Freezer Cooking for a New Baby #3

This post is #3 in the "Freezer Cooking for a New Baby" series.  While it is my intentional journey of preparing my freezer for the birth of baby #4, freezer cooking is something that I recommend everyone try...it saves both time and money!  Be sure to check out all the posts, ideas, and recipes in this series!  (Read Part 1 and Part 2)

#1: Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole


I followed Money Saving Mom's recipe on this one.  It was fast, easy, and frugal to put together.  While she divides hers up into 4 bags, I felt that each of those portions would be just a little bit too small for my family.  I instead divided the batch up into 3 gallon sized Ziploc bags.  I am in LOVE with cheese/rice/broccoli combinations, so I'm sure this will be a great meal!

#2: Teriyaki Chicken and Marinated Chicken

My 4 year old helped me assemble two bags of Teriyaki Chicken.  This is a crock pot meal, meaning you just thaw it out and dump it into a crock pot to cook all day.  Super easy!
Here's my recipe:

Freezer Friendly Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, combine the following:

*1-2 lbs of boneless chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts)
*1/2 cup-1 cup chopped carrots
*1 can chopped pineapple WITH the juice
*1/2 sliced purple onion
*3/4 cup teriyaki sauce or marinade

On the bag write: "Defrost, dump into crock pot, cook on low 6-8 hours or until done.  Serve over rice."

Depending on how much chicken you use, you may need to add a little more teriyaki sauce when you pour it into the crock pot.  Also, remember how I told you in part 1 that I cook and freeze brown rice?  This is a perfect meal to pull out one of those bags!

The third bag pictured above was made with our extra chicken breasts.  We just dumped a Lawry's marinade inside the bag, mixed it around, and sealed it.  You can cook it in the crock pot or on the stove or in the oven.  It's just marinated chicken :)


#3: Sliced and Chopped Strawberries


I ended up with a bunch of strawberries that were *almost* bad.  I tasked my 5 year old with rinsing and sorting the good from the bad.  If you've never frozen strawberries before, see my how-to tutorial HERE.

We use chopped frozen strawberries to add to our oatmeal in the mornings.  They can also be used to add to smoothies or other blended drinks.


At this point, I've had to seriously organize my freezer.  It's already getting full, and I have so many more things to make!  Yikes!

Don't forget: lay your ziploc bags FLAT to freeze.  This way, once frozen, you will be able to organize them in your freezer "file folder" style, which saves a lot of space.  

Have you been joining me in stocking up your freezer?  What have you added to your freezer recently?