Freezer Cooking Continued

Okay, I will start this post by saying that I should be cooking. Right. Now.

Instead I'm laying in bed messing on my laptop.

And it is 1:30 pm. Ugh.

Anyway, I've been continuing working on my new 4-month freezer cooking plan. I wrote about the chicken part here. I did pick up the rest of the chicken breasts I needed and finished that part.

I think Safeway got the 'memo' that I was gonna be cooking 'cause they are nicely accomodating me by putting the meats I need on sale for me. :)

This weekend, they had ground beef on sale for $1.69/lb. It was the 80/20, which is higher in fat content than I like to buy, but hey, $1.69/lb. Need I say more?

So I picked up 25 lbs. of ground beef. I used 12 lbs. and made up a big huge - really big - bowl of meatloaf mix. I then packaged up three bags of mini meatloaves and four larger meatloaves. I wasn't really meaning to make up so much meatloaf....it just kinda' expanded on me.

I've also made two meals of Enchilada Casserole and two meals of hamburgers. I found this cute tupperware patty maker that I bought way back when people used to actually have tupperware parties. Do they have those anymore? I haven't been invited to one in years. Come to think of it, I haven't been invited to any home parties in a long, long time. Hmmm....maybe it is something personal?

So...what I should be doing right now is the following:

Two of each:

Mexican Penne
Lasagna Roll-ups
Sue Sue's Casserole
Crockpot Chili

Then I'll have to head back to the store for more meat. Hubby is beginning to grumble. Yes, it does add up cooking like this.

But it saves us way more than it costs. Last time I was able to cut our grocery bill down to $60 a week. That was with four freezer meals a week. Now I'm cooking for five meals a week and expect our bill to drop even more. Not too shabby.

I am going to post my menu plan calendar next with links to all of these great recipes in case any one else wants to jump on the crazy cooking train!

Edited to add:

Okay, I pried myself out of my bed and did do some cooking. I made up the Chili and ended up with four freezer bags worth. I usually double the recipe for one meal as my family tends to eat a lot of this, but a double recipe wouldn't fit in one freezer bag. I'll have to make a note to myself to pull out two at a time if everyone is gonna be home.

I also made up the Sue Sue's Casserole (this is the only dish my kids will eat that has peas and mushrooms in it). This too makes a lot, so I reserved some for tonight's dinner.

And, I cooked up the beef for the lasagna roll-ups.

Then, I found another five pounds of hamburger in the fridge. I guess I bought more than I thought. I'll have to figure out what to do with it tomorrow.