Before I get to the recipe list, let me just say this day was so much fun. Here is what NOT to do when you are going in to a massive day of cooking. Do NOT start compiling recipes at 11:30pm the night before. Do NOT grocery shop at 12:30am that morning. Be smarter than I was (don't procrastinate?!). Wear shoes! I would even suggest being ridiculous and bringing a second pair to change into - trick your feet! Check/re-check/triple check your recipes to your grocery list and then to the supplies purchased before starting. (Avoid running raggedly to the store the day of). Make an oven 'schedule' right away - we sat with the oven empty for several hours at the beginning while we were prepping non-baking things. Be wise owls folks! Have candy on hand. And chocolate milk - this produces better results. Have someone available to run you caffeine at 9pm. Also, next time we are planning to use a church kitchen AND our husbands to make the process SOMUCH faster. Plus we can trick them into washing the dishes by telling them "its a cool machine".. LOVE. Oh my goodness we had such a crazy fun day. A few curse words. Its okay.
Here is the rundown. Note that I put everything into 4 person meal sizes (8x8 pans or gallon ziplocks) - and one 8x8 pan would feed us dinner and then Steve and/or I lunch the next day. Except the baked mac- this makes two overwhelmed 8x8s, because I never remember to buy two bigger pans for it. So when I thaw it, I dump my 8x8 into a deep dish 9x13 and that is full. By splitting a meal into 2 8x8 pans, even a larger family could stretch any recipe by simply adding a side to a meal - but we typically still have leftovers even when splitting. SO many of these recipes make way more than what they say on the original post. I have noted by each item how many 8x8 pans it made. The burritos are an amazing example - the recipe says it makes 8, but it made 16. The enchilada casserole recipe was supposed to make one - I doubled the recipe and ended up with 3.
Dinners
1. *new* Summer time Beef Tips (recipe makes two meals)
2. Sour cream noodle bake (recipe makes 2 meals)
3. Baked Mac-n-Cheese (recipe makes 2 9x13 - so 4 meals for us)
4. Burritos (recipe makes 5 meals - I gave one to Amy, thats a lot of burritos)
5. Dump Chicken (made 2 bags): Pkg chicken tenders in gallon bag with half a bottle of your favorite dressing - marinate overnight then freeze.
6. Teriyaki Chicken (recipe makes 2 meals)
7. Pizza Dough (two large pizzas)
8. Best Burgers (I made 6 burgers with this recipe)
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| Bacon Crusted Pork -Photo from Vanessa Druckman |
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| Spicy BBQ Stuffed Chicken - Photo onceamonthmom.com |
11. Enchilada casserole (recipe makes 3 meals)
12. Garlic Bread (made 6 - 3 loaves halved)
Lunch-ish items
1. Mini meatloaf cups (recipe made 24 cupcake-sized meatloaves)
2. Pizza rolls (made 16): Pepperoni and Mozzarella rolled in crescent roll and baked - dip in pizza sauce.
3. Ham/cheese rolls (made 16): deli ham with slice of swiss rolled in Pillsbury crescent roll and baked.
4. Tacos in a Sleeping Bag (recipe is ridiculous. Made 16 and had ton of meat left over -and started with less than a pound): Ground beef with dry taco seasoning (don't add water), with cheddar in a crescent roll and baked.
5. Corn Dog muffins. (made 24): I add 1tbls brown sugar and a little extra milk per batch - sweeter and keeps them from drying out.
Breakfast
1. Breakfast cookies (I quadruple the original recipe because we gobble these. I ended up with 4 plump gallon bags): You know me, I would not ruin these with cranberries. I add a bit of cinnamon to the recipe and then sprinkle with a tiny bit of cinnamon/sugar before baking.
2. Baked oatmeal (I doubled this, and baked shallow muffins in a tin so I could skip cutting/dishing them out of a 9x9 pan - genius. This way they are already portion-sized! One batch made 18 discs instead of the 9 bars you would maybe be able to cut out! Ooh, And I do NOT use fruit. I mix in a small amt of mini chocolate chips to the batter instead)
3. French toast sticks (The recipe easily uses up a loaf of Texas Toast Bread - which is huge - I made another half recipe to make more). For some reason the original recipe isn't available on their blog anymore - this is the toddler version which sneaks in some squash puree - puke. The original uses 12 eggs, 2c milk, 1/2c sugar and 1/2c melted butter. I add way more cinnamon just because that's the kind of people we are.
4. Idaho Sunrise (recipe made 24 cups, and PS I use way more bacon.)
Snacks
1. Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (made 3 loaves and 22 muffins - I only had 3 loaf pans! Make this. It's incredible). No nuts. Just delete that part of the recipe folks.
2. Pumpkin Muffins (made 120+)
3. *new* Energy Bites (Made a double batch): I change this recipe a bit. I detest coconut, and I never buy flaxseed. I used 2c of old fashioned oats, 2c of these same oats pulsed like mad in my food processor- it provides filling, but with different texture, then I use a cup with mostly wheat germ and 2Tbls or so of cocoa (round up!). And then of course the PB, Honey and mini chocolate chips. They are chocolately and YUM. My kids call them chocolate balls and think they are a cookie. Little do they know they are healthy little things - I could use dark cocoa to make it even healthier, but I don't like it, so I won't. I will freeze half of these…I hope...
4. *new* Crock Pot Greek Yogurt. A new wild hair. A couple months ago we made our own frozen yogurt cups with plain yogurt and frozen fruit and thought we could make these portable yogurts even cheaper by making our own yogurt. So I finally tried it. Its still in the crockpot bed under some bath towels (NO JOKE). But I am pretty pumped to try it out.
And I brought my camera.. And we didn't take a single picture. Boo. SO 20 hours or so (I finished some baking today), less than $300 - my family will eat stress-free for more than a month. I posted an inventory on the dry erase on my fridge so we can track when we take an item out and see what is left. I also noted thaw times and side items (hello husband!). I am pretty confident that this stock will last well into July and that cost includes sides like rice, potatoes, steam fresh veggies and refilling my staples like flour/sugar/butter, etc. The only thing we will need to buy is milk at some point. I LOVE it. Even better? My husband tried to get my kids a "treat" the night I was off cooking and bought pizza rolls - my kids didn't like them and Josiah said "mom, can't we have the ones you make? They are WAY better!". Score.
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