Do you save money by preparing meals ahead of time and freezing them?

With just the 2 of us, I haven't done this yet. When the kiddos come, I totally expect to. Such a great idea!

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yes

when hamburger meat is on sale i will crockpot chili and freeze it..i have frozen beef barley stew, soups of several kinds and chili frozen now. and crockpot spaghetti sauce too( enough for 8 meals).

absolutely ....it keeps us from running out to get fast food on those busy, busy nights

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I've always wanted to get good at freezing meals, but so far I just can't seem to get it going! I did, however, freeze our leftover football stew last week. Then 2 nights ago when I didn't have time to fix dinner like planned I pulled it out, defrosted it, heated it and voila - dinner! It was SO good and we didn't go out and spend $20 for dinner somewhere (which was our other option).

I'm gonna start doing this more! I actually plan on making Chili tonight and will freeze the leftovers!

I think my problem is that I want to make 2 weeks worth of frozen meals at a time and since I don't have time for that, I just don't do it. I can be a bit of an "all or nothing" type person. I think I'm starting to realize that I have to start slow! So chili tonight, spagetti next week... I'll get there!!!

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WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I have the Debbie Taylor Hough book, Frozen Assets, but many of the recipes tasted (and looked) so mushy. In her introduction she mentions you should only initially cook your meal for 3/4 of the time to prevent the sogginess but the specific directions for each recipe do NOT mention this. Anyone else encounter this?

Otherwise I freeze chili and homemade soups.

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I freeze meals and it works out great! It only takes a bit of time to do a bunch at once and then you can pull it out anytime you need it! I also freeze leftover sometimes if I know we won't get a chance to eat it before it goes bad.

Some meals I freeze are chili, chicken pockets, spagetti pie, meat for tacos, vegetable beef stew, lasagna, etc.

As for stuff getting soggy - I haven't found that, but I don't usually cook my meals at all until I lay them out to be thawed out. Or, do you mean something different? Before cooking them to eat, I actually usually cook them a bit longer so that extra juices disapear.

Sometimes I do this, especially when ground beef or b/skinless chicken is on sale, I will make up different meals for a later date.

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I don't know if it saves me money, but I have several meals that I make three at a time and freeze. I do it more to save time than to save money (but I guess if it keeps me from eating out it does save money, too). None of mine are cooked and then frozen, except for chicken enchiladas which use pre-cooked chicken. The rest are all frozen before cooking, and then transferred to a crockpot or baking dish to be fully after they have thawed.

I do try to save money by buying fresh vegetables when they are on sale or cheaper at a farmer's market and chopping and freezing them to use in stews and soups. They get mushy when frozen so you can't use them in most dishes, but in the crockpot or a casserole they are fine.

I used to and I need to get back to it. It is very handy on those buys days.

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