Goode Goodeness: FREEZE-O-RAMA Lessons and Goode-ies

Well FREEZE-O-RAMA has come to a close. It was a lot more fun and a lot more work than I thought it was going to be.

And, like any GOODe adventure lessons were learned ;)

Lessons like:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare and then prepare some more!

From getting my tools together to getting my ingredients organized to writing out mass quantity steps for multiple recipes, preparation helped keep mama sane while uber-multi tasking.

Puddie told me that it looked like I was preparing Iron Chef America's Kitchen Stadium ;)

2. If I had it to do over again ( and I will ;) ) I would prep and chop my veggies the day before.

It was a lot of front end work that took a lot of time.

Things went much faster after the 2 hours prep of chopped goods.

I mean shew... those pre-sliced mushrooms took a long time;)

3. Cooking is easier while Monkey is entertained. No brainer--right? Lol! But videos and typical Monkey activities do not cut it for FREEZE-O-RAMA. Next time Miss Add will have a day long date with Daddy or Mommy will only cook while Add is napping or sleeping.

4. Cooking in mass quantity makes things go super quick, however it sometimes requires different techniques.

Case in point: Ground Beef. Turns out when cooking mass quantities you need to stir often and at times constantly (think gravy stirring like).

BTW: This would NOT be the time to peek out on the back deck to snap a quick shot of your little slugger with her Daddy... I don't know why you thought it would be--I mean there are 7lbs of ground beef on the stove and if you burn it FREEZE-O-RAMA will come to a halt!

Thank goodness I set you straight just in time to prevent that from happening and the ground beef was ok;)

5. Chicken shears are a gals best friend ;)

They make light work of cutting up 6 lbs of chicken breasts.

Perfect for 2 recipes

6. Freezer burn is the enemy so take precaution. Now I don't have a fancy machine (yet;) ) so I had to take FishMama's advice  and use a straw to extract air from many of the cooked or fresh items.

I also made sure each of my dishes got a nice tight layer of Glad's Press and Seal right on top of the casserole before placing the foil on top.

7. I realized half way through that a month's worth of not having to cook means a months worth of not having to clean up after cooking! Yay! Mommy-score! This might be my favorite of all ;)

In the end I had 2 meatloaves (above)

4 left over bags of seasoned ground beef

2 family and 2 individual portions of Lasagna in a Pot (recipe to come in a later post)

2 family and 2 individual portions Beef Stroganoff (recipe TBA)

6 whole bell peppers for grillin'

4 Best. Chicken. Ever. marinades for grillin'

2 batches Oven Baked "Fried" Chicken (Recipe TBA)

4 batches PW's Chicken Spaghetti

4 batches Chicken Enchiladas (Recipe TBA)

9 bags chopped bells

4 bags chopped onion

40 Brown Bag Burritos

Whew... are you as tired as I am?

I will let you know how FREEZE-O-RAMA thaws out with the rest of us this March.