October Meals Planning Session

It is always exciting when a new baby is added to a family, but it can also be exhausting.  I remember when my daughter was born.  We were so exhausted adjusting to our new life, making "real" meals was on the bottom of the priority lists.  One thing that really helped us was the out pouring of help we received.

This month my cooking partner is expecting.  She is expecting to become a grandmother for the 4th time sometime in late October or early November.  So this month while we were figuring out what meals we might want to prepare next month, we decided that as a gift to this new mom and her family we would triple 8 of our meals to help provide meals during those first few hectic weeks.  One major aspect of this blog is to become a ministry so being able to help out this new mom gives my heart joy.  Knowing that with little extra effort I am able to provide for a family going through a rough time or a change in family dynamics renews my spirit.

So this month we are trying something different.  The last 2 months we have cooked all the meals for the month and then froze them.  This has worked for us but has also taken a lot of time. So this month we are doing "dump" recipes. The idea behind dump recipes is that you take all the ingredients raw (for the most part) and "dump" them into a ziploc bag and freeze it.  Then the day you are ready to cook, take the bag out of the freezer and "dump" it into the crock pot.  You CAN cook from frozen as long as you place it in a COLD crock pot.  

As we discuss the actually menus and the order of operations, I will explain in better detail "dump" recipes and how to use them. However before we get to the actual recipes, I do have some disclaimers.

1) I have found most if not all of the recipes I will share on here from doing research on Pinterest and other blogs.  Whenever possible I will link to the original poster.  I find that is just the proper way to do and it gives the other hard working bloggers some added promotions.  If I am unable to find the original poster, I ask that anyone who knows where to find the original poster would leave a comment to let me know that.  

2) All chicken dishes I follow a really simple calculations as to how much to use.  For my family of 3 adults and 1 toddler, I use 1 breast per adult.  My daughter doesn't eat that much chicken so for the time being, I end up sharing my breast with her.  If I were to use thighs or legs for a recipes then it would be 2 thighs per adult and 1 thigh for my daughter.  Please feel free to adjust all recipes to your own families liking.  (Also you can prepare these recipes if you are only cooking for 1 or 2 by cutting the recipe in half or making the whole recipe and planning on the leftovers as another meal)

3) All beef or pork dishes tend to be a little more complicated as to how much meat we will use.  We use (depending on the type of meat, who is eating, and what side dishes we will be having) approximately 2.5 - 4 pounds of meat.

4) At the moment the best storage method I have found are Ziploc bags.  I can freeze them and label them.  I can also reuse them.  I am always looking for more systems that might save us money in the long run.  If you have a suggestion please do not hesitate to share them.  This blog is me sharing my information but also it is about you sharing what you already know and want to learn more about.