Make Ahead Meals

I've been back to work now for seven weeks. This year has, by far, been my most difficult transition from being a summer stay-at-home mom to a full-time working mom. Between co-chairing my school's re-accreditation and teaching 47 third graders how to read and write, work has been good, but incredibly busy.

More responsibilities and work at school has led to less and less time for me devote to my jobs at home....namely COOKING. I love to cook, but when I'm not getting home until 5 or 5:30 most evenings, I don't have the energy left to whip up something yummy and homemade.

Bound and determined to continue eating homemade meals on a regular basis instead of eating out all the time, I have begun making meals ahead of time. One Saturday a month I have been going to the grocery store first thing in the morning with recipes and lists in hand. As soon as the kids go down for naps, my afternoon becomes a whirlwind of chopping, boiling, sauteing, etc. When the afternoon comes to an end, I typically have created 4-5 different meals (all recipes doubled) that are ready to be popped into the freezer. These meals offer us, on average, 16-20 nights of meals for the upcoming weeks.

I'm not going to lie and say that this is the perfect method. My "cooking Saturdays" are long and exhausting. To say that my kitchen is trashed at the end of the cooking day is an understatement. Most meals I make are good for two nights, so we are stuck eating the same thing two nights in a row. Some recipes I have found online have been better than others.

BUT....all in all, it's working for us! Home cooked meals without the hassle of actually cooking every single night. I'll let you know how this month's meals turned out and if there are any recipes worthy of sharing!

Three recipes worth of some chopped veggies

My trashed kitchen

Ahhh...a few meals hit the freezer!