Trim Healthy Mama Freezer Cooking Session – Round 2
Well, here we are again, my friends! I've completed another freezer cooking batch in under 2 hours, and it's been awesome. You do need the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook for this freezer cooking session, but I have other freezer cooking sessions available here on my Freezer Cooking Page if you don't have it. If you want to buy the book, or you can't find at the library, you can get it here: Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook.
This Trim Healthy Mama Freezer Cooking session is even awesomer (I know that's not a word) than the last one (15 Freezer Meals Round 1), because I put together a really comprehensive printable pack that includes:
– Two shopping lists (you can choose whichever fits your shopping habits);
– Blank Freezer Inventory Sheet;
– Completed Inventory Sheet;
– Directions to prepare for your cooking session;
– Directions to set up Prep Stations;
– Directions for your cooking session (2 pages)
– The secret to keeping all of your laundry done all the time (just kidding – I have a load of laundry going now and six baskets waiting to be folded, but if I ever figure that one out, I'll let you know).
Let me warn you that this freezer cooking session was hazardous for me. I burned my finger and had to stop halfway through because my toddler wiped her nose on my jeans (that wasn't so bad, but it got worse). I thought, “Gross, but I'm timing myself, so I'll keep going” – but then – THEN! – I dropped the biggest, goopiest glob of really cold meatloaf mixture all over the front of myself, and my dog decided she wanted to help herself to it. My dog is a 70 pound German Shepherd. It was time to stop the timer and go rescue myself, so I had to plop the baby on my normally very helpful tween, hustle for a change of clothes, put the dog outside, and pray for help. Help didn't come in any tangible ways, but I did get back to the kitchen and restart the timer without any permanent damage done (except for the shirt – that was a goner). So, please, don't be like me, and try to keep the food where it belongs.
After the last freezer cooking session, many people asked me how much I spent on the ingredients, so I kept my receipts. Please keep in mind that I had to pry both of these out of the hands of a teething 1-year-old, so…enough said. I went to Costco and my local grocery store and spent $135.58 total except for several staples (mostly seasonings) that I already had on hand. That averages about $9 per meal for my family of 7, which is pretty great for healthy, gluten-free main dishes – especially considering that after eating most of these meals we had leftovers for lunch the next day!
Now here's what you need to know about this freezer cooking session:
- Scroll down to the bottom of the post to the blue button to download your Freezer Cooking Packet.
- This freezer cooking session uses the new Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook (I’m sorry if you don’t have it, but I strongly recommend buying it if you don’t! Or you could get it from your library, but you’ll probably want to buy it once you see it, anyway). This freezer cooking session is a special treat for my THM readers, but ANYONE can make and enjoy this recipes, as they are all gluten-free and delicious. One of my favorite things about these recipes is that the only “special” ingredients you need are THM Sweet Blend and pure stevia and THM Baking Blend, and I do recommend those products for the best results, but you could always use another stevia that you have on hand or try to substitute a mix of 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 almond flour (this usually works fairly well in meatloaf and meatballs).
- It took me 90 minutes to make these freezer meals (aside from my little detour with the meatloaf), but you may be able to do it faster.
- If you have a smaller family, you could divide each meal into six bags, instead of three, and end up with 30 freezer meals that serve 3-4 instead of 15 freezer meals that serve 6-8.
- I strongly dislike freezer cooking in batches, as you may already know, so I have a few shorter, more doable freezer cooking options. So far, we’ve done 24 Freezer Meals, and How to Fill Your Freezer without Spending Hours in the Kitchen. I also have a previous freezer cooking session (one of my most popular posts here at workingathomeschool.com) – 15 Freezer Meals in 90 Minutes.
- I made the meals, froze them, and cooked them again to make sure they tasted great and I was very, very pleased with the results. I did have to tweak the meatloaf, so there are notes about that in the downloadable pack below.
- One way to save some time is to set up the three ziplock freezer bags and measure one spice at a time. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 tsp salt, you would measure 1 tsp of salt into each bag. Then if the recipe called for one can of tomatoes, you would open and dump 1 can of tomatoes into each bag. I pulled out all of my spices and seasonings ahead of time so that they were within easy reach to measure into each bag.
- That's it! I tried to do the bulk of the work for you, so you just need to print, shop, and spend about 2 hours in the kitchen. Then you get to enjoy the full freezer, without the dog slobber and the ruined shirt and the time it takes to plan it all out. I hope this is helpful to you!
15 Freezer Meals in Under 2 Hours
P.S. – This is the Instant Pot I mentioned in the freezer cooking session. It's one of my favorite time-saving kitchen tools, but you can definitely just make your rice in a pot if you want to!
Linked up at OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday
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How kind of you to share all of this! Thank you!
Hi Carol, it is so kind of you to say thanks! You made my day. 🙂 I’m glad you found this freezer cooking session helpful!
I have a toddler as well so I am very familiar with the pant leg napkin and destroyed receipts…. You aren’t alone, mama:)
Freezer to crockpot meals are my absolute favorite! I usually take a bit longer than 2 hours for my prep and cooking so I am looking forward to trying this out!
Thanks, Jessica! It’s always nice to have another mom understand what it’s like to feel super gross because of your toddler, lol! I am actually working on an only freezer to crockpot session. These take few months to put together (figuring out which meals can go together, keeping costs down, making printables, etc) but watch for it in a few months. I hope this cooking session works for you!
Thanks so much! I’m going to try this!!! Even though the last one took me longer than 90 minutes, it’s been so worth it to be able to just toss dinner in the crockpot!
I’m sorry the last one took you longer! Some people said it took less time, some said more – but either way, I gave a much bigger cushion for this “under 2 hours” session, so it really should take under 2 hours – especially because I included a prep station worksheet in the packet to help you set up work stations and (hopefully) streamline the process a bit more. Thanks for visiting the website; I’m glad you’re finding them helpful!
I really hope it doesn’t sound like I was complaining! I love your site and am always recommending it to others. Thanka for all you do!
I didn’t take it that way at all! I honestly feel bad if it took longer than I said it would, that’s just why I was explaining that I put an extra time cushion in this time. I am trying to help support my family with this blog, and these printables and menus take hours to put together, so I’m really grateful that you share the website! It helps me out a ton, so thanks! As long as it seems like people are helped by what I put together, I’ll keep doing it. 🙂
You are so generous. Thank you.
I can’t wait to get started.
I love the idea of 15 freezer meals in 2 hours. I am excited to get started but I can not print the shopping list. Is there a trick I am not seeing?
If you click on the blue button at the bottom of the post, it will download the entire packet to your computer and you can print it from there. If you have more trouble, please let me know and I’ll see if there’s another problem. 🙂
Christine, I thought I saw a new message from you but now I can’t find it! I checked with the company that makes the software, and since this PDF has been successfully downloaded so many times from the website, they suggested that you may need to update your Adobe software, or possibly try downloading it on a different computer. I’m sorry you’re having trouble with it!
As a fellow homeschooling mom, I know how much effort it takes to do anything over and above the daily routine. This is amazing! Thanks for sharing this great info. I can’t wait to try it!
Yay, another homeschooler! 🙂 Thanks for your comment, I hope this is helpful for you!
Jen, I have my ingredients ready to go and am excited to try this. (I homeschool, too!) I was wondering, though, what size freezer bags are needed – like will a quart bag hold enough for 3 people (we have only one son), or do I need lots of gallon sizes?
Hi Laura! I would split each recipe in half, but still use gallon sized bags because when I tried the quart sized bags, it seemed like the bags were just a little overfull.
YAY!! What a godsend this is! Just found THM, and with a deployed husband, not to mention homeschool starting up again soon, this is exactly what I need to stay on track. Thank you! 🙂
I’m so glad it’s helpful to you! Thank you for the sacrifices your family is making for all of us; we will be praying for you.
Printing now!! Thanks for taking the time and trouble to do this for all us fellow home school moms staring up another school year soon.
I’m so glad you think it’s helpful! 🙂
Thank you so much!!! I was a little unclear about the meatloaf – when you remade it, do you mean you cooked it then froze it, or just left the topping off until cooking day?
Sorry, Kelly! I didn’t make it clear enough. The short answer is both – I freeze it raw, AND I left the topping off. It looked and tasted way better when we did it that way.
No problem Jen!! I am so thankful for your blog and resources 🙂 Thanks for the clarification! I did it that way – can’t wait to cook it! 🙂
I love this idea, Jen. And all the planning helps are great. We are empty nesters, just 2 of us. I think the plan as it stands would give us too many (up to 12) meals of the same type. Do you think we could half the recipe and then portion them for the two of us? I’ve found that some recipes don’t reduce easily. Any ideas?
It’s definitely possible! I haven’t tried it, but I would start by making half of each recipe instructed and then freezing those in 1/2 or 1/4 portions, depending on what you think would work best. I did hear from one reader who had a family of 3 and did this, and she said it worked great, although they still had a freezer completely full when they were done.
So excited to try this! Thank you for the resource! How long do you think these could be stored in the freezer?
Thanks Amber! I think the general recommendations for freezer meals with meat say you should try to eat them within 6 months for the best quality.
OMG! I just want to say thanks for taking the time to put these lists and step by step instructions for these freezer meals! I’ve been doing THM for only 6 months. One thing that has SAVED me in time and energy (and staying on program) is having done the first 15 meals in 90 min. I can’t tell you how grateful I was each time I pulled one from the freezer! I just finished your 2nd version …15 meals in 2 hours. Both sessions took me at least double the time to put together. Probably because I’m a perfectionist and not much of a cook. So, I triple check everything…LOL. But I’ve been tooting your horn cause I think this is AWESOME! I plan to do this every few months. I might even attempt to pull out some favorite recipes and figure out my shopping list and take a stab at create my own 15 meals (in more like 4 hours) BUT.SO.WORTH.IT! ❤️
Hi Dee! Thanks for the feedback! I’m so sorry to hear it took you longer! I had several people test this freezer cooking session and went with the average time. But I’m working on a new one that’s even faster and easier, so hopefully that will be even more helpful! I spent a ton of time on creating these, so I’m really glad to hear you were able to use them! Thanks!
Thanks so much for the free freezer packet. We have 7 kids and our homeschool family is heading to D.C. on vacation/ field trip.. This list is going to help us stay on plan.
God bless you
Thank you. I am smack dab in the middle of this cooking session. I am so excited about having all these meals ready to go, not just for my family, but to share with others. I will be sharing this page as this is a HUGE blessing and time saver. Thank you!!
E cited for freezer meal preps