On August 23 I posted about cooking just once a week. My theory was that I’d save money, time and sanity by making several different large batches of food and then reheating them throughout the week instead of scrambling around every day to prepare another meal. We’ve given it a go for about six weeks now and that means its time for an update!

On the first day of our freezer food experiment,  I cooked four different meals – enough to last at least ten nights. I didn’t save any money that first week because I bought so much food to cook, but I figured we’d see a benefit the following week. It turns out that the whole system took a bit of adjusting to. For example, during that first week, I kept forgetting to take food out the night before, so there were a bunch of times that we panicked because nothing was thawed. It was a little bit discouraging. Also, I was disappointed to find that our kitchen was still a mess most of the time.

At the start of the second week, I made a few more meals and began to get into a groove. I got better about taking food out the night before, and I noticed that our daily grocery store trips had ended. Since that second week, I’ve cooked once, possibly twice per week (usually making a double or triple batch to replenish the stock in the freezer).

Once we got used to the new system, the payoff became significant. Really, it’s been amazing.

Money Saved? Check.

Money was by far the biggest winner. I mean, just look at all the ways we save:

• we use less gas by cutting out daily trips to the grocery store
• we avoiding impulse buys at the grocery store simply by not being there (no more chips)
• all the produce essentially gets used up immediately on cooking day, so it doesn’t got bad and get thrown out
• we don’t end up constantly buying unneeded food that I already have at home because I ran out the door without checking first
• we aren’t regularly throwing money away on fast food

It’s ridiculous how much money we’ve saved. We’ve cut our grocery bill in half. It’s actually embarrassing.

Time Saved? Check.

I had hoped to save time by not having to prepare meals each night and then do a big clean up. I had expected my kitchen to stay much cleaner, and I was disappointed during the first week when my kitchen still seemed to be a mess. But while I do have to keep cleaning it everyday, I’ve noticed that it’s easier now. I don’t have pots and pans to scrub, and I have less dishes in total to attend to. Now I have time to mop my floor each day. This morning I found myself scrubbing the bottom edge of the countertop – I can’t say that’s ever occurred to me before. Now that the kitchen requires so little effort, I have the energy and motivation to do a better, more thorough job. I’m not exhausted when I’m done, and that has been a huge reward in itself.

Sanity Saved? Check.

A clean kitchen makes me less stressed. And cooking has become a pleasure again – I only cook when I feel like it, and now I really enjoy it. I also stopped fretting about fast food because we don’t order it very often. If we’re getting a pizza, it’s not because I’m too tired to do something else, it’s because I really want pizza. And that pizza ends up tasting a whole lot better too!

Getting Started

As I’ve embraced the freezer meal lifestyle, I’ve noticed that there are recipes for freezable meals all over the place. Is this a new fad, or have I just been oblivious all this time? Either way, I’m glad that so many other people are enjoying the same benefits that we are.

Thinking about trying it out? Here are some tips that I’ve picked up:

• Find a recipe book dedicated to freezer meals. I found one that explains how to prepare, freeze and reheat a whole host of meals. Cookbooks full of beautiful pictures can be so inspiring!
• At the same time, while it’s exciting to try out new recipes, make sure you cook some tried and true ones too. Your family might not love being your guinea pig each night for weeks on end.
• If you make something that you don’t like, try mixing it with something else next time. We made a casserole that was really bland, so I just added it to pasta sauce the next night and poured it over noodles – much better. The casserole would have done equally well in soup or chili.
• Make sure that you have something that you can make in a pinch, even if you forgot to take it out to thaw the night before.
• Jump start your freezer stash with a soup swap. Have a group of friends make a large batch of soup and divide the soup equally into six one litre containers. Then have everyone gather together and trade soup – you should end up with a great selection that will tide you over for awhile!