Simplifying Life : Supper Edition

I finally decided to try my hand at making freezer meals for dinner.  I decided I would start small and only make a weeks worth of dinners. I know you can find millions of recipes and several people make a months worth but I didn't want to overwhelm myself the first time out. 

Before Cooking Day:

- Figure out how many days worth of meals you want to make.

- Find the recipes you want to fix

-Grocery shop before cooking day

Things to Have On Hand:

-Quart & Gallon size Freezer Bags

-Aluminum Baking Dishes

-Aluminum Foil

-Sharpie 

It's cooking time!

I gathered all the ingredients that I needed and laid them out. I decided it would be easier for me to start and finish one meal at a time, as to not confuse or swamp myself. With the help of my loving hubby this was a lot easier than I had initially thought. 

Recipes I chose for the family:

Baked Spaghetti:

Cooked everything as you normally would. Let cool. Add a tad bit of water and spaghetti sauce to the bottom of your freezer pan then layer your spaghetti then freeze.

Cooking Day: Sprinkle cheese on top then bake at 350* long enough for cheese to melt!

Lasagna (Baked)

Same as the Baked Spaghetti, just add a tad of water and sauce to bottom of the pan. 

Cooking Day: Add some cheese on top and cook at 350* til cheese is melted. 

Chicken Crescent Roll (Baked)

Chili:
Just make your chili as you normally would, maybe think about doubling the batch. We decided to freeze in several bags so we can eat as little or as much as we wanted. 

Honey Chicken (crock pot) served with White Rice:

Ingredients:

6 Chicken breast

1tsp salt

1tsp pepper

1.5 cups of Honey

1/3 cup of Ketchup

1 cup of Soy sauce

1/4 cup of oil

2tbsp minced garlic

Place all ingredients in bag coated and freeze

Cooking day: Slightly thaw and cook on low in Crock-Pot for 6-8hrs

Baked Ziti (Crock pot)

Roast! (Crock pot)

Simply add your favorite Roast & ingredients to a Gallon freezer bag. On cooking day slightly thaw and cook in Crock Pot 6-8hrs on low

Sweet BBQ Chicken (Crock pot)

Simple Tips: 

-Choose the best day where you aren't busy and you're well rested! 

-Make sure to have all your supplies and easily accessible

-Don't overwhelm yourself, TAKE YOUR TIME :)

ENJOY! Remember to follow me on:

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Homemade Reusable Dryer Sheets

From my couponing I admit I still have a TON of dryer sheets in my stockpile but I was really anxious to try this out to see if it really worked as well as I had read online.

What You Need:

- Bottle of Liquid Fabric Softener (your choice of brand) $3.97

- Pack of Sponges $1 at Dollar Tree

- Sturdy Tupperware bowl

- Water

Directions: This is really simple. 

-All you have to do is cut your sponges in half, using however many you want. Add them to the empty Tupperware bowl. 

- Put 1 Cup of Fabric Softener

- Put 2 Cups of Water

Now all you have to do is grab a sponge, ring out the excess liquid then throw it in the dryer. Once your clothes are done, throw the sponge back in your Tupperware bowl and repeat the process. If you want it to be stronger just adjust the recipe til you find what you prefer. 

My total cost was under $5 and this will last me for months and I still have over half the bottle of Fabric Softener left for future use. 

Homemade Laundry Detergent w/ Purex Crystals {Powder}

After months and months of watching others making their versions of Homemade Laundry Soap, I finally decided it was time for me to give it a try. I also decided to try out Homemade Fabric Softener while I was at it.

Items you will need:

- 1 (55oz) Arm & Hammer Super Washing Powder $3.24

- 1 (76oz) Box of Borax $3.97

- 1 (4lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda $2.24

- 2 Zote Bars  $.97ea

- 3lbs of OxiClean  $7.52

- 1 Bottle of Purex Crystals, Downy Unstoppables. Whatever scent or brand you prefer. $3.97

For Your 1st Time you will also need:

- 5gal bucket or tote with a lid

- 2T scoop for measuring your laundry

- Container for your detergent or some use the Purex Crystals bottle 

1st Step: Combine Arm & Hammer Super Washing Powder, Borax and OxiClean in your 5gal bucket.  

2nd Step: Grating both Zote bars. You can either use a cheese grater or a food processor if your lucky to have one. 

3rd Step: Combine 3-4 cups of the Zote with 1/4th box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda in your food processor. Run on high for about a minute. Repeat process til ingredients are gone. 

Once finished combine with the other ingredients in your 5gal bucket.

4th Step: Add in entire bottle of Purex Crystals. Put the lid on and shake til everything is well combined.

Then it should look a little something like this

Now you can store the detergent you will use in your container you bought or the Purex Crystals Bottle and keep the rest in your 5gal bucket.

~ My total was $22.88 + tax. With using only 2T per load this should make you a little over 250 loads which equals out around $.10 a load!! 

Have a different Homemade Laundry Detergent you wanna share email me or share it with us on Facebook.