake.  This was an easy, less managed way to cook the chicken.  We could just throw it in and forget about it while we worked on other things.  Once all the chicken was done, we let it cool a little and quickly cubed it all up so it was ready when we wanted to assemble our various recipes.

Sarah and I had a good balance of work going on and we were constantly prepping, assembling, chopping or doing dishes.  I’m afraid I was a bit of a dictator, I’m hoping that was only because I wrote the cooking schedule.  Sarah seemed more than happy to go along with my orders.  I think.

We assembled the Chicken Enchiladas, Cilantro Pesto and Pizza Dough and Sauce at Sarah’s house.  I brought my own crock pot and stock pot (for the White Chicken Chili), so I just threw those in my car and let them cool at my house before tossing them in freezer bags.

We were both super happy with how the day turned out.  We each went home with about 10 full meals.  If you think about the fact that we spent 4.5 hours in the kitchen, this is about 45 minutes per meal.  I would spend this time on an average day getting dinner ready, but now I don’t have to do it in those crazy hours between 4 and 6 PM.  Plus, if I know we are going to have a super busy day or aren’t going to be home much, I can pull something out of the freezer in the morning or the night before and we have a hot meal.  No peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and no takeout.

My freezer is happy too.  Busting at the seams, but happy.

If you would like to plan your own cooking day, you can see my entire series of Freezer Cooking Day posts here.

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Zaycon Foods: Super lean ground beef $2.89/lb (ordering opens tonight)

by Melody on November 16, 2011

I’m excited to tell you that Zaycon Foods is running a new super lean ground beef event all over Western/Eastern Washington and Oregon.  From what I can tell, there will also be deliveries in select cities in Nevada, Utah and Idaho.  Starting tonight (11/16) at 5 PM PST, you will be able to place an order for super lean 93/7 ground beef for $2.89/lb.

I just priced out the super lean ground beef at Costco and it is $2.99/lb.

With your ground beef order, you will receive a 40-pound box of 93/7 super lean ground beef.  The meat is raised in the United States with no antibiotics or hormones and their products have never been frozen upon delivery.

For more information and details, register for a free account with Zaycon Foods.  As soon as the sale goes live at 5 PM, you will be able to place your order.  They do carry a limited quantity, so I suggest ordering right away if you are interested.

If 40 pounds of ground beef sounds like WAY too much for your family, consider splitting with a friend (or two). My friend Sarah and I have split our chicken order twice and it has worked out great.  This minimized out of pocket cost and time spent prepping.  You could also plan a Freezer Cooking Day around your ground beef order.

Click here to register for an account with Zaycon Foods. As soon as the event is live, you will be able to see all delivery dates and locations under the “My Account” tab.  Delivery dates for Washington will be between December 5th and 12th.

Thanks Frugal Living NW!

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Freezer Cooking Day: Prep and cooking schedule

by Melody on November 7, 2011

What is a Freezer Cooking Day?

We are joining together for a fun group cooking day in a few days (our cooking day is scheduled for November 11th).

I’ll catch you up to speed:  Here’s the official Freezer Cooking Day menu plan and tips for getting yourself organized and here is the official Freezer Cooking Day ingredient list.

I have been working on a tentative schedule for the actual cooking day to try and keep us as organized as possible.  This is going to look different for everyone, but hopefully my schedule is a good jumping off point for you.

You can never be too organized or plan too much for a cooking day like this.  The more you can get prepped and ready before you start, the better off you will be.

The day before

Double check your ingredient list and make sure you aren’t missing anything.  You don’t want to be running out at the last minute, you will be busy enough as it is.

Make sure you have enough aluminum pans, if you are following my plan exactly you will need two.  You can either print out labels for your lids or foil that are going on top of your pans or write directly on the foil with a Sharpie.  You will also need approximately eight gallon freezer bags plus about 6 quart freezer bags, print out labels for these or write cooking directions with a Sharpie directly on the bag.  I use sandwich bags for the Pizza Sauce and Cilantro Lime Pesto.

Print out your recipes or make sure you have them all bookmarked on your computer

Make sure all of your meat is defrosted and in the fridge ready to go.

Make sure you have something planned for dinner after all your cooking.  Use one of your freezer meals to keep it simple or plan to have a pizza delivered.  I can guarantee that you won’t want to cook anything elaborate that evening.

Prep, prep and then prep some more (BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE)

Shred all your cheese
Mince garlic
Chop onion (or use food processor)
Shred carrots

Assemble all ingredients for Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken and start your crockpot

Cook chicken

We’re going to bake our chicken, so we aren’t tying up a burner and we can just toss it in the stove and forget about it until it’s done.  Once the chicken is done and cooled slightly, cube and set aside.

While chicken is cooking, assemble all ingredients for Pizza Sauce on stove top and let simmer.

Saute onion and carrot for White Chicken Chili, add remaining ingredients per the recipe and let simmer while you are getting everything else ready.


Mix all ingredients for Pizza Dough and let rest

Make Cilantro Lime Pesto

At this point, you should have everything prepped and ready to assemble.  Feel free to assemble your recipes in whatever order you like, this is just how we will be doing it to keep it simple.

I tried to include every step of the process, but I may have missed something small so please double-check your recipes.  Truthfully, it was a lot of work to wrap my brain around this kind of planning.  Doing the steps in this order is what makes sense to me, but you may have a different idea of what will run smoothly for you and your kitchen layout.

Sarah and I went through our ingredient list and actually had most of the things we needed in our two pantries.  We will just pick up a few additional ingredients at Walmart, including the few produce items we need.  For a few of the larger items (sour cream, cream cheese), I am going to buy those at Costco and we will just split what is leftover.

Are you ready for this?  I’m so excited to be cooking with all of you!  When is your cooking day planned?

I have included all the Freezer Cooking Day posts on the sidebar of the blog for easy navigation.  You can find them under the Freeezer Cooking header, next to the Amazon Diaper Deals banner.

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Freezer Cooking Day: Official ingredient list

by Melody on October 25, 2011

What is a Freezer Cooking Day?

We are joining together for a fun group cooking day in November (my cooking day is scheduled for November 11th).  I posted a few days ago with the official Freezer Cooking Day menu plan and tips for getting yourself organized.

On to the official ingredient list.  I will do my best to highlight store deals that will match up with our ingredient list, but it’s not a bad idea to print out each recipe and the list of ingredients for yourself, so you can get yourself totally prepared.

MENU

I created a printable Google Doc with all the recipes compiled in one place, thanks to reader Catherine’s wonderful suggestion.  I hope this makes your planning a little easier!

INGREDIENT LIST

All amounts listed are based on each recipe being doubled.  I estimated the number of chicken breasts for each recipe, so please take a look and only cook what you think you will use.  The nice thing about most of these recipes is that the chicken will stretch as it is used more as a filling instead of the focal point.

If you want a printable ingredient list to take to the store with you, I created a Google Doc here.

PANTRY ITEMS

(16) flour tortillas
(6) cans chicken broth (14.5 oz cans)
(4) cans cream of chicken or mushroom soup
(6) cans white beans
(4) cans diced green chilies
(1) can tomato paste 5 oz
(2) cans diced or crushed tomatoes 14.5 oz
(2) packets Italian salad dressing mix
(10) cups high-gluten or bread flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds (check bulk section at Winco)
Instant yeast
Chicken bouillion
Balsamic vinegar

FRESH ITEMS

(2) onions
(2) carrots
Cilantro (1 bunch)
Garlic
Lime (or lime juice)

PERISHABLE ITEMS

(3) cups sour cream
(2) 8 oz blocks cream cheese
(4) cups shredded cheese
(1) cup Asiago, Romano or Parmesan cheese
(20) boneless skinless chicken breasts

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

(2) 9″x13″ aluminum pans
Saran wrap
Aluminum foil
Approximately (8) gallon Ziploc freezer bags

There are some basic pantry ingredients I didn’t include, like spices and salt and pepper, so make sure to double check each recipe before you start.  This is an approximate list, there may be items you want to swap out or exclude.  I never tend to use as much onion or cheese as each recipe calls for, so my personal list may be slightly different from yours.

Next on my list is to put together a tentative schedule to help keep us as organized as possible.

{ 7 comments }

Zaycon Foods: How do I love thee?

by Melody on October 19, 2011

This is my 3rd time ordering boneless skinless chicken breasts from Zaycon Foods.  I have also ordered peaches and they were absolutely delightful!  With each order, I fall in love with the company a little more and more.  The chicken is excellent quality, their customer service has been super friendly and accommodating and the pick-up process is really slick and well laid-out.

My husband picked up our chicken this time around and I got to work first thing the following morning.  I threw in 2 pounds of chicken in the crock pot to make this Salsa Chicken.  The rest of the chicken I just trimmed the fat and separated into gallon freezer bags.

This was the bag of chicken before I did any work with it, it took up half my fridge.

The 40 pounds is split into four separate bags.  The chicken shown below is from one bag and filled up a 9″x13″ pan, before being trimmed.  It took me just about one hour to trim all the chicken.  On a normal day, I would have baked some chicken while I was prepping the rest to have some cooked for easy meals, but we were leaving in a few hours to go tailgating so I went for simplicity.

I added 3 breasts to each gallon freezer bag.  For an average dinner for our family, 2 breasts would have most likely been fine.  We do a lot of freezer cooking and I also double or triple meals during the week, so the extra breast per bag will help stretch our meals.

I took half of the Salsa Chicken for a tailgating dinner, served in tacos over Mexican Rice.  The other half I threw in another gallon freezer bag for an easy meal to pull out of the freezer.  I will definitely be making this recipe again, so easy and super delicious!

If you’re looking for some additional ideas on using your chicken or how to plan for your chicken pick-up, check out Frugal Living NW’s “The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Friendly Meals”.

I would love to hear your experience with Zaycon Foods, I’m so excited to have a freezer full of chicken again!

{ 12 comments }

Freezer Cooking Day: Official menu + planning ideas

October 12, 2011

Welcome to another round of This Beautiful Frugal Life’s Freezer Cooking Day Extravaganza! In Round One, my friend Sarah and I cooked together and did one big old full day of cooking.  While this was fabulous, we have just had a hard time finding time in our busy schedules to squeeze in a whole day, [...]

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Giveaway: 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Zaycon Foods + chicken event returning at $1.49/pound

September 23, 2011

Zaycon Foods is returning with a gigantic event all across the country: Purchase 40 pounds of fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts for just $1.49/pound! How can you get in on this deal? Your chicken will be available to purchase on Tuesday September 27th at 5 PM.  At this time, you will place your order through [...]

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Putting this produce season to good use (have I become a farmer?)

September 14, 2011

We ended up with a ton of produce last week from our garden, my friend Monica’s garden and our weekly CSA pick-up.  I spent the better part of 2-3 days dicing, roasting, blanching, peeling and freezing several different things to get a head start on the fall/winter season. My friend Monica gave us what can [...]

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Zaycon Foods: Super lean ground beef $2.79/lb or peaches $.79/lb (WA, OR and ID)

August 3, 2011

        I’m excited to tell you that Zaycon Foods is running two new events all over Western/Eastern Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  Starting August 3rd at 5 PM PST, you will be able to place an order for super lean 93/7 ground beef for $2.79/lb or peaches for $.79/lb. I have purchased fresh [...]

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Welcome to This Beautiful Frugal Life’s Freezer Cooking Day

June 29, 2011

          My friend Sarah and I cooked ALL DAY today, from about 10 AM to 4 PM.  We were very well prepared and had babysitters, but things still took a little longer than expected.  However, we both now have around 11-12 meals in the freezer to help make dinnertime a little [...]

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Freezer Cooking Day: Last minute preparations

June 28, 2011

                I’m so excited that our Freezer Cooking Day is finally here!  Although I know some of you have your own days planned, my friend Sarah and I are cooking tomorrow, June 29th.  We will be making four of everything so we will have a LOT going on. [...]

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Freezer Cooking Day: Prep and cooking schedule

June 22, 2011

                What is a Freezer Cooking Day? We are joining together for a fun group cooking day towards the end of June (my cooking day is scheduled for June 29th). I’ll catch you up to speed:  Here’s the official Freezer Cooking Day menu plan and tips for getting [...]

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Freezer Cooking Day: Official ingredient list

June 7, 2011

                What is a Freezer Cooking Day? We are joining together for a fun group cooking day towards the end of June (my cooking day is scheduled for June 29th).  I posted a few days ago with the official Freezer Cooking Day menu plan and tips for getting [...]

Read the full article →

Zaycon Foods returning to Washington, Oregon and Idaho (boneless skinless chicken breasts $1.64/lb)

June 2, 2011

        Zaycon Foods is running another event on their boneless, skinless chicken breasts in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  The details with specific dates and locations will be available tomorrow (6/3) at 5 PM. Zaycon offers 100% natural chicken with no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients.  They deliver straight from the farm [...]

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