5 meals in an hour

 Recently I discovered an organizing blog that I love so much. When I was looking around on her site I saw a button for a website that said "Make 5 dinners in one hour".
I was intrigued so I clicked on the button. The freezer cooking that I occasionally do ends up taking an entire day and my entire freezer but I love having meals prepared ahead of time. We eat a lot healthier that way.
This blog has a system where you pay $15 for a few months worth of meal plans. She emails you the meal plans broken down weekly with the prep and cooking instructions as well as the shopping list. If you visit her blog you can request a week free trial.
I decided to try it out last week and enjoyed it enough that I thought I would let you guys all in on it.
I don't think I am going to be doing this every week but I am interested in doing it for a few nights a week and perhaps our busier weeks.
The goal with her meals is to have family friendly meals that are easy to prep and cook and are well balanced.
It took me just under an hour to make the 5 dinners. I spent a lot of time getting out my measuring cups though so next time I will read through everything I have to do and have the specific cups/spoons, etc out and pre measured when I begin.
The cost for all the ingredients for these 5 meals was  just under $70. I spent more on this shopping trip because I was also getting things for our other meals but I thought the cost was pretty good. Also, some items I didn't need much of for the recipe but I was out of or didn't have so the next time I will not have to buy them.
I have been struggling with a very picky eater (Maddy) so I was curious to see if she would eat these meals.
Here is the breakdown of my trial week:
1) Mini Honey Mustard Meat Loaves served with mashed potatoes and peas. This was a great meal. I don't usually like meat loaf except for the one recipe I grew up with and this was very different. But it was great. The kids loved the little personal meat loaves and both of them ate all of their dinner.
2) Chicken and Broccoli Bake served with rice and salad. Maddy would not eat the salad but enjoyed the rest of it and even ate the Broccoli. Abi loved every bit of it as did Doug and I.
3)Crispy Pork Chops served with broccoli in cheese sauce. Maddy wouldn't eat the meat but did eat a little of the broccoli but then began spitting it out after a few bites. Abi and I both liked it. Doug loved it.
4) Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwiches served with carrots and ranch dip. I also served jicama. The sandwiches were really good... not for a hearty meal though. They are more of a lunch or summer/spring dinner. Abi ate part of it but didn't love it. Maddy wouldn't eat any. We learned that Abi doesn't like ranch dressing anymore and neither girls like jicama at all. I had to promise never to serve it again. :)
5) Slow Cooked Shredded Beef for Tacos served with chips and salsa. This was great. I loved that the tacos called for slices of avocado because I love it! I didn't give it to Maddy but Abi loved the taco as much as Doug and I did. Really good.

If any of you are interested in the program I have put the button on my right sidebar.

Bee Prepared

Friday night I hosted a "Bee Prepared" night here at our house where I introduced a group of friends to Doug's moms cookbooks. 'Bee Prepared' is an introduction to food storage usage that is so great and 'Dinner? It's in the Bag' is a fun twist on food storage, also with recipes. I created some bagged meals to give away as prizes and had fun decorating the room with food storage and kitchen items.
A few years ago I created this cross stitch (from looking at a picture) that I was going to put on a church bag but I have never got around to sewing the bag. So, that night I decided to use the fabric as a sort of tablecloth and to frame the cross stitch in a frame I had laying around. I really liked it so now I've left it in there.
It was a fun night and hopefully my friends got something out of it. I am new to all of this and I was a bit nervous about making sure I got across all the info I wanted to so I know I left stuff out ... but maybe I will try again sometime!

Food Storage Cookbooks

Most of you know that Doug's mom is on the General Young Women's board for our church but may not know that she has also served for many years in the Provident living and food storage capacities of the church. She taught cooking classes at Welfare square for quite some time and now she also owns a cooking school in American Fork, Utah. (The Wooden Spoon Cooking School)

She teaches about cooking with food storage, having frozen and 'bag' dinners on hand at all times, and many more really fun techniques.

She has created a few copyrighted cookbooks that have become really popular. She left some with me to sell to anyone who wanted one. So, I was thinking about it and thought it would be helpful to maybe even host a girls night where I could prepare a few of the recipes for everyone to try.

I am planning on doing that sometime in February or March so let me know if you are interested.

The cookbooks are going for $15 each or if you want one of each I can sell them for $25.

If you don't live around here I can mail them to you.. I would just have to add shipping. If you know a few people who want one we could always combine shipping costs and send them in a flat rate box to make it cheaper.

Here is some info on each of the books:

"Bee Prepared": A provident living resource

This book consists of the sections 'Family Assessment and Plan', 'Basic Core Foods', 'Home Storage Information', and 'Kitchen Journal' as well as information on buying and storing water, information and recipes for Wheat, Sourdough, Yeast, Corn, Popcorn, Rice, Rolled Oats, Legumes, Sprouting, Powdered Milk, Sugar, Honey, Fats and Oils, Dried Eggs, Salt and Seasonings, Vinegars, and Substitutions. Each of these items includes a WIDE variety of different recipes.

Dinner? It's in the Bag!:

This book is really fun! It is based on the principles of planning meals in advance, preparing meals together, and presenting meals that delight.

It's sections include 'Elegant Equipment', 'Perfectly Prepared Pantry','Culinary Clinic', 'Amazing Attire', 'Palette Pleasers', 'Family Favorites', 'Dazzling Decor', and 'Table Talk and Family Fun'.

Each recipe includes the items you buy for the bag (for example a can of Beef stew, a can of vegetables, and a cup of Potato Pearls in a container for Shepherds Pie), the items you get from your pantry or kitchen, and the directions for baking as well as serving suggestions.

The basic idea is to have these 'bagged' meals on hand so that when you need a meal you can grab the bag out of your pantry or storage and have everything you need to make the meal right there together. It is also a great way to have quick and easy meals on hand when you need to take a meal to someone else.

Let me know if any of you are interested.

Stocked!

Yay! I did it. I had a few goals this week of things I wanted to get done by Friday. One of these things was to do a bunch of cooking so that I could have a lot of freedom over the next two-three weeks to have a bunch of dinners ready just in case the baby comes early and if she doesn't to just make it easier....
So I made tonights dinner plus an extra of the same. I also made 2 lasagnas, 2 chicken and artichoke casseroles, and 2 No Peek Chickens. Our freezer now has 7 big dinners which with the size of our family usually last for at least 2 nights! My feet hurt and I'm tired but it feels so good to open the freezer and see this....

Nothing like a little peace of mind.