The other day (after weeks of failing domestically) I decided that I need to take control of what had become an out of control situation!
Living between two houses (one without a stove) has proven to be quite challenging for me. And I have to admit that I was doing a poor job of holding it all together.
Each week I would sit down and plan out my meals, but for one reason or another I never seemed to get around to making them.
My laundry pile was beginning to include those clothes that you only wear when everything else is dirty.
My house was a disaster!
Don’t get me wrong we were doing all we could to keep up. But everyone has a busy schedule these days that keeps us away from this house so often that by the time we do get here all we can do is sleep.
One thing that I have learned is that when my house is a mess it begins to trickle over into other areas of my life. So, I made the choice to take 2 days off from anything other than home related!
I got caught up on laundry. I cleaned my house (almost completely). And I made sure we had enough meals for the next couple weeks!
I am going to share what I did, what worked and what didn’t.
It took me about 6 hours to prepare 3 Beef Stew Crock Pot meals, 2 Pepper Steak Crock Pot Meals, 3 batches of Loaded Baked Potato Soup, 1 batch of Loaded Baked Potato Salad, 1 Batch of Parsley Baked Potatoes, 2 Batches of Chicken Mexican Crock Pot Bake, 2 Loaves of Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread, 1 batch of Pumpkin Spice Cake.
I started my day by cleaning and cutting up potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, green onions, and peppers.
Then I bagged up some potatoes, carrots, celery, cubed beef, and onions into three meal sized portions. Then I did the same with beef strips, onion, and peppers.
I will still need to add a jar of tomatoes and make mashed potatoes to complete this meal.
Pepper Steak Recipe
I buy the cheapest steak at the grocery store for this. Usually you can find a good size package in the markdown section for a couple dollars.
Cut up onions and green peppers. Sometimes I add in some other color peppers for the color. Add the steak, peppers, and onions to a pan. Add a can of tomatoes. It doesn’t matter which kind. Let cook on low for about 6 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes and dinner rolls. YUM!
I used the following recipes as a guide:
Chicken Taco Bake– I mixed up all the ingredients, and added in about 1/3 cup of sour cream that I had left over after making the potato soup & salad. I didn’t add in any chicken because all of mine was already frozen. So when I am ready to add this to the Crock Pot I will also have to add in the chicken.
Loaded Baked Potato Salad – I followed this recipe to the letter. My husband believes it should have more bacon!
Loaded Baked Potato Soup – I followed this recipe completely. And I have to say it was delicious, even though it didn’t look very appealing.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread – This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread.The only thing I change was I used skim milk instead of half & half because it is what I had on hand. Everyone in my family is begging me to make this again! We finished off both loaves in 2 days. It is sooo good!
Pumpkin Spice Cake was made from a Betty Crocker mix, and the least liked thing I made. In fact it’s been a couple days and more than half the cake still sits on my kitchen counter.
I have to say this was a huge success for me! I am planning to do this more often. Maybe not on such a large scale, but I’m definitely going to make double or triple batches anytime I do make dinner so I can put the extra batches in the freezer for days I don’t have time to prepare dinner.
Leave me a comment below if you would you be interested in joining me the next time I plan to do this?
Here are a couple of resources I found to make batch cooking easier:
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Tiffany Kinard via Facebook says
I’m hoping so.Fall is my favorite season! 🙂
Sarah B says
The loaded potato soup looks so good & I have tons of potatoes!! Was wondering- do you make it and freeze it? and then do you put it in the crock pot to cook on low once you pull it out of the freezer (if you freeze it)? Thanks!! I may make this for supper tonight & would love to put tons more in my freezer!!
Kristie says
This was my first time freezing the potato soup. I did cook it completely before freezing it so I’ll just put it in a crockpot on low when I decided to pull it out to use it.
However I did not cook the other meals but simply added all the ingredients cut up to a bag and froze it that way. I can’t wait to hear how your soup turns out!
whitney says
Love this! Making the pumpkin cream cheese bread tomorrow. Thinking of making the pepper steak, as well. Do you think it would work in a crock pot? Maybe if you add the peppers and onions a little later so they don’t get too mushy?
Kristie says
Yes you can definitely make the Pepper Steak in the crockpot, that’s usually how I do it! I can’t wait to hear how you like the pumpkin Cheese cake bread!
Stephanie C. says
I would love to join you next time, but live in KY so I don’t think that’s gonna work;)
Jennifer Deska Chesney via Facebook says
Thanks for all the tips, everything looks great.
Kelly Press via Facebook says
Thanks for these posts and tips!!
Reena says
Thank you for sharing. I’ve been having quite a lot of trouble running my household as well ever since I’ve gotten to be so very busy… So I appreciate these tips greatly!
Kristie says
I’m am in the same boat as you!!
Darcy Vance via Facebook says
Wow, that’s quite a list!
Jenniferlynn Peck Vance via Facebook says
Thank you for all of your hard work.
melzie says
so if you peel and cut up the potatoes and stuff they don’t dry out or turn black? Also what is the pepper steak recipe?
I might like to try this out too, I don’t have any freezer space though, a freezer is on my wish list though. I could do up a couple at a time. Thanks for sharing 🙂 Melzie
Kristie says
Start by just doubling a dinner recipe you are already cooking and add the second batch to the freezer for a later day. The potatoes didn’t turn black for me. I’ve added the Pepper Steak recipe to the post above.
Joyce Edgerton Laslo via Facebook says
thank you for sharing, i have been trying to do this. I work during tax season and need meals made for my father in law 🙂