Meal Planning – My Way

I have said it before. I am not good about meal planning. Our life is crazy most of the time. I rarely know if we are going to be home for supper or at least how many are going to be home. I have tried to plan out meals, but it usually doesn’t work out. I like to have easy meals that I can throw together quickly, that is just what works for our family, but I still like to cook fairly wholesome meals out of real food when possible. I have a few tricks that help me with this.

I buy ground meat in the larger amounts and prepare it all at once. I alternate what I do with it, but try to always keep cooked ground beef in the freezer. I cook up 2-5 pounds of ground beef all at one time. I like cooking in non-stick skillets, I found one last year on vacation that is 12″ across and 3″ deep. It will hold a lot of meat at one time. I scramble it up while I am cooking another meal most of the time, then drain the grease off and allow to cool. Once it is cooled I place in quart size zipper bags, making sure to only put about 2 lbs in a bag.  I flatten them out and freeze them flat. Then once they are frozen, the meat can be broke off in sections for whatever meal I am making. As you have probably figured out by now, I don’t do a lot of measuring in my normal cooking, I just add what looks right. If you need exact measurements, you could divide the meat up into 1 lb packages. If you cook 3 lbs of meat, divide evenly into 3 sandwich size bags. It is about time to buy and cook up some more ground beef. This is all I have left in my freezer right now.

I use this pre-cooked meat in spaghetti sauce, packaged pasta meals, cheese dip, as a pizza topping and in any type of recipe that calls for cooked ground beef. Instead of starting with cooking the meat as most recipes call for, I just add it closer to the end.  I don’t usually thaw it, I just break off how ever much I need and throw it in the pot. It is already cooked, it just needs time to get hot. I have done the same thing with sausage, just make sure to write on the package so you know it is sausage as it is hard to tell the difference once cooked.  My son likes to put sausage in his oatmeal and on homemade pizzas, so it is handy to have it already cooked as well. I have done the same thing with bacon. I cook  up extra when we make breakfast, then once it cools, I break it up into small pieces. It is then ready to be used for pizza toppings or recipe ingredients without the mess.

Sometimes when ground beef is on sale, I buy extra and will prepare some items for the freezer. I like to put taco meat in the freezer, once it is cooked and drained, add the seasoning  just like you were going to have tacos that night but put it in a freezer bag once it is cooled and place in the freezer for a later meal. I have cooked a double batch of taco meat, ate half at supper and put the other half in the freezer for another meal. It makes tacos or enchiladas so easy, I just thaw the meat in the microwave, but you could let it thaw in the refrigerator if you plan ahead.  Meatloaf is another item that is easy to prepare and freeze. Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix up well, line the pan you cook your meatloaf in with cling wrap and fill with the meatloaf mixture. Fold the cling wrap over the top and place in freezer.  Once it is frozen, remove from pan and place in a zipper bag until ready to cook. I usually try to thaw mine, at least partially. I have cooked them from frozen, but it takes longer in the oven which tends to make it dryer.

Hamburgers are easy to have ready in the freezer as well. I prefer to make them fresh, but usually try to keep a couple in the freezer for quick meals. I usually just lay them on a plate or pan in the freezer until they are frozen and then place in a gallon zipper bag if I am doing several. If I am just doing 1 or 2, I place each in a sandwich sized zipper bag to freeze. These cook up better if they thaw first, but I usually just throw them in the pan straight from the freezer. I also have made my Little Hamburgers ahead and froze for a quick meal. Ready to cook sausage patties can be made this same way. I can usually get 2 meals out of a roll of sausage. I fry up half of the sausage for breakfast and then lay the other patties out flat to freeze. Then the next time, I just grab them out and throw them in the pan to cook without having to mess up a knife and cutting board.

If I get chicken in bulk amounts, I try to separate it into individual packages so I can just cook the amount we need. If we do have chicken left over, I chop it up in little pieces and put in the freezer. I have used it in different casserole dishes, on salads, in pasta dishes, really anything that calls for chopped or shredded chicken. I am the only one that prefers breast meat, so I like to buy the individually frozen chicken breasts when the large packages go on sale. I can cook these most ways that any chicken can be cooked. It is easy to cook the correct amount because you just grab however many breasts you need at a time. I have even used these to make fajita meat go farther when I didn’t have enough.

Something else I freeze is onions and garlic. I don’t always need a whole onion in a recipe, sometimes just a half of an onion or a few spoonfuls. When I have left over onion, I just chop it up and put it in a zipper bag in the freezer, then when I need a little for a recipe, I just break off a piece and throw it in the pan.

A friend gave us a lot of garlic last year and I already had a jar opened up in the refrigerator so I chopped it all up and froze it. I still have part of a package left and it worked just as well as the minced garlic in a jar. I make a lot of sauces with garlic in them and I haven’t had to buy any garlic since last summer. Just be sure to label one of them because it is hard to tell the onion and garlic apart once frozen.

It speeds up the cooking process when you can just throw real food in the skillet or pan without having to chop, dice, cut or fry it all up. Not only do I save time by having these foods ready in my freezer, it saves money, because I buy when the items are on sale and less food is thrown out because the freezer keeps food safe and usable a lot longer than the refrigerator.

If you want to find out other ways I  that I save money on groceries, read What’s the Deal at Aldi? and How I Save Money at Kroger.

How do you meal plan? Do you write out every meal on a menu board? Wing it? Leave a comment below and let me know.

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