Kandi's Kitchen Keepers: August 2015

This post has been a constant request over the years & I have been incredibly BAD at writing and sharing it. My apologies, but here it is bundled into a mass linked post. I'd also like to apologize for the recipes all being iPhone photos....that is all I had time for. If there is one you love but can't read the best, let me know and I will message it to you! These recipes are a collection of self proclaimed trial and errors, family hand-me-downs, cookbook favs, friend favs, and Pinterest finds. Hopefully all of the latter are source sighted on the printout, because I have long since lost track of each individual source, and c'mon, can a recipe really be copywrited anyway? All around the world people throw things in a bowl, mix it, bake it and call it a meal. There are bound to be duplicates, slight variations and general basic survival food preps that originated from every single kitchen there ever was. You can't really own food, that's God's creation.

The first thing I would like to stress is preparation starts with a pencil and a piece of paper. Start by brainstorming what types of foods you know you like, ones that your family will eat at least once a month, and see if they can be prepped ahead for freezing. I'll bet you can come up with about a dozen to write down right away. For my family, the meal musts every month are:
meatloaf, spaghetti, taco salad, steak, enchiladas, Hor' Dourve night and Chinese. Some of these I can freezer prep, some I can't or just plain won't due to what freezing and reheating does <addressed below>. Meatloaf, taco meat, enchiladas, chinese= freeze; spaghetti, most Hor' Dourves=no way.

After you have your must haves listed, then you can venture out into new recipes. Know what type you like to narrow your search, or just peruse all available in the vast shared world of Pinterest. I've been prepping freezer meals LONGER THAN THERE HAS BEEN A PINTEREST.
O.M.G. Did she just ~~say~~ admit that? Believe it or not, it's true. Turns out, I'm getting old, but it also turns out I fit into the category of those who helped make Pinterest HUGE with blogs and posts and shares of inspiring creative ideas we came up with on our own or, get this, in social circles face to face!!! WHOOOAAAH! People did that! Okay, back to it....

Here are some categories I break mine into: Chicken dump meals, shredded/canned chicken meals, roasts, steaks, pork, burger, taco meat, breakfast sausage, breakfast dishes, fish/seafood, soups, loafs, casseroles, and desserts.

Once you have decided on your categories MAKE A LIST. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Get your paper and pencil and write them down. Behind the recipe write out whether it is a crockpot dump meal or a casserole bake meal. CD & CB work great as acronyms. Then DO NOT LOSE THIS LIST!!! Tape it to the inside of your cupboard, type it out and save it, both! I cannot tell you how many times I have needed to reprint it. It needs to be printed and taped to your cupboard so you can cross the meals off as you use them and make notes as to whether it's a keeper or a burn in effigy one. You will also need it for the next step: Menu Planning!!!

The menu planning step can be skipped but if you do, you have half failed yourself in your quest to be more organized and prepared which is why you are prepping these meals in the first place, right?!?!?!?! DO THE STEPS. I print off blank monthly dinner menus. There are also cute lunch ones, or any old calendar will work. Sometimes I even draw one on a piece of paper. Just getter' done for as far out as you want these meals to last. Usually one prep day will last me a semester!!!! (We are teachers in this house, our life is broken down into Fall Semester, Christmas Break, Spring Semester and Summer break.) This requires a ton of meat and nearly every recipe listed below, mind you. Pick 16-20 for a month time span as a general rule. To start with, sit down and write in your important events that you know will be consuming your life each month and if you know it will be a night you will eat out-write EAT OUT on the calendar square. SERIOUSLY, do it NOW. Once these dates that are already known are down, go back through and cross reference your other list....some might be better cold month foods, others hot (soup-cold, tacos & really anything not using an oven= warmer).

I go so far as to have each day of the week themed. It makes mass planning easier, and whatever makes life easier......

Here's our layout:
Meatlovers Mondays,
Italian Tuesdays,
Mexican Wednesdays,
Pork & Poultry Thursdays,
Chinese Fridays,
Soup/Casserole Lunch, Grill/Americana Supper Saturdays,
& Seafood/Special Meal Sundays

Here's a couple examples of a Supper Calendar for a month in Kandi's Kitchen:

As you can see, I store them in sheet protectors and on a ring hanging on the side of my fridge on a magnetic hook for easy access. Then as we eat them, in case, for whatever reason (usually my husband decides he wants to pull something else out of the freezer and mess up my system) we go out of order, I use dry erase marker to cross them off as we eat them (don't forget to do this to the one inside your cupboard also with notes of yuck or stars for likes or whatever.

Here is an example of lunch, snack and breakfast calendars as well <color coded>:

For the boys' lunches I had a day of the week theme too and rotated each month, but that's an entirely different post waiting to happen. (Meatless Monday -all dairy- Taco Tuesday, Warm Meal Wednesday, Chicken Thursday, Sandwich Friday)

Once you have fit each recipe you want to prep into your calendar, it's time for.......ANOTHER LIST!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! This one is your shopping list. I like this one:

Or I make my own starting with the section of the store I shop in first (non food/toiletries, then fridge, frozen, dairy, snack, baking, breakfasts, meats, breads, produce- that's how our store is set up).
Make sure you flip through each printed recipe (slip them in a sheet protector and throw them in a binder so they don't look like my spilled on, well loved stack), make tally marks behind items you need multiples of. This will help you to see what should maybe be better purchased at say SAMs or COSTCO, whatever you use, verse Safeway, HyVe, WalMart, ect. I keep (wait for it.....) ANOTHER LIST

on a dry erase board usually color coded, when kiddos don't run off with my markers, in the hall where used up items and staples running low are to be written to cross reference as well. Then my Master lists I title with the store. SAMs saves us on tortilla chips, sour cream, cottage cheese, coffee and tea, cheeses, produce and snack crackers. We also feed 7, so if you don't need two 3lb tubs of cottage cheese per month, it might be cost effective for you to stick with buying generic from your local store. <For chicken, if you don't mind dark meat, buy thighs instead of breasts to save money and use canned instead of cooking and shredding>

DON'T FORGET THESE KEY PREP ITEMS: wax paper (if doing casseroles), sharpie, quart and gallon freezer bags and cooking spray.

After all the lists, the shopping and the gathering, comes the actual prep time. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I have gotten this down to a science and when we get together to prep, we flow well together. It's a fun ladies day!!

Some tips to help: the day before your prep, set everything non perishable out in like piles, brown your meats, thaw what needs thawed, most can just stay frozen, but if you are shredding chicken instead of using canned, you can throw it in the croc pot and let it cook on low all day or overnight, then shred before the prep. You can thaw roasts to make sliced beef or chunks for stews, strips and tips as well. This makes it easy to just throw ingredients together in bags and bowls and speed the whole process up. The process can be LONG depending on how much you are prepping, what you've done to prepare and who all is helping you. My usual team of MIL, SIL and I start around 8am and end around 2 pm on average.

Another thing you can do to speed things up, is pre label your bags. all my browned meats, taco meats, sliced, striped, shredded stews, sausage and tip meat I bag by the # and label them #beef, #taco, #sausage, ect. The meals you will want to put the title and any additional instructions on. We write the additional instructions with sharpie right on the bag, "Add 1 bag of frozen snap peas 30 minutes before serving", "Cover and bake at 200*, uncover, top with cheese & bake additional 30 at 350*". Then you don't have to worry about digging out your RECIPE BINDER you made, but you can if you need/want.

When making croc meals often you are going to throw everything in a gallon bag, squeeze all the air out before closing (that's what causes freezer burn FYI) then lay it flat to freeze (can save more space). When you go to make the meals, pull them out in the morning, stick them in the microwave for a minute or two, just to get them warm enough to get out of the bag, then throw them still frozen into the croc on LOW. I only ever use low and by the time we are home from work and ready to eat they are done. I'd rather have to kick it up to high for an hour after work then come home to an overheated, boiled off, dry meal. Easy peasy!!!!

When making Casseroles, for an easier day of fix, take these extra prep day steps:

Use your favorite 8x8 or 9x9 to freeze
Line the 8x8 or 9x9 with wax paper, spray it, then dump your casserole in it, place the entire dish in the freezer for an hour or two or until shaped firm (you get your dish back).
Remove from freezer, carefully remove from dish & peel wax paper off
Slide formed casserole into gallon freezer bag
OR YOU CAN just buy disposable baking dishes ($$)

When you go to take the casseroles out to use, you will then:

Remove from freezer bag DO NOT THAW if you have an oven with a timer!!!
Place the frozen meal back into your 8x8 or 9x9 dish
Or take out disposable dish
Place frozen meal in the oven and set your timer to turn on at around 3pm for an around 5pm eat time or adjust accordingly
The meal will slowly thaw in your oven (GASP...some people will freak out at this, but we have never ran into a problem in YEARS of doing this, none has died....or even gotten sick)
When the timer turns the oven on to preheat then bake, make sure you have set it a little lower than recommended as it will probably be in there a little longer than the recipe says, again better to have to wait a bit when you get home (help kid with homework or do laundry) while it finishes warming than to have it burn.
Some recipes you will want to add a topping to then up the temp for the last few minutes anyway, yum!

I did almost my entire prep as casseroles one year and found out I entirely HATE reheated pasta. My husband loved them, but they made me gag, a texture issue I have with reheated pasta. Other things that do not freeze well are potatoes & some other veggies. You should buy them already frozen in the frozen section, like diced or shredded hash browns for your potatoes, frozen carrots and green beans, ect.

For preprepped meats, you can just take a # of whatever out and plop it in the microwave to warm it up! Taco prep time less than 5 minutes!

For breakfasts, individually wrap or bag to freeze. For example, make the quiche, bake it, then cut it, then place each piece in a small freezer bag. Pull out one at a time each day to eat. This makes them stretch further I have found, because you only pull out what you need, everyone can pick something they like and the fix time is quicker as they can just be microwaved. Burritos can be wrapped in plastic wrap instead of bagged.

That sums up my favorite tips and tools! Now for the lecture to be over and the part you've been waiting for.....the recipes!!!!!!! These are just SOME of them!! I have pulled more off Pinterest constantly and have adapted other favorites from family, friends and cookbooks on the spot. Sometime I will get them typed up, but here's plenty to get you started.....

Chicken Crock Pot Meals: