I was putting off this post until I could get some good pictures of my stocked freezer but our printer is out of colour ink so I don’t have my pretty happy Martha Stewart labels yet and I haven’t gotten time to do a real organizing of the frozen foods so I honestly don’t know when those pictures are going to happen. The food is in there, and it’s crazy full, but now that the bags are frozen firm and the foil containers are sturdier I can move stuff around so it’s in a logical setup with visible labels. When that happens (next week maybe?) I’ll post a few pictures of it just so you can stand back and smile with me at the thought of all those ready meals waiting to fill bellies.

But besides the visuals that we all enjoy, the important thing is really the meals we made. It took us from about 2pm until our kids were ready for bed around 8pm (with a break here or there to run some food down to my place to free up fridge space in hers) and there were definitely moments when we felt like we had taken on a lot, but in the end I’m really happy with the variety an quantity we were able to make. We don’t have big kitchens or even very many pots, pans and mixing bowls between us (gotta keep things tight when you’ve got four in an apartment) so we had to stay on top of washing up and doing things in the best order we could.

So here’s a recap of the recipes we made, how much we made of each, how we froze them and any tips we learned. I am sure you could actually end up with a higher overall quantity of meals if you were willing to do more batches of less recipes, which we did last time, but we really wanted to try for a more varied meal plan and see how our families enjoyed that.

And yes, that’s my laptop on top of a frying pan.

Asian salmon: Two meals per family for a total of four, frozen in freezer ziplock bags. We bought frozen salmon because the fresh salmon would have had to be skinned and portioned (BUT don’t forget normally when doing freezer meals you have to buy fresh meat because you can refreeze) so we just threw the salmon in with the marinade and we’ll see if the time it marinates when thawing is enough to give it good flavour.

Baked penne with sausage and ricotta: Two meals per family for a total of four, frozen in square 8×8 foil pans. Adrianne used rice pasta because she eats gluten-free and made two with penne and two with linguine just because it’s what we had.

Turkey, sweet potato and goat cheese cannelloni (from Clean Eating Magazine): Two meals per family for a total of four, two frozen in 8×8 foil containers and two in our own 9×9 glass containers with lids. This one looked awesome even though we totally skipped making it cannelloni and essentially assembled as lasagna. Can’t wait to try that sweet potato filling.

Mini meatloaves: Six per family which is about one meal for a total of two meals, half frozen in a muffin tin then transferred to a freezer ziplock when firm. Adrianne just whipped up her own recipe because we had extra ground beef and they are very popular with the kids. They have a delicious sauce on top, cheese inside and are a cinch to make in a muffin tin.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins: About a dozen per family (I’m too lazy to dig through my freezer for an exact count), frozen in freezer ziplock bags. Adrianne also bagged up the leftover canned pumpkin and froze that for later use. Very smart.

Breakfast cookies: About four dozen for our family and two dozen for Adrianne’s, frozen in freezer ziplock bags. I made my half before the big cook day because I had the ingredients and the twins really wanted to bake. After seeing how many really big cookies two batches made (they take up like half my freezer) Adrianne opted to only have me make her one batch on cook day. We also did some substituting in hers (spelt flour, honey instead of sugar, no raisins, less chocolate) and they still tasted great. In fact, they were easier to form into cookies so next time I’ll modify too. If we EVER finish the ones I made.

Buttermilk pancakes: About 18 just for our family, frozen in a freezer ziplock bag with parchment paper between layers so they can be pulled out as needed. John’s other sister, Janna, helped us on our cook day even though all she took home with her was some breakfast cookies and a few muffins (what a saint) and she handled making the pancakes for me otherwise by that time in the day I wouldn’t have done it. She was able to work on a separate griddle so it didn’t take up any oven or stove space either. These will be nice to have for a quick breakfast since our kids eat so many in one sitting.

Basic meat lasagna: Two full-size lasagnas just for our family, one frozen in a 9×13 foil pan and the other refrigerated to be used immediately (there just wasn’t room in the freezer for two pans that size). Adrianne opted not to make any (she isn’t stocking up for a new baby so she graciously gave more of her time to helping me get more out of this day) and next time I would go off-recipe and assemble them in 8×8 pans that were deeper so they were thicker lasagnas that took up less space. 9×13 foil pans just don’t stack well either unless you have a way to put a firm top on them (I only had foil).

Chicken alfredo rollups: Two meals for just our family, frozen in two 8×8 foil pans. Another one I just made for our family, I can’t wait to try these. The recipe makes 9 rolls (she says it’s a meal for three with three rolls per person which is insane – the rolls are really big!) but I opted to put four in each pan so it created two meals on one roll per person. The alfredo sauce is from scratch but I bet using a jarred one would cut this recipe time in half.

Peanut chicken: Two meals for just our family, frozen in two freezer ziplock bags. Our family loves this one so I made two generous sized batches that will probably give us some leftovers at each meal. I also increased the sauce since we love lots of it on our rice.

Quiche filling: Two quiches for just our family, frozen in two small freezer ziplock bags. I actually made this before our big cook day because I knew Adrianne wasn’t doing it and it is just so easy. If you lay them flat until they are hard you can stack them upright and when you want to make a quiche, pick up a frozen crust (or make one), thaw the filling and bake. We eat eggs almost everyday so a quiche works as breakfast, lunch or even dinner in our house. Even though it seems like a simple thing, having it pre-made means you don’t have to have cheese on hand or make a mess cooking bacon to have your quiche.

Honey & spice glazed pork chops: Two meals per family for a total of four, frozen in freezer ziplock bags. We didn’t have exactly four chops per meal (the meat was sold by weight) but because we have small children I was able to cut the largest ones and still create four full meals. The glaze for these tasted awesome, I can’t wait to try them.

We realized when we were done that we had managed to make at least one meal with almost every common type of meat: turkey, pork (chops and sausage), chicken, beef and fish. We also made breakfast items, meats that can be paired with whatever veg and starch we have on hand that day, and several different kinds of pasta dishes which can stand well on their own.

My personal plan is not to use what’s in my freezer until around the time the baby is due. Adrianne will likely use hers before and plans to do another freezer cook day in late December or early January, which is the general schedule of freezer cooking one would have if they weren’t taking a birth into consideration. So because we aren’t using the food for which I already bought ingredients, the cost of this cook day will come out of our next food budget. It’s basically like I invested in food that we’ll cash in in the future. As for the budget cycle that, for us, starts in two days, I’ll shop and cook as usual as though we didn’t have a freezer full of food.

What are some things we learned from our cook day?

• If you aren’t sure what size containers you’ll need for freezing, go ahead and buy a few different foil ones. Like my lasagna pans, sometimes they don’t end up being what you want and you can always take them back or use them later.
• Consider cooking at the same person’s house more than once in a row. I found getting around the kitchen, locating ingredients and using prep surfaces efficiently to be easier since this was our second time doing cook day at Adrianne’s.
• If you need to cook ingredients that may be ruined if you can’t use them in the right timing, make sure you plan for that. With so much going on you sometimes have to stop and start recipes (for example, we both had to boils lots of noodles so we made sure we got them into cold water so they didn’t become a sticky mess while we were waiting to use them). Try not to attempt recipes that are really sensitive to being put on hold or you’ll frustrate yourself and others. It’s maybe not the day for a soufflé or a reduction that requires constant stirring.
• Make sure the dishwasher is empty and the counters are totally clear. You will run out of space quickly and you’ll want to be able to load dirty dishes as you go to prevent pile up.
• Designate someone to do some clean up at you go, hand washing the items you need to reuse (which is most often pots, pans, measuring cups/spoons and mixing bowls). If you get to a point of not being able to move forward, take a timeout to wash dishes, clear surfaces and reset.
• Try to clean as you go but don’t freak out too much about floors, etc. Keep in mind you’re doing this all at once so that you only have to clean up once. You kitchen will thank you on all the days when you don’t have to prep these meals.
• If you are coming to cook at someone else’s home, bring utensils/mixing bowls/measuring cups for the recipes you are making but make sure you know what’s yours or label them. It was nice to have enough for us both to be prepping but I definitely left many things behind in the chaos. Good thing I know where she lives.
• If there are ingredients left over that you are splitting the cost on, it’s best to also half what remains of it. It’s not fair for someone to end up with a stocked freezer and a fridge full of ingredients unless they purchased them. Adrianne and I always split any remaining meat, eggs, milk and agree if one is going to keep something smaller like a stick of butter or chocolate chips. On the flip side, if you asked for an ingredient just for your recipe (or, in our case, I use wheat flour but Adrianne doesn’t) plan to take the rest and cover the cost.

I don’t have a final cost for our cook day as we are still breaking down receipts and splitting up remaining ingredients but by the tip I post pictures I’ll be able to include how much it cost per meal to cook what we cooked.

The bottom line result for just our family: 15 dinner meals, 2 quiche, 12 muffins, 18 pancakes and a bazillion breakfast cookies – plus eggs, meat, milk, cream, etc. I could easily feed our family for over two weeks after the baby is born without cooking a thing, but I’m sure it will last even longer since people love to bring food in exchange for the chance to smell a newborn.