Filed under: bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, freezer meals, frozen assets, frugal living, make-ahead, mealtime, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes, saving money, simple living, vegetarian
SUBMITTED BY: Stephanie (reposted from A Frugal Simple Life)
MOSTLY VEGETARIAN MONTHLY MEAL PLAN (for the freezer)
Here’s one of my plans:
This is only main dishes. I always serve greens, salad, muffins, etc. to go with my meals.
Enjoy! I hope this can help someone eat a few meatless meals.
The Full Month Plan:
1. Meatless Tamale Pie
2. Popeye Pie
3. Lentil Stew (more…)
Filed under: bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, dinner, freezer, freezer cooking, freezer meals, frozen assets, frugal living, groceries, homemade, make-ahead, mealtime, oamc, once a month cooking, saving money, simple living
One of the most common concerns I hear about preparing meals for the freezer is this: “I only have the small freezer above my refrigerator — how can I still do a full month of cooking ahead?”
For someone with only a fridge-top freezer, I usually recommend starting with twice-a-month cooking, or just doubling and tripling recipes as you go about your regular cooking during the week. As (more…)
Filed under: apples, breakfast, bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, frugal living, homemade, make-ahead, recipes, saving money, simple living
I’m always on the look out for recipes that are quick, easy, family-friendly, inexpensive and flexible. This quick bread meets all of my criteria for a budget-worthy recipe. Plus it’s tasty and super-simple, too! 
Quick Bread Tips: When making any quick bread (banana bread, zuchini bread, cornbread, etc.) be careful not to overmix. Stir mixture until just combined or it may become heavy and too dense. Also, be sure to bake in the center of the oven where the temperature is the most consistent.
MIX-N-MATCH QUICK BREAD (from Frozen Assets)
(Makes two loaves) (more…)
Filed under: bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, frugal living, holidays, make-ahead, oamc, once a month cooking, pumpkin, recipes, saving money, seasonal, simple living, Thanksgiving
Whenever canned pumpkin is called for in a recipe, just substitute this homemade puree that you’ve frozen ahead. It’s almost like having fresh pumpkin anytime of year! And who says you can’t have pumpkin pie in February?
Make-Ahead Pumpkin Puree
- Two(2) 3-pound pie pumpkins
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut pumpkin in to 5-inch square pieces. Remove seeds and stringy pulp. Arrange pieces of pumkin in a single layer (skin side up) on a foil-lined baking pan or cookie sheet.
2) Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour or until tender. Allow to cool.
3) Scrape pumpkin “meat” from rind and place in a large bowl or the food processor. Using a hand mixer or the food processor, beat to a smooth pulp.
4) Transfer to freezer bags. Label and freeze. Thaw in refrigerator to use.
Makes 5 cups pumpkin puree
Filed under: bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, dinner, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, frugal living, gluten-free, homemade, make-ahead, mealtime, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes, saving money, simple living, turkey
I haven’t tended to use a lot of ground turkey in recipes because I find it usually ends up too dry and tasteless. But I learned a wonderful little secret to making moist turkey loaves and meatballs … just add grated zucchini to the mixture! The high water content of the zucchini keeps the meat moist. An amazingly simple solution to a common problem.
A couple tips: Be sure to handle the turkey meat mixture gently, it’s best to mix it together with your hands, don’t overmix, and don’t have big pieces of onion in the mixture or it’ll tend to break apart easily.
You can also use this same recipe to make meatballs. You do everything the same except you only bake the meatballs for 30 minutes at 350 rather than for an hour. If you need more ideas for serving turkey meatballs, you can find some sauce recipes and meatball ideas at the bottom of this post: Meatball Mania
- 2 lb. ground turkey
- 1 cup oats (gluten-free if needed)
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, snipped
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp thyme
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Filed under: bulk buying, bulk cooking, cooking, cooking ahead, freezer, freezer cooking, frozen assets, frugal living, gluten-free, groceries, homemade, make-ahead, mealtime, oamc, once a month cooking, recipes, saving money, sugar-free, Uncategorized, vegetarian
Over the past few years people in our home have developed various food allergies, and have required special diets for things like Celiac, etc. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more complicated food-wise, my son and I both developed an inability to digest meats (beef for me, anything flesh-related for him). Crazy.
So now in order to make a meal to feed all four of us at the same time, it needs to meet the following criteria:
- Gluten-free (essentially only rice noodles and rice bread)
- Sugar-free (no honey or fructose, either)
- Aspartame-free (no Nutrasweet)
- Vegetarian (or at least beef-free, but then my son needs something else to eat)
- Peanut-free
- Mushroom-free (including mushroom soup)
- Carrot-free
- Apple-free
- Light on the eggs (can be an ingredient, but not the main thing such as in omelettes or scrambled eggs)
- Mint-free (not usually much of an issue except with teas and desserts)
- Green tea – free
I think that’s all. LOL! 
I’ve decided to try to figure out a list of menus I can prepare that we can all eat so I’m not preparing separate meals for our various special diets. Sadly, doing bulk freezer meal cooking has sort of fallen by the wayside as one after another of our regular recipes have bit-the-dust.
So, any suggestions for cheap eats that meet the above requirements? And of course freezer-friendly recipes and ideas would be ideal!
