Freezer Meal Survival

Hello! Life has been busy with all of the teen kids.  I really thought I was tired and busy when everyone was toddlers, but how mistaken I was.  This new season of mom as a taxi driver is a different kind of busy...and of course I have my tag-a-long littles to round out the fun.  This week I was taking little kids to swimming lessons each day.  I finish up my VIPKID classes at 9:15, classes start at 10 and it is about a 25 minute drive to town.  So each morning, I pretty much cross my fingers that the little kids (ages 8 and 6) have gotten dressed and grabbed a quick breakfast that I laid out.  I also am using the driving time to let my 15 year old practice driving.  2 licensed drivers, 1 in training, and 2 to go. I think I might be getting too old for this driver's ed thing. ;-) Anyway, as I have had such full mornings, I am relying on my slow cooker to survive this summer. How do you beat the drive through temptation? 
      I became a Pampered Chef consultant about a year ago and the one "party" that is my favorite is the Freezer Meal Workshop.  Of course, I had to try out a menu plan before I could offer it to my friends.  It has literally been years since I did regular freezer meal preparations and I had forgotten how nice it is to have food in the freezer.  In the workshops that I hold now, we usually prep one to two weeks of freezer meals in about 2 hours.  I run around and wash dishes and Pampered Chef gadgets. I keep trash bins empty and offer help as needed.  During the next week or so they can opt to cook their meals in the slow cooker, microwave (25 minutes!!!) or even pop it into the oven.  It has been so much fun to help other people get their freezers stocks and ditch the drive through. 
 

   Just do a "freezer meal" search on pinterest and you will see there are MANY methods for stocking your freezer.  Back in the day, I was a huge fan of "Once a Month" cooking.  You basically shop on Friday and then spend all of Saturday and even some of Sunday getting all of your meals prepped and in the freezer.  It was a crazy-hard weekend and at the time, I did not have any kids big enough to be helpers.  However, it was sooooo worth it to have a month of dinners in the freezer.  I loved the Once-A-Month Cooking book by Mimi Wilson.  We still enjoy several of the meals from this original cookbook.  I found this used copy on Thriftbooks.  I also love, love, love the website  30 Day Gourmet  They have a membership available, but I just used the free recipes on the site.  I love that all of their recipes have been broken down into different recipe sizes.  They have the amount for 1 recipe, double, or even more in one big batch to save you time.  They also send out new recipes in their newsletter.  Some of my favorite recipes from there are the Chewy Granola Bars, Time to Spare Spuds, and Loaded Baked Potato Soup (both the original and the lite versions).  In the coming weeks, I plan to share how I freezer meal prep now.  It looks a little different from my "once a month" days.  I generally snag a few minutes here and there and do a freezer meal or two at a time instead of cooking the whole weekend.  Either way, it is nice to have a freezer full of food ready to go!  What are some of YOUR favorite freezer meal recipes? How do you stock your freezer? Do you have a tried and true recipe?  Leave a link in the comments.  I would love to see other favorite recipes.  Here is a link to my Freezer Cooking Board on Pinterest.  Do you have a favorite pinner that you follow?