Fix and Freeze Dinner Challenge...

With school starting up this month, life is about to get a LOT crazier...so I decided to challenge myself by stocking the freezer with some healthy, quick and easy weeknight meals.

Since we do not live near a Whole Foods, I stock up on their meats whenever I can...so recently I purchased large quantities of a few of our favorites...boneless pork chops, boneless chicken breast cutlets and ground beef.

I decided to make some simple marinades for the pork and chicken...first up was Mojo for the pork...

Mojo is a Latin marinade that combines fresh citrus juices and herbs and garlic and olive oil...YUMMY!

I used mojo for all the pork chops, but it's great on chicken or skirt steak too!

Next up, was a Mediterrean-inspired marinade...

This marinade features one of my FAVORITE herbs...fresh rosemary!  I simply combined lemon juice, chopped rosemary, garlic and olive oil...sooo good!

this is such a classic combination...and for good reason...it's delicious!

Next, I marinated some of the chicken in one of my all-time favorite salad dressings- The Olive Garden Italian Dressing, that's right, not only is it good on salads, but it makes delicious Italian-style grilled chicken.

After prepping all the chicken and pork, I tackled the ground beef next...and since we love our "Taco Tuesdays" around here, I cooked up three pounds of the beef for taco meat...

then I separated it in one pound freezer bags for quick week-night meals!

The last pound of ground beef, I used to make hamburger patties...

So...with a little planning, by shopping in bulk, prepping ahead of time, and storing everything in the freezer, I now have 12 healthy weeknight meals ready to go- simply defrost, cook, and add an easy side dish.

Now "mom" is ready for back to school!

 

Comments

[Cheryl]

With after school activities starting, our evenings are about to get crazy. Having a few prepared meals in the freezer always helps me manage the chaos. Thanks for the timely post and some great new ideas.

[JoAnn]

I've started doing freezer meals, too. Doesn't it make dinner time so much easier? I also will make and freeze meatballs then take them out of the freezer, put them in a baking and pour spaghetti sauce over them and bake..so easy. I use the 93/7 ground beef so the sauce doesn't get greasy. Thanks for your recipes! For some reason I've never used fresh rosemary..but I'm going try your recipe!

[Shannon]

I've been going through some archives on your blog and just happen to be doing some freezer prepping tomorrow. I love your mojo pork in the slow cooker! Do you use the lemon rosemary on the chicken or the pork? How do you cook the marinated pork chops - grilled? oven? Thanks so much!