Prepping your food and getting started

So you have your recipes printed, and food bought. Now what? Time to prep your food, and get your bags ready. Make sure you have plenty of time, as this can be the most time consuming part of the process (other than driving all over town to get the best prices and deals). You will be chopping, and chopping, and chopping. Then you you think you are done, you will realize you still have all those green peppers… This is when I drag the husband into the kitchen to lend a hand. 

  
First, I get out my gallon sized freezer bags, my sharpie, and gather my recipes. Label each bag with the meal name. You can even label the bottom edge of the bag so that you don’t have to pull them all out of the freezer to find the meal you are looking for (I always forget to do this). Next, write the directions on the bag that you need from the point of pulling it out if the freezer. Some, especially skillet meals, you may need to cook the meal half way, or maybe you don’t need to do anything at all! 

Example 1:  

 

Example 2: 

  
Example 3:

 
As you can see, it all just depends on the meal (don’t worry.. I will be sharing all of my recipes!). If you have a casserole, I wait until it is prepared in the pan, then wrote on top of the foil. 
The next thing you want to do is see if you will need to brown any meat, shred chicken, etc before putting them with the meal. This is the part that husbands are good for. I don’t touch raw meat. Yuck. (I hate cooking, remember?). You can also start chopping all that produce! I gather all of my large mixing bowls and Tupperware containers and line them up before I start chopping away. 

Newbie tip I wish someone had told me: when chopping jalapeños, or any other hot pepper, wear gloves if you have them! I do not… So this is what I end up doing 

  
Yeap. That is a plastic sand which bag. Do whatever you need to do to cover your hands! If you don’t, you won’t notice until after you have touched your face.. Your arms.. Your ears… Eyes…nose that the oils from the peppers are not only hot when you eat them, but they will burn your skin. For hours. You have been warned. 

Once this is all completed, you are pretty much ready to start putting the meals together and filling your freezer. I myself, like to get the more time consuming ones out of the way, so I do all of my skillets first. If you have to cook something before putting it in the bag, remember to let it cool before putting in the freezer. Don’t forget to push the air out of the bag so you won’t be wasting space. You can try closing the bag up, and by using a straw at the end, suck the air out. I prefer to just close it up almost all the way and just push it out. Also, lay your meals flat to save room! This way they can be stacked neatly and you can keep your freezer organized.