Freezer Meals To Save My Sanity and Budget

We recently made a move and a new schedule has moved in to attempt to dominate our time. Both work and school schedules have changed. The schedule has cut into our normal time frame to make dinner. The result has been later dinners, dinner outtings and one epic dinner fail.

The problem: Late dinners cut evening quality family time short, cause grumpy children, impulse buying and going out to eat, reduction in healthy meals and quality food and the surprise dinner fail.

We have been adjusting to a new schedule and new bills. Going out to dinner is a luxury that i'd rather reduce or eliminate for awhile. I would like to create my new budget and stick with it. When we do dine out, i'd enjoy planning the outting and having a nice time. I would rather not dine out in desperation.

This past month, we have been adjusting to the new bill schedule and numbers. I feel that it has been a rough month. We are trying to budget to adjust to the new bills, pay off debt, plan school fees and similar and start saving in general.

This past week we had a dinner fail and unexpected company. I was making a comfort meal of a stroganoff. I prepared my ground beef, boiled my water, had my gravy ready to add to this one pan casserole meal. I was ready to add the noodles. As I poured the noodles Into the boiling water, I noticed the pan was suddenly filled with black spots. The noodles had an overabundance of what appeared to be dead boweavles. I was so upset. Unfortunately, I only did not have anything else thawed out. So, as dinner was already getting to the table late,  cereal it was.

We prepared for company this week as our oldest child is graduating from
high school! Grandma came to visit from out of state. We have a family of 8. The problem: unexpected company. Three additional family/ friends decided to take a spontaneous road trip. ( Without funds) We are not prepared for twelve in the home. We are happy to see everyone but we are still in recovery phase from our recent move. We've been stretching meals and had to order pizza once because half of the family were attending a planned event and we were left home without a vehicle to make a better strategy.

The resolve: Planning meals in advance including freezer cooking to save money. My children love menu planning. My youngest especially enjoys knowing what meal is on the daily menu. I just read a few interesting articles on the Money Saving Mom Blog and the Who Needs a Cape Blog! Both sites have great information to learn about the planning and incorporating of freezer and crockpot meal planning!

I will be sharing more of my plan in an upcoming post.

I would love to prepare freezer meals, crockpot meals and a neighborhood co-op!