Anyway I found this which was written by Jessica over at Loving My Nest. This is proof that I have very few original ideas, but why reinvent the wheel? Someone else has done all the dirty work. In this case, Jessica.
I wouldn't necessarily say that my children are picky eaters, but they are 2 & 5 and some things they just won't eat. So I perused through Jessica's recipes of round 1, round 2 & round 3 to find meals that I thought everyone might enjoy. Let's get something straight. When it says a month's worth of meals, this is not 30 different meals, this is 10 meals doubled or even tripled. We like variety. We do repeat homemade pizza every friday for family movie night and hamburgers, because Nick makes a killer burger and that is the way straight to my heart. So I decided to find 12 meals and then fill in with pizza, burgers and Tuesday night Blue Coast Burrito. ;)
The dinners I chose were:
1. Bean Stew
2. Sausage & Bean dinner
3. Meat Stew
4. Pork & Veggies
5. Chicken Taco Soup
6. Chicken & Sweet Potato Soup
7. Creamy Farmhouse Chicken Soup
8. Enchilada Wraps
9. Chunky Veggie Chili
10. Jambalaya (this doubles itself)
11. Chicken Curry with Cabbage
12. Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken
You can find all of the recipes HERE.
The first thing that I did was create a spreadsheet (naturally). I listed each meal in the first column, then put all common ingredients at the top ie carrots, potatoes, garlic, onions, red/green pepper, etc. I also listed spices and additional ingredients. Then I just went through each recipe and put in the numbers until I had this...
On the next tab I made my shopping list. Here is where I messed up a little bit. I don't know if I was distracted (no way!) or what, but I ended up not having certain things, or not understanding what the recipe was calling for. I replaced a lot of the bone-in chicken for chicken tenderloins, since Nick doesn't like dark meat and since we like purchasing meat in bulk at Costco. Then I went to Walmart. WHY did I choose Walmart you ask? Logically speaking, I needed a lot of canned goods and figured walmart would have the most/cheapest generic options. I'm all about saving money y'all. With somethings you get what you pay for...on others like Rotel vs. Great Value Tomatoes with Green Chilis, I really don't give a hoot.
I learned some valuable lessons from this shopping trip:
1. Categorize the list. As in put all produce together, spices together, variations of canned tomatoes together, etc. I missed things because I had to scan through the list in each aisle. Plus it wasted precious time.
2. Do not under any circumstances take your children. Leave them with daddy, get a sitter, let the dog watch them. Whatever. Do what you have to do but do NOT take them. My children were horrendous on this particular trip and I wanted to roll into a ball and cry. I actually called Nick to come get them. He did not. He thought I was overreacting, but he was wrong. True story.
3. I would say don't go to Walmart. But I really think had I done #1 & #2, it wouldn't have been so bad. And I promise you I saved some green.
I then unloaded everything and started chopping. I also learned that apparently chopping onions never bothered my eyes due to a contact lense shield. On this particular day I was wearing glasses and was DYING! Honestly, I was getting nauseous from the constant eye burn. So much education. The first medium onion I chopped I measured so I would know approximately how much 1 onion was when I had a ziploc baggie full of onion. I did that with the other veggies as well. Here are my equivalents...
I completed all the veggies in about 3 hours...yeah it takes that long to chop up a billion onions, carrots, celery and peppers. I stuck everything in the fridge and chilled out for the night...that's hard work.
The next afternoon I pulled out 12 ziploc bags and labeled them with the meal and additional ingredients needed before slow-cooking like chicken broth or water, and when it needed to be served with. I started with meat and went through my spreadsheet adding the appropriate meat to the appropriate bags. The only meal that needed the meat to be cooked was the Sausage & Veggies. Then I added all the veggies, then canned goods and last spices. This all sounds easy now. It wasn't that it was hard, just very time consuming. This all took about 4 hours. I then stacked everything carefully in the freezer and was super pleased with a hard two days labor.
Now for the reviews. I'm going to use a scale of 5; with 1 being terrible, never to make again, and 5 being super yummy, fulfilling our family's dinner desires.
1. Bean Stew - 5/5: I was actually really pleasantly surprised with this one. The baggie looked so pitiful. I couldn't figure out how it the world it would feed a family of 4. It made plenty and was really tasty!! The kids liked it, and Nick had leftovers for lunch. Score. WIll make again.
2. Sausage & Bean Dinner - 1/5: Honestly, I didn't understand this one. The flavor profiles did not really mesh and it was supposed to be served with tortilla chips, which would suggest that it was Southwestern-y. But it wasn't. It was really sweet. Just strange all in all. It did make leftovers, that no one ate. Won't make again.
3. Meat Stew - 4/5: This was really good. It made a ton of leftovers and was perfect on those 5 degree days. The kids did not eat it, but did enjoy the cornbread muffins. ;) Will make again.
4. Pork & Veggies - 3/5: This one I didn't personally try. Nick made it while I was out of town and claimed it was good. It made leftovers for his lunch and another one for my lunch, I just never got around to it. He rated it. :)
5. Chicken Taco Soup - 5/5: This was very very yummy! You actually use a bottle of beer for broth which I found interesting. Kids loved it! Made tons of leftovers! Will make again.
6. Chicken & Sweet Potato Soup - 4/5: This was another surprise. I'm not normally a fan of sweet potatoes outside the french fry variety and the cinnamon weirded me out, but it was yummy. Made lots of leftovers. Adelaide ate a lot, Holden didn't (that's usual for us). It's definitely a more autumn dish. Would make again.
7. Creamy Farmhouse Chicken Soup - 5/5: This one had pasta in it, so naturally the kids gobbled it up! It wasn't as creamy as I would have imagined, but the taste was delicious and it made a lot of leftovers. Would make again.
8. Enchilada Wraps - 6/5: These were REALLY good! We make slow-cooker fajitas all the time, so this was a really welcome change up in the taco dept. Just wrap in a tortilla and serve with fixins. These did not make very much in leftovers. The kids loved them! Will definitely make again.
9. Chunky Veggie Chili - 4/5: The flavor here was very very good. All the family liked it and it made tons of leftovers. I gave it a 4 because it was quite greasy. Would make again.
10. Jambalaya - 3/5: This one threw me for a loop. The directions said to serve over rice, but at the end of the cooking time it was really soupy, so I through the rice in there to cook and soak up the liquid, and then it was more like a traditional jambalaya anyway. It made leftovers and the kids enjoyed it. I had just made a black-eyed pea jambalaya for New Years that was excellent and this one just didn't really stand up to it. Although for not having to cook all day it was totally worth it. Would make again.
11. Chicken Curry with Cabbage - 2/5: I was really excited to try this one. I love cabbage and curry and Nick doesn't so I hoped it was my chance to change his mind. This just wasn't it. There wasn't nearly enough curry and way too much cabbage. Holden loved it bc he loved cabbage. We ate there were leftovers that we didn't eat. Would not make again.
12. Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken - 4/5: I was confused, I thought this would be a shredded BBQ chicken. Think sandwiches. This was definitely more of a soup. The flavor was really good though and the fact that there was no actual BBQ in it was neat. Made leftover and the kids generally liked it.
disclaimer: These reviews in no way reflect Jessica, or her cooking abilities. Everyone has different tastes.
So would I do it all again. You know, after learning my lessons I will give this another go. I would really like to throw in some panned freezer meals like shepherd's pie, lasagna, baked ziti, etc. So it isn't all slow-cooker and there aren't so many soups. There are a lot of Parker staples that I would like to try to freeze as well. April is going to be crazy so I'm considering doing it again, just don't know if I have the time or energy to actually spend 2 days on it.
If you've made it allllll the way down to this point I commend you. Promise my posts won't usually be this long!
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