Stocking the Freezer

I love a yummy breakfast each and every day. But, I HATE cooking that yummy breakfast every morning. In fact, if I have to cook the breakfast, usually I just don't eat. Not eating is not good for my disposition. I become mean when I haven't had good breakfast.

To help combat an ugly situation, I have created this wonderful plan -- freezing breakfast. About once every three weeks I bake up a batch of Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes. These are the best -- packed with nutrition and tastiness, they make the perfect freezer food.

So, I whip up a double batch, fire up my most treasured griddle and put a good movie or TV show on the computer. It takes about an hour to griddle up 80 pancakes(I use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake).

I let them cool on parchment paper for at least an hour. Then -- this is the important part -- I cut up that same parchment paper and stick it between layers of pancakes in a Ziploc bag. If you don't put the parchment paper between them, they stick together and just become a messy, unmanageable situation.

After loading two Ziploc, I stick them in the freezer. Now -- instant breakfast. I take out as many as I need and warm them up in the microwave each morning.

Very Full Freezer

I've been packing my freezer until it can take no more! Now it's time to eat it all before it goes bad. Then, I'll pack it again.

Here's a menu plan for the next few weeks to get rid of all of it. Some of the items will be listed a couple of times because we have multiple of them prepared or because it's a family favorite. I'm going to number it so that I'm not stuck to a certain day of the week:

1. Homemade pizza --
2. Garlic Chicken and fettuccine
3. Hamburgers & hot dogs
4. Chicken tacos & black bean salsa
5. Cheesy Mexican Chicken
6. Chinese Chicken Salad
7. Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches
8. Chicken & Broccoli with corn bread
9. Spaghetti Bake
10. Chicken Garden Salad
11. BBQ Salmon and baked potatoes
12. Zippy Casserole
13. Calzones
14. French Dip Sandwiches
15. Beef Fajitas
16. Beef Shiskabobs
17. Stromboli
18. Breakfast Sandwiches
19. Garlic Chicken Pasta
20. Black Bean & Kielbasa soup and empanadas
21. Chicken Pot Pie
22. Spaghetti with meat sauce
23. Chicken Nuggets & Fries
24. Garlic Chicken & Fettuccine
25. Stuffed Shells
26. Calzones
27. Chili & Corn bread
28. Chicken Rice Salad
29. Won tons and salad
30. Stromboli
31. Citrus Pork Chops
32. Hamburgers & Hot dogs
33. French toast & bacon
34. Italian crock-pot chicken
35. BBQ bacon & cheddar chicken
36. Wild rice soup and whole wheat bread
37. Chicken Kiev
38. Chicken tacos & black bean salsa

I often save leftovers and freeze them in smaller sized portions. I've put these in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer and they're ready to defrost. So, for my lunches:

1. Beef Stroganoff
2. Wild Rice Soup
3. Crustless Quiche
4. Egg Rolls
5. Calzones
6. Black Bean Soup
7. Stromboli

Food storage organization

I've been working for the past couple of months to organize my pantry and food storage. If finally feels under control. Here is my beautiful on the door spice rack:

I have two small spice racks on order to finish it off. They should arrive next week. I'm so glad I bought this rack -- it's made finding things so much easier.

Next is my new and improved pantry storage boxes. These are made from Lock & Lock, and are available at most Target and Walmart stores. I cut the vinyl labels myself and put them on. There are boxes for: all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, salt, rice, wheat, oats, pancake mix, brown sugar, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, powdered milk, crackers, and one that's still empty. They are so easy to use and each holds either a 5 lb. bag, a #10 can or a mylar pouch. So no matter where the pantry stock comes from, I can fit it into my containers.

For my over the counter cupboards, I decided to use small storage containers from Ikea for all the little snack food we eat constantly like raisins, teddy grahams, croutons, etc. I use the big ones on the top shelf for pasta. I store extra boxes behind the containers. That way we eat what's open first.

In the basement I have shelves from Costco that I use to hold all the canned goods. I also have special storage bins (not pictured) to hold extra flour and powdered milk. It's all packed in animal proof containers. Love it!
Now with this new organized approach, I can see what I have on hand for my three month supply of food. If my tax return had been larger, I honestly would have preferred to get this mammoth $400 storage rack.

(Costco is currently selling the shelf reliance system for $100 less than the shelfreliance.com website. Had I known that a few weeks ago, I might have purchased it. Oh well!)

It just didn't work out this year. I will say, I'm pretty proud of how the Costco shelves turned out. I can reach over the top of the food to put the newly purchased items at the back. That way I'm rotating the food as we use it, and nothing should ever reach an expiration date -- in theory anyway.

Next step -- three month tracking spreadsheet to share -- coming soon!