Hello there! Welcome to Week #2 in the Stock Your Freezer Fridays Series! This week went by really fast for me and I can’t believe it’s Friday already. If you are new here and would like to catch up on the freezer cooking from this series, you can find the recipes and ingredient list for Week #1 here. Maybe I am weird, but it makes me really happy when I open my freezer and I see that it’s starting to fill with prepared meals. It’s the simple things like that, that make me happy! I did have to do a little cleaning before this week’s meals, because my freezer was a mess! Things were kind of just shoved everywhere. I don’t know how it gets to the point where I am closing the freezer and just hoping that the door isn’t going to bounce back open at me after I take my hand off of it. So, at the moment I have my freezer organized and I even found a few items that I forgot I had. Maybe I should feel a little embarrassed about that. Oh, well:)
At our house we currently have a side by side refrigerator and freezer and I don’t think I like it. I feel like there isn’t much room on the shelves in the freezer, and it’s hard to see what you have when the freezer is pretty full. We will be updating our kitchen soon, and I would like to do a little research before we purchase a different refrigerator/freezer. Do you have a side by side, a regular freezer on top refrigerator on the bottom, or drawer freezer? How do you like it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Recipes for Week #2 of Stock Your Freezer Fridays Are:
(1 pot) Freezer Chili
(18) Apple Cranberry Pecan Muffins
(2 loaves of bread worth) Freezer PB & J Sandwiches
(1 loaf of bread worth) Freezer Turkey & Cheese Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. lean ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large green pepper, chopped
- 2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
- 1 ( 4 oz.) can diced green chilies
- 4 cups water
- 2 (15 oz.) cans dark red kidney beans, rinsed well and drained
- 1 (28 oz.) can pinto beans, rinsed well and drained
- 1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained
- 3 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. cumin
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped apple (Cortland, McIntosh or your favorite baking apple)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3 loaves of your favorite bread
- peanut butter or your favorite nut butter
- jelly or jam
- lunch meat
- cheese for sandwiches
- mustard
- sandwich sized plastic baggies
- gallon sized plastic baggies or freezer friendly containers
I am simply loving your blog since I was so fortunate to find a link to it through SSS. I have a side by side fridge/freezer, and only use this freezer for “quick grab” items like popsicles, bread, bacon etc. The made for freezer casseroles and items that I don’t need on a daily or even weekly basis are in a large upright freezer in the laundry room. This home we built and in hindsight I would have chosen a French Door fridge with the freezer on the bottom. I simply do not have enough room in my fridge!
Thank you for the kind words Glynis:) I think that’s what I am leaning towards is one with the freezer on the bottom. I too have just a freezer in the garage for casseroles, and such, but it would be nice to have a little more room in the kitchen freezer for those quick grab items. Thanks for your input!