Maiden Voyage

I think our first attempt at the freezer meal group was a success. Overall things went smoothly but we (mostly I) also learned a lot for next time. Although we set out to do 9 meals we ended up completing 14 meals (three double servings) due to extra ingredients.

1. Chicken Pot Pie
2. Mexican Lasagna
3. Ranch Chicken
4. Italian Chicken
5. Creamy Ham and pasta – with egg noodles
6. Enchiladas x2- (2 pans)
7. fajitas- (veggie bag, meat bag, tortilla bag)
8. Pizza Braid x2- (2 braids)
   
9. Ribs- (meat bag and seasoning bag)
10. Apricot Chicken- (one bag)
    
11. Ziti Bake x2- (2 pans)

Things we learned/solutions-

• It takes longer than expected to do the meals. Next time I think we all agreed to do the meat/veggie preparation prior to meeting. Possibly do fewer meals and pair harder recipes with easier recipes (soups)
  
• Disposable pans can be purchased at All-A-Dollar- 2 for a dollar
• Bring 2 coolers instead of 1
• Recipes seem to make more than expected- I bought ingredients for 8 shares- some we only needed half- so that is why we ended up with double of some recipes and I had thawed more chicken than needed so we added the apricot chicken.
• Don't let Rob do your labels, or at least proof them prior to distribution. Sorry to any fellow Ute fans for his comments.
  

Jen and McCall volunteered to be the next group in charge. They will organize a time to meet (probably in Jan), choose the meals, do all the shopping and host the group. The feedback they get from this blog can help them decide what to repeat or do differently so please take the time to comment on the meals. I ended up spending $679.16 divided by 8 shares (Jen and Ginny got 2 shares)= 84.90/share. That comes out to be $6.06 per meal.-Time well spent-

Below are the meals with the cooking instructions in case your labels fell off.

Ziti Bake

***Bake frozen for 2 hours @ 350. Remember to remove saran wrap under foil before cooking***

Time consuming to brown hamburger/onions, shred cheese, cook noodles. Plan extra time for assembly as well. Bought ingredients for 8 times the recipe but it made enough for 2 meals each. A deeper "roaster" pan would have made layering easier.

Apricot Chicken

***Thaw. Bake uncovered @ 350 for 1 hour***

I doubled the amount of sauce (2-16oz bottles of Russian dressing, 2 jars apricot jam, 2 pkg onion soup mix)

Very quick to assemble once chicken is cleaned and cut. Wal-Mart and Target do not carry Russian dressing but Smith's does.

BBQ Pork Ribs

***Crockpot= add ribs, BBQ sauce, and H2O. ratio 1:1. Cook all day on low. ***

***Oven= Wrap in foil or saran, cook 2.5 hrs at 200. Add rub and cook 2 more at 225***

Very easy to prepare but a little more expensive to buy (each share was $13). Good variation from chicken.

Pizza Braids

***Thaw completely before baking. Remove saran wrap or plastic bag. Bake at 400 for 18 min or until golden brown. After brush with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese***

Easy to make but take extra time. I think it only makes 3 servings. Variations for next time may be olives, Canadian bacon & pineapple, veggies etc. I think I used about a cup of cheese/braid last time.

Chicken Fajitas

***Cook meat and veggies in skillet. Add to tortillas with sour cream, salsa and cheese***

These assembled easily but took time to cut chicken (sorry Ginny) and veggies into strips

Chicken Enchiladas

***If frozen=cook 1 hr @350. If thawed=cook 15-20 min @ 350. Remember to remove saran wrap under the foil.***

Preparation was fairly easy but difficult to fit into pans. Next time buy deeper-(roasting) pans to accommodate tortillas and sauce. Chicken had been boiled and shredded ahead of time. Making the recipe for 8 shares made enough for each to have 2 pans but we ran low on shredded chicken towards the end of the second batch. Next time either cut ingredients in half or add more chicken.

Creamy Ham Pasta

***Thaw in Fridge, warm in crock pot or stove and serve over egg noodles***

Creamy Italian Crock Pot Chicken

***Cook in crock pot until chicken is not pink (6-8 hrs on low)***

Ranch Chicken

***Bake 4o min at 350***

Mexican Lasagna

***Thaw, Bake uncovered for 1.5 hours @ 350. Uncover and top with additional cheese until melted***

This seemed to take additional time to assemble due to cooking hamburger and noodles.

Chicken Pot Pie

***Cook frozen for 55 min.***

I thought this looked pretty easy to assemble- ChrisAnne and Jenna what did you think? The pie crusts are only available like this during the holiday season so if we are interested in doing these in Jan. we should buy some and freeze them or resort to making our own. They were about $1 per crust- each pot pie needed 2 crusts.

Cooking tip- take a small strip of tin foil to wrap on edge of crusts so it doesn't brown quicker than the center of the crust.