Menu: February 27-April 1 (Freezer Meal Month)

Right now you might be saying to yourself, "Wow! Beka got the menu done extra early this month." I know I'm usually very late with finishing up the month's menus and somtimes I'm still working on them during the first week of the month. There is a reason for "sudden" speed in menu writing. A couple of weeks ago I was inspired to attempt a month's worth of freezer meals after seeing a "Pin" on Pinterest. So here are the results of that inspiration, 40 meals (5 weeks worth) with main dishes that all begin in the freezer. I made up all of the meals on weekends during the previous or made doubles of meals and froze the extra batch.

If you'd like to find more freezer meal options, Fabulessly Frugal has a wonderful master list of freezer meals. Food Network also has a decent list of freezer friendly meals.

February 27-March 4

• Chicken Parmesan Bake, mixed veggies, salad, and French bread
• Savory Vegetable Beef Soup and dinner rolls
• Crockpot Orange Chicken, stir-fried veggies, and rice
• Mexican Lasagna (I made this meal from my taco leftovers last month)
• Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles, steamed broccoli, and glazed carrots

March 5-11

• "Mini" Smoky Chipotle Meatloaf, baby red potatoes, and glazed baby carrots (I followed the freezer instructions for the meatloaf from here)
• Chicken Kiev, California medley veggies, garlic herb fingerling potatoes, and dinner rolls (made a double batch last month)
• Pepperoni Rolls and salad (I froze some last month)
• Baked Rigatoni Pasta, steamed broccoli, salad, and French bread
• White Chicken Chili

March 12-18

• Chicken Enchiladas, and black beans and rice (I made a double batch of this last month and froze the extra pan)
• Italian Turkey Meatballs over pasta with mixed veggies and French bread
• Chicken and Dumplings (I made a double batch of the base and froze it last month, I'll add the dumplings once reheated)
• Tater Tot Casserole
• Chicken Carbonara Bake

March 19-25

• Peppery Beef Sandwiches, pasta salad, and veggie tray
• Stuffed Pepper Soup
• Four Cheese Stuffed Shells, mixed veggies, salad, and French bread
• Fajitas, and black beans and rice
• Chicken Pot Pie

March 26-April 1

• Gnocchi with peas, grilled chicken, pancetta, and garlic cream sauce
• Pineapple Curry Chicken and rice
• Shepherd's Pie
• Jambalaya (I am going to freeze all the chopped veggies and cooked chicken but will make the dish stove top as the recipe indicates)
• Peppercorn Steak, twice baked potatoes, mixed veggies, and salad

Sunday Breakfasts
We generally have to eat on the run on Sunday mornings and I don't always have time to bake muffins and things ahead of time so we end up picking up donuts or some other unhealthy breakfast option. I also like to take breakfast in for our Sunday School Class a few times a month and on those days we try to get to church early enough to have the kids eat in our classroom before everyone arrives. Because of all this I am going to attempt freezer breakfasts along with all the other freezer meals.

• blueberry cinnamon rolls (made up a huge batch of these last month and then froze them using the freezer instructions from my regular cinnamon roll recipe) 
• breakfast burritos
• banana blueberry bread
• egg sandwiches
• homemade bagels

Here are some notes on preparing dishes for the freezer:

1. You might be wondering what kind of dishes I am using to store said meals in the freezer. I laid freezer paper down in the pans before placing ingredients in them. Then I froze the meals. Once the meals were frozen, I removed them from said pans and placed them in large freezer bags or wraps them in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Before baking, I remove all plastic wrap, aluminum foil, etc. and place the meal in the proper pan for thawing.
   
2. For meals that will be cooked using the stove top or in a slow cooker instead of the oven, I placed all the ingredients in large ziptop bags and then put them into the freezer. I also wrote any extra ingredients and instructions on the front of the bags before filling them.