"OAMC" Freezer Cooking

Well I am going to dip my toe in and try Freezer Cooking this Sunday.  We have NOTHING on the calendar and those precious empty squares make me so very happy to see.  I have been wanting to try this and have been doing A LOT of research on the web about it.  The biggest issue I am having is finding recipes that look good, freeze well and are easy for me to do in one sitting. 

I put together a list last night of what I was thinking of trying:
Banana bread
Taco Meat
Chicken - cooked & chunked in 2 cup containers
Meatballs, Mashed Pototoes and Gravy
Chicken Tetrazzini
Cookie Dough
BBQ Beef

I made a list for the store.  I did find 3lbs of hamburger, $4 off of $8.50 original price.  I bought both of them that were marked down.  So, I have most of what I need.  I know I have potatoes, a 5lb bag of chicken I got on sale at Walmart for $6 and bananas turning brown on the counter.  So, I should just be able to make a quick run to get it done. 

I typed the above up Friday night and never got it finished.  I have my photos from today of what I got done and I did most of what is on that list.  I also learned ALOT about "Once A Month Cooking". 

I never made it too the store and assumed I had everything I needed.  Well, I was without a lot of basics and I need to check those the next time.  I needed vegetable oil, flour and italian dressing.  Hubby ran once and I ran the second time.  So it took me from 10am - 3pm but I didn't work the entire time.  But I did get alot done and am so happy with my day.

Here is what I did get done today:
2 loaves of Banana Bread
2 1lb containers of Taco Meat
2 1lb containers of BBQ Beef
3 - 2 cup containers of cooked and cubed Chicken
Mashed Potatoes (This is the link from Good Cheap Eats for the mashed potatos I made)
5 Chicken Breasts Marinated in Zesty Italian dressing
2 dozen chocholate chip cookie dough balls

Plus - I made a Meatloaf and my Mom's Cheesy Mashed Potatoes for my family for supper.  It was such a great accomplishment for me with all 3 of my children in the house with all of the distractions and the help.  My oldest had a meltdown over a glogster book report in the middle of my cooking, but we survived.  I am looking forward to finding another square on my calendar to do this next month. 

I also had issues with freeze worthy containers for my food.  I found containers I had bought for my son's lego birthday are labeled as "freezer safe" so I used those for the taco meat and BBQ beef.  The chicken had an issue when I made it the last time.  It had a little freezer burn in the containers I used (Hickory Farms red-lid lunch meat containers) and I found some of my rubbermaid containers are all "freezer safe".  So watch for that.

Most important tip I can give you is Label everything with what it is, how to cook it and date it.

Enjoy and now it's time to fill out the forms I found to help me list what is in my freezer.  Here is the link to them for you from Organized Home Website.