Frugal Menu Mamas

In my freezer co-op in WV, my friend Rhonda makes some pretty good meals.  I can’t wait to make this one on my own!  It makes 16 sandwiches, so I’m thinking, my small family of 4 could divide it into at least 3 freezer meals.  Not too bad for not too much work!  I hope you enjoy it!

Beef & Pork BBQ
(16 servings)

1 1/2 lbs. stewing meat-cubed
1 1/2 lbs. pork-cubed
2 cups onions-chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar-packed
3 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
pepper blend seasoning
onion salt

-In a large crockpot, combine all ingredients.  Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours or until meat is tender.  Stir with fork to break up pieces.  Serve on buns.
**May use all pork or all bef.  Pork may cook faster than the beef, so start the beef ahead of time, then add the pork.
IF FREEZING:  Allow BBQ to cool completely.  Spoon into Ziplock bags.

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

Happy Freezer Friday!

Today’s recipe is another soup.  One batch is more than enough for us, so we just freeze half.  But if one batch fills up your family, make a double batch and then freeze half.  This recipe is super easy.  It contains ground beef, but ground turkey could probably be substituted.

By the way, to make life easier, here’s what I do with ground beef.  I buy a BIG package.  Last month, I bought the 90/10 (10% max fat) at Sam’s for $2.42/lb.  I think it was a 10 lb. package.  Now, I take the entire package and cook it up and freeze it in 1 lb. portions.  That makes meal time sooo much easier.  If I get a package that is 9.5 lbs. for example, I still divide it into 10 equal portions.  This saves a little bit of money and no one misses the little bit of meat.

I did find out that if you want the 90/10 cheaper at Sam’s you can buy it in a case that has 80 lbs. of meat for $1.62/lb (the 80/20 is $1.51/lb.).  I don’t know if I could do that, but you could always split it with a few friends!  Also, at Sam’s you can buy ground beef in a tube or a regular package.  The tube costs less per pound, so I asked the meat guy what the difference was.  He said all they do is take a tube of the meat, grind it one more time and then package it.  But then they up the price!  So, I bought the tube this time.  It was great!

OK-here is the recipe:

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef ($2.42)

1 can diced tomatoes (FREE with my Del Monte coupon)

2 small cans tomato sauce ($.25 each @ Aldi)

1 can kidney beans w/juice ($.55 @ Aldi)

1 can black beans w/juice ($.84 @ Kroger)

1 can garbanzo beans w/juice ($.75 @ Kroger)

1 pkg. taco seasoning (had this in the pantry, estimate $.50)

1 can corn ($.49 @ Aldi)

shredded cheddar cheese ($.40)

Serve with corn muffins ($.40 @ Kroger) + cost of ingredients to make ($.30) + butter/margarine ($.15)

TOTAL COST=$7.05 (not bad if you take into account that the soup will make 2 meals for us, plus leftovers)

-Brown beef in a large pot.  Add all canned ingredients EXCEPT corn.

-Cook until boiling, then add the taco seasoning.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes (or until beans are soft).

-Add corn during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

-Serve with cheddar cheese on top and corn muffins on the side.

-If freezing, allow soup to cool completely and ladle into Ziploc bags.  When ready to serve, thaw overnight and warm in a pot on the stove.

Here is the other recipe I did this week, but did not have time to post last night.

Texas Rice Skillet

1 lrg. onion, chopped (I omit this, as I don’t like onions)

1 lb. ground beef  (I got 90/10 @ Sam’s for $2.42/lb., so $2.42)

3 cups water (Free)

1 cup regular rice(approx. $.40)

1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained ($.84)

1 8 oz. or 15 oz. can tomato sauce (original recipe says 8 oz., I missed that and have been using 15 oz. for 7 years!) ($.69)

1 pkg. chili seasoning mix ($.99)

1 box corn muffins ($.44 + ingredients to make)

TOTAL COST= $5.78 + ingredients to make muffins

-Cook onion and ground beef, drain grease.

-Add water, rice, beans, tomato sauce, and chili seasoning mix.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat.

-Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.  Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.

-Serve with shredded cheddar and chopped green onions, if desired.

-Make muffins according to package and serve with Texas rice skillet..

So, I was talking to a friend last night who is also trying to use the crock pot more.  For those of you who don’t use your crock pot, why not??  It is so easy!  Now personally, I do not make anything in my crock pot that I have to cook first.  Some recipes ask you to brown the chicken or beef first.  I feel like this defeats the purpose of using the crock pot to make life easier.  :)  I also like that using the crock pot in the summer means that my home is not heated up by the oven.

If you are looking for some good crock pot recipes to get you going, check out The Crock Pot Lady’s blog.  She used her crock pot every day in 2008!  It wasn’t always dinners, she did breakfasts, desserts, beverages, and dips, too.  I have tried two recipes from her site so far and LOVED them both.  Try the “brown sugar chicken” and the “rotisserie style chicken”.  I have trouble with a new crock pot that cooks too fast and she has a great post about that, too.

So, the recipe I’m going to post today is a crock pot recipe, but not from that site.  :)  Its from my friend, she made it for us once and it was delicioius.  I’ve never made it, so I don’t have the price breakdown on it yet, but enjoy it!

Mediterranean-Style Pot Roast

1 2-3 lb. boneless beef chuck pot roast

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (use the ones withbasil, oregano, and garlic, undrained)

1/4 cup sliced pitted black olives

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. dried herbs de Provence-crushed (my friend just used Italian seasoning)

1 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 medium onion

-In crock pot, place sliced onion and add meat.  In bowl, stir together tomatoes, olives, Worcestershire, herbs, & pepper.  Pour over mixture in crock pot.

-Cover & cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

-Remove from crock pot.  Arrange meat & mixture on serving platter.  Sprinkle with feta cheese.

I come from a long line of great cooks who have learned which of their recipes freeze well.  I think my mother and grandmother were sort of freezer cooks before the idea was popular.  I learned to freeze last week’s recipe (Country Style Steak) from my mother.  I also learned to double some things and freeze them from her.  My grandmother would send me cookies in college that she had made and frozen.  She just pulled them out of the freezer and mailed them.  :)  I learned so much from these two ladies that I was already freezing meals before I learned the term “freezer cooking”.

I really enjoy making my life easy.  When I heard about cooking for a day and eating for a month, it sounded great!  However, when I started to research, I was scared to death of all the work that went into one day of cooking.  Then, I discovered a marvelous thing…a freezer cooking co-op.  I started asking around if anyone here would be interested and got a good response (we have anywhere from 5-8 people involved each swap).  So, the freezer cooking co-op was born.

You may be asking, what is a freezer cooking co-op?  It is a group of individuals who each make one recipe but they make that one recipe for each member of the co-op, then they all meet and exchange the meals.  I think this is much better than once-a-month cooking because you only have to do one recipe.  It saves money and time as well.  Then you receive 5 or so different freezer meals.

Here are some tips and resources to help you decide if you’d like to try one:

–One person should be the organizer and the one to make the ultimate decisions for the group if a decision cannot be reached.

–Ask folks to consider joining who have similar cooking styles, food tastes, and family sizes.  Folks with food allergies may need to start their own group.

–Decide on rules at the first meeting.  Research other groups’ rules to get ideas.  Here are my group’s rules, we are always tweaking them…  Here is another good resource that I used.  Mommysavers has a forum on freezer cooking.

–Decide how often you can manage to do this.  We do it every 4-6 weeks, but we took off the whole month of December.  We usually have enough freezer meals to eat one per week.

–Critique recipes periodically.  Find a nice way to do this so that your group knows if a recipe should be made again.

–Do not experiment on your group.  Use only recipes that are already proven to be good freezer meals OR try your recipe first, freeze it, and reheat to see if it works.

So, here is what my group typically does.  We meet at Panera Bread on a Saturday morning for about an hour.  At the meeting, we decide on the next date, tell what we are planning on making the next time, critique recipes, and give last minute instructions.  Then we head out to our cars (we park them all in the same section) and exchange the already frozen meals.  We all bring coolers to do this.  About a week or so later, I email the group what I have written down that everyone is making and we confirm everything.  I usually make my meals the week of the exchange or the week before.  I buy all the ingredients and complete my recipe in one afternoon.

Does this help you??  Are you pumped to try it yourself?  Let me know how it goes!  Leave me a comment.

Here is a great freezer recipe.  For my family, one regular batch is too much, so we divide it into two and freeze half.  You could easily fit a double batch in a large stockpot though and freeze in small portions.  Enjoy!

Taco Soup

1 lb. hamburger

1 large can whole/diced tomatoes

1 can black beans w/juice

1 can kidney beans w/juice

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas) w/juice

2 small cans tomato sauce

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 can corn

Brown hamburger in large pot, then add all canned ingredients EXCEPT corn.  Cook until boiling, then add taco seasoning, return to boil, turn down and simmer for 10-15 minutes (or until beans are soft).  Add corn during the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Serve with grated cheese on top.  If freezing, cool completely before ladling into gallon Ziploc bags.  Freeze flat.  When ready to cook it, thaw overnight, dump in large pot and warm over medium heat.  Serve with corn muffins.

Fridays will be about freezer cooking. I will be posting tips on freezer cooking each Friday. I will also include a recipe.  I’m guessing you’ve heard of it, as it is becoming more and more popular. For those of you who are not on the “up and up” here’s an introduction to freezer cooking.

Freezer cooking involves making meals to put in your freezer.  Then you just thaw them overnight, heat, and eat!   This method saves time on busy evenings and saves money.   How does it save money?  When you are feeling lazy or overwhelmed, don’t spend money going out, just pull a meal from the freezer!  Its great!!!!   I actually have become addicted to freezer cooking and I am not sure I will ever quit.

There are several ways to freezer cook:
*When you cook, make a double or triple batch and freeze the extra.
*When you buy fresh meat, freeze in ziplocs with a marinade.
*Cook on the weekend and freeze meals for the week ahead.
*Join a freezer co-op.
*And the once-a-month cooking method where you cook for an entire month. (check out this site, organized home, or 30daygourmet)

Curious about how I freezer cook?  I have a cookbook about once-a-month cooking, but the idea of doing it in one day seemed scary to me, so I formed a freezer co-op (details on that next Friday).  The cookbook did give me recipe ideas (not all casseroles!) and marinades to use when freezing fresh meat.  I also like to make double batches of recipes that I know freeze well.  I have enough stuff in the freezer at any one time to eat a freezer meal once or twice a week.

If you want to get started, just Google “freezer cooking” or “once-a-month cooking” to find recipes.  NOT EVERYTHING FREEZES WELL, so go with proven recipes or test your own.  I will only post proven recipes on here.  I’ve only been doing this about a year, but I’ve learned so much!  Hopefully, the tips and tricks you read here will help you.  Leave a comment letting us know what you think about freezer cooking. If you want to be featured about freezer cooking, email me (chadsjoy@gmail.com)!

So, this week’s recipe was perfected by my amazing mother (THANKS MOM!  I LOVE YOU!) and it was a favorite at our co-op.

Country Style Steak

cubed steak, 4-6

flour

Mrs. Dash

brown gravy mix, 2 pkgs.

Place cubed steak on wax paper or plate and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash. Flour both sides of meat. Brown in hot oil. Drain on a paper towel.  Once cooled place 4-6 in a Ziploc freezer bag.  Squeeze all air out and freeze.  (don’t forget to label the bag)

On cooking day…thaw the night before.  Arrange in a baking dish. Mix gravy and pour over the cubed steak. Cover and bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

If gravy package says 1 cup water, mix with 1 1/2 cups water and then pour over steak. No need to boil.

Serve with baked potatoes (cook at same time) or mashed potatoes.

**I buy a big package (12 or more) of cubed steak (for no more than $2.99/lb) and cook them all up and freeze in meal size portions.  Sam’s Club is a good place to get a good package.  You can also get a big container or brown gravy mix there and big containers of Mrs. Dash.