Freezer Cooking, Once a Month

A friend of mine received a membership to Once a Month Mom, a wonderful website where they give you recipes, shopping lists, printable labels, and directions for your food for the month. I'm always looking for new freezer recipes, so I took a look at the website, and last night, at the shopping lists and recipes she had printed out. I was hooked. This site does it all for you. They have multiple options for meals, gluten free, paleo, diet, traditional, whole foods, and even do a baby food menu. All the recipes are free, the membership gets you the extras. The shopping list that you can alter based on how many people you are cooking for, the recipe cards so you can make it easy on cooking day. For $8 a month or $72 a year, (and you pay via paypal for immediate satisfaction and access to all the good stuff) they do all the preparation for you. That's about an hour of your time (I'm using the average minimum wage here) and you would spend MUCH more time gathering recipes, preparing the amounts you need to buy, etc. This is well worth it.

I'm cooking this week for the next month. Lucky for me, we hit Costco last month and are well stocked on meats. So I think I have to buy maybe one pound of sausage for this month's worth of meals. Ok, I can handle that. I'm now scouring through my pantry and cabinets to determine what I actually need to buy. I love knowing that I have things, it cuts the price way down. Oh, did I mention the Google Docs Spreadsheet they give you for shopping has places you can include the cost, so you get an accurate idea of how much you are spending on food? Yeah, its pretty awesome.

Abigail and I will go shopping on Tuesday, and then I will cook a few meals as we go through the rest of the week. Then my freezer will be full again, and we'll be set for another month. Stay tuned for all the recipes I'm making and how much this endeavor actually cost me.

February Project - Purchases

I'm so excited that I have gotten so much work done on this section that its time to purchase some items to make it easier to maintain.

From this wonderful website, I ordered these two items.

The black, flat, mail in/out tray will be perfect for sorting mail and our paperwork that needs to go somewhere. And the charging station is just perfection. It can charge a tablet, a laptop, and 3 smaller devices (our two phones and the ipod) without the ugly cords and they will all be in one place.

Halfway through the budget and almost halfway through the month. Even better, I think I'm more than halfway done with this project! All that is left is filing the stack of papers I've decided are important enough to keep.

52 Week Money Plan - Week 7

Remember this? We started 2013 with an envelope, a list and $1. Well, we are now starting week 7, so you should have $28 in that account, or envelope. 

If you did it in reverse, you should have $343. 

How are you doing? Have you forgotten? Do you know what you're going to do with this money? Is it in a savings account somewhere or in cash?

(This is your friendly reminder to keep saving!)

More Freezer Cooking

I've really embraced this Freezer Cooking and I'm so glad that I have! We are eating out less and eating healthier in general. I wanted to take the time to share some new recipes with you.

Lemon Pork Chops
4 boneless pork chops
24 oz tomato sauce
1 onion, quartered and sliced
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1T lemon-pepper seasoning (I use Mrs. Dash)
1T Worcestershire Sauce
1-2 Lemons (halved)

Put everything in the crockpot (or freezer bag and then crockpot) and cook on low for 8 hours. It is recommended to serve with rice or couscous, but I just steamed some broccoli and mixed it all together. It was awesome, and the reserve sauce would be perfect on some (veggie) spaghetti.

Picadillo
1.5 pounds ground beef
2 large onions
1 3/4 cup stock
8oz salsa
1 T tomato paste
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1/2 c raisins

Cook the onions and ground beef and then add everything else to the bag. Freeze. Thaw and cook for 7-8 hours on low. Serve with rice, pasta, or tortillas. (I split the recipe into two bags.)

Brown Sugar Chicken
6 chicken breasts
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
2/3 cup vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
2T soy sauce
1t pepper

Cook on low for 6-9 hours or high for 4-5. The chicken falls apart in the crockpot. So yummy!

February Project: Step One

So, I decided to tackle the project by dealing with what is currently in the "home office area." Then, as I get that organized, set up the way I like, I can add the rest of the stuff (ie, paperwork, office supplies, computer wires) to an already organized area.

I'm starting with the baskets/bags/boxes of stuff underneath. As I find paperwork, I am putting it either in the plastic bin I am using as file cabinet OR directly into the shredder. This should truly make life easier. At least, I hope.

After the bottom half is done, I am moving to the mounds of paperwork on top of the printer. Same concept, in the box to be filed or shredded. And, I already have a cup for pens, a few baskets for envelopes, stamps, etc.

This blogger, highly suggests a Home Mail System Organizer. Awesome! I have one! It has enough slots for:

• bills to be paid/checks to be cashed
• outgoing mail 
• And a "to be dealt with later" section
• And, it has a spot for our keys, which is key

Now, I fully plan on color-coordinating and organizing our file system, but right now, I'm focused on getting it all in one place and off of the desk.

And, look at all this open wall space! I have tons of room to add shelving, wire baskets, etc to make things more functional. I have some idea of things I want to purchase, but I'm going to try to reuse as many things in my house as possible, so I can come in under budget. 

February Organization Challenge

I've decided to take each month and work on one room/section of our house. I want the house to be clean, organized, easy to clean, functional, and rid of stuff we don't need. This month I'm starting with the computer area/home office.

Here is the before picture.

Obviously there is a lot to consolidate and organize. We have more computer wires than any family every should have. I still have a box of paper to shred (I'm so embarrassed to say it was actually packed up and moved with us in a box.) And I have a stack of "semi-important" papers to file/shred/etc.

I'm giving myself $100 budget to complete this task. I plan to use things we already have in the house as much as possible, but want to be able to buy functional, nice looking things to make the area more efficient. I've even got a Pinterest board dedicated to this month's project.

I bet you just can't wait to see the final result!

January Recap

January was a very busy month for this family. Declan started pre-k and absolutely loves it! Abigail goes part-time to a neighbor while I go to work. Yes, that's right work. I'm now gainfully (part-time) employed. Husband had surgery to remove the hardware from his icy-fall in 2010. I put in 50 miles of half-marathon training in January, hit a personal record on a 10k race, facilitated three workshops, and read 10 books.

February is a short month, but today is the first day and my calendar is packed already. I have two local workshops, one where I am travelling to New Mexico, another new race distance, 8k at the end of the month, and hopefully I get to read a few more books.

Health and Exercise:
50 miles in January is the most miles I've ever run in one month. By far, I may add. Before his, the most miles in a month was 37 in February of 2012. Wow, just looking at the numbers shows how far I've come in this running journey. My goal for February is 75 miles. And I'm going to continue to focus on other aspects of my health/exercise. A fellow runner/busy mom/fitness friend is doing a few other challenges and I'm going to hop in with her on that. Also, I'm cutting out all soda. That is right, making a HUGE commitment to that now. NO SODA FOR FEBRUARY. NONE. If you see me with a soda can, take-out cup, etc. Please, take it from me, through it away, and then make me do 10 burpees. Right there, no excuses.

Reading:
I'm still reading the Scarpetta Series in order, I'm going to hit the library today and pick up numbers 8 through 10 and start on them after I clean the house today. I'm also hosting Book Club tomorrow and hope to meet some new people who enjoy reading and get some new ideas on books. I'm about 6% ahead of schedule on my 75 books in 2013 goal.

All in all, January has been excellent. I'm thoroughly enjoying work and getting much more comfortable dressing up every day. I'm very happy with our new house and our life here, but I am looking forward to seeing old friends and family in the coming months. Hope you all had a wonderful January!