2 week cooking update

Wow.  It's the day after cooking for the 2 week cooking challenge and I think I'm still worn out from it.

Since Justin and Elijah were out of the house yesterday morning, I just decided to go for it.  I did all of my shopping and all of the cooking/preparing for the 2 weeks.  And I was so tired afterwards.  I don't think I sat down from 9:00 to 3:30.  Because I was crazy and stood in the kitchen for about an hour double checking my shopping list and adding to it for a few recipes that I swapped out.  Should have sat down!

I did have a few items on hand already, so I had to figure all of that out, then I headed out to shop!

I shopped at our Ingles where the boneless chicken breasts were at least supposed to be $1.98 a pound, but they were all out.  Rain check in hand (which will be nice for my next shopping trip), I bought the chicken at our local butcher shop where I can always count on it to be inexpensive.  In total, I spent $106.62, which included several other things that I already needed to buy, on top of the 2 week cooking ingredients.  I was pretty pleased with this, because our weekly budget for groceries is $60.00 and I ended up with 2 extra quart size bags of chicken and 2 bags of ground beef in my freezer for later use!

I followed the FANTASTIC outline that Jennifer at Saving and Giving so graciously provided.  I'm not sure if I would have dove into this project if she hadn't done all of the work of preparing a meal plan, recipes, shopping list, and even detailed instructions for the cooking order.  How much easier could it get?  I definitely suggest starting this way if you are thinking about trying out some freezer meal cooking!

I did change out a few meals because Justin and I don't eat (most) beans.  I know we're weird, but before you judge, we were brave and are trying out the Southwest Chicken Roll-Ups with refried (gag me) beans.  I'm being daring!  A recipe for Crockpot Bean Casserole, however, was NOT going to happen!

Anyway...I digress.  I checked out some recipes from my friend Terra's blog and added them in the plan.  I think the most daunting part of the whole project (although the most helpful because someone else planned it!) is that every recipe was new for me.  So I had/have no idea what to expect.  And I'm not the best cook in the world, so I completely misunderstood directions for Terra's Chicken Junks recipe.  This almost caused a breakdown in the overall easy cooking system.  But I persevered!

Here is our meal plan for the next 2 weeks!  (only changed slightly from the original)

I've linked the recipes of Terra's to her blog.  All of the other recipes, you can find here.

Sunday, August 1 - Stouffer's Lasagna (Already in my freezer, so I'm including it! haha!)

Monday, August 2 - Fried Chicken Salad (Tyson fried chicken strips also already in my freezer!)

Tuesday, August 3 - Mini (Italian) Meatloaves (doubled this recipe for later, too!)

Wednesday, August 4 - Chicken Junks

Thursday, August 5 - Chicken Parmesan (doubled 'cause we're planning for company that night)

Friday, August 6 - Southwest Chicken Roll-Ups

Saturday, August 7 - Ground Beef Stroganoff

Sunday, August 8 - Homemade Pizza

Monday, August 9 - Baked Ziti (This looked so yummy, it was hard not to taste test!)

Tuesday, August 10 - Chicken Stir Fry

Wednesday, August 11 - Popcorn Shrimp, Salad, Baked Potato (Again, shrimp was already in freezer)

Thursday, August 12 - Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

Friday, August 13 - Grilled BBQ Chicken

Saturday, August 14 - Homemade Pizza

Sunday, August 15 - Eating Out because it's Justin's Birthday!  ...And I'll be celebrating all these great meals I made for my family (and my husband's birthday)!

Overall, I thought this whole cooking experience was great because of how well Jennifer had it planned out for me.  Yesterday morning, as I was going through my freezer to see what I needed to use, I was re-inspired to make some food for Elijah, which I hadn't done in months.  Now he has some yummy pureed "fruit medley" and peas and carrots to enjoy.  

Also, I realized how simple it would really be just to do this on an ongoing basis.  I'm not sure if I would do the bulk shopping/cooking/prepping again (I'll let you know in two weeks).  But I definitely know I could make things easier by doubling meals to freeze or just prepping stuff the night before.  Great experience!

...And it all fit in my little freezer!

2 week cooking

So even though my friend Terra has 2 boys and one basically here on the way, I still can't seem to get my act together like her in the kitchen.  I love to eat, but I just really don't love to cook.  You should definitely check out Terra's recipe blog (I have almost all of her's bookmarked and have tried several) because she has great recipes and is great at sharing help with once a month cooking, even organizing a freezer swaps with her friends, which I think is a great idea.

I've always been nervous about jumping into the whole Once a Month Cooking Plan.  I mean, I barely like to fix one meal at a time!  But Jennifer, over at Saving and Giving is hosting a Two Week Cooking Project Challenge. I told her I'd join in and I'm sharing it here as well so that I will be held accountable for doing it.

I think it's the perfect time because Elijah is going to spend the night with with grandparents tomorrow night, so I will have some "extra" time on my hands.  I'm sure that's not what Justin has planned for the weekend, but he's going golfing, so I guess my "girl time" will be with myself in the kitchen.  We'll see how it goes!

swagbucks!

Are you looking for away to start earning some free Christmas presents, or birthday presents, or just free stuff in general?

Then you should check out Swagbucks if you aren't already a part of it!  I've just "cashed in" my Swagbucks for another (free) $5.00 Amazon.com gift certificate because I have a few things that I need to order and it just seems so much better to get it for free.  

Swagbucks is an easy way to earn free stuff simply by searching for stuff that you would be looking for online anyway.  So sign up and next time you could be earning Swagbucks for searching for a last-minute recipe or why the #2 pencil is not #1 (saw that as a Facebook status today).  Just start earning free stuff...cause you can!

And if you click on the links in this post then you'll be my referral and help me to add to my (now nothing because I just spent it all) Swagbucks account.  Thanks!

musical monday

One of my favorites...it's kind of fast (for my preference!) but I pray that it causes you to think about the Lord today.

When I Think About the Lord

Have extra time on your hands?

(Ha Ha!) ...I have fallen in LOVE with this blog.  And if you are looking for great things to do with your kids, then you just may fall in love too!

Also, I just found this blog that I think is going to be GREAT as well!

...They both cater to my non-existent creative side that wants to have cool things to do with Elijah!

and here is another...I've got to stop looking!