Seriously?!? Meal Planning is Fun!?!?

For a while, I've wanted to show my blog friends how dinner works in our house... I think you'll like it!!

Last year I wrote about how I had discovered freezer meal cooking. I loved it (especially during the summer!) but it was too difficult to do during the school year. I didn't have hours to devote to meal planning, cooking, etc.

A few months ago I stumbled upon THIS blog post!! This lady prepped all of her weekly meals on Sunday afternoon and then only had to pull them out of the fridge and put them into the oven/slow cooker/ grill! But it gets even better... when prepping the meals, she would make two of each one so that she could build up a freezer stash!

I am hooked!! I can get this all done in one hour or less on the weekend.

Step 1: Find Pinterest recipes. Make shopping list. Go shopping for ingredients. Plan to double the recipe or split it in half.

Step 2: Start with a sink filled with soapy water. This is where I throw all of my dishes/utensils as I finish with them. Then they simply go in the dishwasher at the end of the meal prep.

Step 3: COOK!! Make sure your computer/ recipe book is somewhere handy! Stop the meal prep at the point where the recipe says "put it in the crock pot/ oven/ on the grill".

It is also important to do this during toddler nap. I like to time myself with the stopwatch on my phone for fun as well.

Step 4: Remember two meals for every recipe- one for the fridge and one for the freezer. Label them with clear instructions for cooking! 

These don't have labels yet, but I just tape notes on the front with instructions. I also wrap the freezer meal container in aluminum foil.

That is ALL! Today I prepped 4 meals in 38 minutes (and 2 seconds)-- and that includes the time it took me to clean up the kitchen and take out the trash!