I love freezer cooking!!! I recently had my sister and a good friend join me for a day of freezer cooking (OAMC, bulk cooking, or whatever you like to call it). They wanted to learn and I had recently stopped participating in our exchange co-op.

      We had 5 families in our co-op group. Recently some of the families were realizing that their children were getting older and eating more. They needed to change serving sizes. I understood but the amounts were too much for the five of us. I don't like to keep things longer than three months in my freezer. I use the co-op meals when we have busy days, two to three times a week.

      I will probably join them if they do another grill ready session for the summer months. We have quite a bit of company when we're at the lake. It's nice to have large amounts for that. Cooking for 10-20 people on the weekends is tough in our little kitchen up there. I do enjoy cooking over the campfire but I admit I would rather be fishing or floating on the lake.

      For this cooking session, we decided to turn it into into a sleepover party. On Friday, we prepped all the veggies and cooked all the chicken for the casserole type dishes. We made the chili in the big roaster so that we could free it up for the 50 cups of al fredo sauce on Saturday. We spent 4 hours on Friday night and 7 hours on Saturday cooking and gabbing. We mannaged to create 105 meals together. That was 35 meals for each family and it lasts us for 2 months.

      I think this was the most fun way that I've tried freezer cooking. I was doing something that benefitted my family and at the same time spending quality time with people I care about. We saved money by buying even more things than usual in bulk. It helped that my friend and sister were good workers and my husband helped us keep up with the dishes. My kids are used to mega- cooking days and they were really good about laying low. The older girls helped keep the floors swept, the trash taken out, and the little brother occupied.

      I didn't start out cooking on this large of a scale. I read a lot of cookbooks and blogs on the subject. I started out small and tried tripling recipes. I moved up to a one meat session and now two to three meats. It is a wonderful feeling to know that on my busiest days my family can have a great meal that does not come from a drive thru window. If you've been considering it, but haven't tried this time saving method, I hope that this encourages you.

Here is what we made:

Sausage Calzones- 6 meals

Pepperoni Pizza Roll-ups- 9 meals

Sausage Pizza Roll-ups- 6 meals

Baked Chicken Fingers- 6 meals

Honey Dijon Chicken- 6 meals

Sweet and Tangy Chicken- 3 meals

Chicken Al Fredo with Penne- 6 meals

Fettucine Al Fredo w/ Broccoli- 6 meals

Chicken Enchiladas- 9 meals

Beef Carbonade- 6 meals

Country Beef Pot Pie- 9 meals

Beef Stroganoff- 6 meals

Southern Chili- 9 meals

Taco Meat- 6 meals

Breakfast Quiche Muffins- 6 meals

Chinese Vennison Steaks- 6 meals

-Trisha