Thanks to my awesome & amazing friend, Janne posting on her blog about freezer meals, I decided to try it.  Freezer meals are AMAZING!! Your main goal is to make a few, it not many meals ahead of time to freeze, defrost and cook cutting a lot of your cooking time down.  Janne suggested this would be a good thing once school start because the first month and a half is always insane or at least it feels like this to me! I started looking on the internet (esp Pinterest) for different recipes to use.  I made what started as a small google sheet to end up with over 40 recipes to try.  After I posted what I was doing on facebook, I had a lot of friends request I share what I was doing which is how this blog was finally created after years of thinking to do this.

The biggest thing I can share about freezer meals is instead of just finding what recipes look good, pair it up with the ad’s.  It’s great to do one of the bulk item stores (like Costco or Sam’s Club for example) to get some of the items but you might find some excellent deals in the meat and produce section at the grocery store.

The next thing is to give yourself plenty of time to prepare these. It doesn’t take “as” much time as I thought but don’t expect to be done in 30 minutes if you have quite a few meals you want to do.

One of the first recipes I tried to cook from the freezer was the Bacon & Bleu Burgers.  Tip – take the burgers out in plenty of time or go ahead and cook frozen.  I found two different recipes that suggested to separate them by either wax paper or the press and seal wrap.  I tried both.  The hard part on separating the wax paper is that the burgers are frozen to it. Run it under some water if you want to cook them frozen. DON’T do like I did by separating the burgers with a knife…while the burgers are in your hand. Otherwise you’ll stab yourself with a steak knife, start bleeding, the tears start and you come up with your name of your blog to be kitchen klutz. Side note which my family and friends can agree on – this happens OFTEN with me.

For the side dish I had a full bag of potatoes that I hadn’t used yet so used our family favorite recipe of campfire potatoes. I found this recipe years ago and try to make it as much as I can during grilling season.

Bacon & Bleu Burgers courtesy of onceamonthmom.com

Author/Source: Tricia @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• .67 cups bacon crumbles (approximately 3 oz)
• .33 cups bleu cheese crumbles
• Optional – extra bleu cheese crumbles for melting on top

Directions:

Cook bacon in 400 degree oven on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes, or until crisp. Remove, allow to cool and chop in food processor.  In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until well incorporated. Make a large ball of the meat and then divide into fourths. Make 4 quarter pound hamburger balls and then mold into patties. Cook on hot grill for 3 minutes on each side or until hamburgers are cooked to desired doneness. Serve on buns with additional toppings if desired.

Freezing Directions:

You can make up these hamburgers and freeze them using sheets of wax paper to divide them and then place them in freezer bags. To serve: Thaw. Cook on hot grill for 3 minutes on each side or until hamburgers are cooked to desired doneness. Serve on buns with additional toppings if desired.

Servings: 4

Campfire Potatoes

• Prep: 5 min. Grill: 35 min.
• Yield: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

• 5 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup chicken broth

• Place the potatoes and onion on a large piece of heavy-duty foil (about 20 in. x 20 in.); dot with butter. Combine the cheese, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper; sprinkle over potatoes.

• Fold foil up around potatoes and add broth. Seal the edges of foil well. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 35-40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Yield: 4-6 servings.