How I am SAVING $350 Dollars a Month in Food. Freezer/Frozen Meals

My roommate and I are hoping to start the New Year off right. I am finishing up my last semester of college and she is a first semester elementary teacher. Needless to say we are on a tight budget. Also we don’t have much time for meal prep, or execution so I came up with a plan to make a months’ worth of freezer meals that could easily be make in the crockpot or baking dish with little to not added effort in the evening. Did I also mention I work 3 part time jobs on top of being a full time student? (I love my busy life, but I needed an easier way to make dinner options that weren’t eating out) This is a complete list of everything that I bought on the day of shopping. Note that some things that are in the recipes I already had, so always check what you have and what you need, but for the purpose of this blog I am writing what I actually bought. We shopped at our local grocery store and shopped the sales. The biggest savings was on the meat that was on sale. We were able to buy bulk meats at cheaper prices. We bought the roast later because it wasn’t on sale that week but went on sale the next week. So when shopping you can wait. I went ahead and made the roast freezer meal bags with the veggies and the seasoning ahead of time and added that meat later when it went on sale. I spent a lot of time preparing for this and here it how I did it. I started with research, I looked at several blogs (like this one) about their method of prep. The general rule is that it will take 4 to 6 hours to do about 20 freezer bags if you are by yourself (I had help from my mom and roommate and we got it done in 3.5 hours).

This is a list of all the meals that the following shopping list will provide: 2 pot roast meals, Beef stew, 4 pkgs of Lunch meat, 3 bisquick chicken meals, potato soup, 2 BBQ chicken meals, 3 pork loins, 6 hamburger patties, sausage and beans, sausage and potatoes, chicken spaghetti, chili, 2 chicken and rice meals, green chili casserole, chicken fajitas, taco soup, pork chops, 2 hamburger helper meals, spaghetti, tostadas/tacos, weenies and mac and cheese, chili dogs. Also we have 11 additional non assigned bags of ½ lb cooked hamburger meat that we can use for anything. The recipes for most of these meals are included below. Some are not because they are basic meals or boxed instructions. These were all mixed with their meats, seasonings, and veggies and then frozen. The shopping list also included Lunch meat to make sandwiches and things for breakfast foods.  I had planned for a months’ worth of food but because of the great prices on meat and some of the items we already had I ended up with 32 meals just for dinner. SO we ended up with over 2 months’ worth of food because all the recipes make meals for 4 to 6 people and there is just two of us so we have leftovers for the next day lunch and typically another dinner. AND the best part was the grand total was just over $200. This makes each meal round out to be a little over $3 dollars per meal that’s $1.50 per person. If you ate out the equivalence that this meal prep cost and on average a takeout meal is $7, we would have spent around $900. Again this is two months’ worth of food so we are SAVING $700 dollars in two months by doing this method. I would say that’s totally worth it. (And its good wholesome food).

 
Shopping List

Dairy:
Gallon of milk
shredded cheese 4 pkg
cream cheese
can of biscuits
eggs
sliced cheese 2pkg
sticks of butter 2pkg
coffee creamer
bowl butter

Canned foods:
ranch style beans
whole kernel corn
2 cans of refried beans
3 cans of rotel
4 cans of green beans
black eyed peas
bushes baked beans
3 cans of cream of mushroom soup
5 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
2 cans of green chiles

Meat:
2lbs of roast
4 pork chops
9lbs of chicken breasts
sausage links
3lbs of shredded chicken
pork loin (we ended up getting a 9lb one)
2pkgs of weenies
sausage chub
lunch meat
10 lbs Hamburger meat chub

Produce:
10lb bag of potatoes
bag of baby carrots
1 bell pepper
1 onion

Frozen:
bag of cubed hashbrowns
5 bags of frozen veggies (assorted)
Dry goods:
olive oil
Beef broth cubes
long grain rice
onion soup mix
evaporated milk
2pkg of spaghetti noodles
parmesan cheese
paprika
bread crumbs
velveta
BBQ sause
2 loafs of bread
1 box of chicken broth
2 cans of chicken broth
fajita seasoning pkg
taco seasoning pkg
2 roast seasoning pkgs
chili making kit
bag of fritos chips
2 boxes of Hamburger helper
taco shells
tostado shells
flour tortillas
tortilla chips
cereal
4 ranch dressing seasoning pkgs
raw sugar

Gallon freezer bags
jug of water

Recipes:

Pot Roast (serves 4):
3 T olive oil
2 lb beef roast (any kind, cut into large cubes)
3 Cups beef broth
5 potatoes, cubed
3-4 carrots, sliced
Sprinkle of rosemary, oregano, thyme (whatever seasoning you like...make this recipe your own)

Split all ingredients in half and place in bags. Freeze. Day of cooking grab from freezer, pour all contents into crock pot and cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.

We serve this with green beans, a salad and dinner rolls

Pork chops (serves 4)

4 pork chops
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ can of water
ranch seasoning (a dusting)

If meat is frozen 6-8 hours on low, cook minute rice 1cup of rice and serve over meat

Chicken/rice (4)
1 stick of butter
1½ cup of rice (regular long grain)
Cream of chicken 1 can
Cream of celery 1 can
2 ½ cup of milk
1pkg. lipton onion soup mix
4-6 chicken breasts cut in half
salt

Mix all ingredients minus chicken and soup mix, pour into crock pot place chicken on top, sprinkle onion soup mix on top, low for 8 hours.

Sausage/Potatoes

cut up (6 med) potatoes like fries, onions cut (small), 1pkg sausage in half then quarters. Fry in pan of canola oil (shallow).

Green Chili casserole
1lbs hamburger meat
can of cream of chicken
can cream of mushroom
can evaporated milk
can of green chilies
10-12 corn tortillas
package of shredded cheese

Turn oven on to bake at 350 Brown hamburger meat, add cans of soup, milk chiies, heat to boil, spray 9*13 layer tortillas, soup mix, cheese, (two layers), bake for 30mins or until bubbly.

Chicken Spaghetti
3/4lbs of cooked shredded chicken
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can of green chilies
1pkg of spaghetti (16oz)
1pkg of shredded cheese

Turn oven on. In sause pan mix cooked chicken, soups, chiles, heat to boil, cook spaghetti, drain spaghetti pour soup over noodles, place in 9*13, sprinkle with cheese, bake a 350 for 30 mins (bake 15 mins then add cheese).

Bisquick chicken

1 lbs of chicken tenders (defrosted)
1 cup of biscuit mix in ziplock bag
1/8 cup of parmesan cheese
2tbs of paprika
pinch of salt and pepper
½ stick of butter

Heat oven to 425, 9*13 baking dish line with foil, ½ stick of butter cut in slices, place in pan in oven to melt butter, ½ chicken in bag (well coated), take melted butter out of over, remove coated chicken, dip in butter on both sides, lay down in pan, finish chicken same way. Bake for 20-25 mins until chicken is done.

Porkloin in crockpot

Frozen porkloin
½ cup of breadcrumbs
garlic powder
pepper
½ cup of chicken broth

Frozen porkloin coated with breadcrumbs, sprinkle with pepper and garlic powder, and place in ½ cup of chicken broth (or water). Cook on low 12 hours. Serve with stovetop stuffing and cranberry Sause and mashed potatoes. ** cut finished porkloin in 3rds and freeze other two for later

Chicken fajitas

1lb of chicken breast
1 bell pepper sliced
1 sliced onion
½ of fajita seasoning

Thaw overnight from bag place contents in the crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with tortillas

Potato Soup

Bag of frozen hashbrown potato cubes
box of chicken broth
can of cream of chicken soup
1pkg cream cheese

In a crockpot pour box of broth, add can of soup whisk together, pour in frozen potatoes, cover cook low for 6 hours. Lay cream cheese on counter for cooktime. Add cubed cream cheese and let melt for an hour. Serve with cheese, bacon bits.

Taco soup

1lb of ground hamburger meat
can of rotel
can of ranch style beans
can of whole kernel corn
½ ranch pkg
½ taco seasoning pkg
2 cans of water

Throw it all in the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with chips/cheese.

Homeade Chili

1lb of hamburger meat
I pkg of chili kit

Follow the directions on the chili kit, *omit masa. Serve with fritoes, and shredded cheese.