Stocking the Freezer

One of my favorite things to do is stock my freezer. Well, stocking is sometimes fun, sometimes not, depending on the day, my mood, etc. But I love having it stocked because it makes my job so easy for the next few weeks, if not longer. Right now, it's stocked with cheddar biscuits, pizza pockets, and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (all recipes from www.100daysofrealfood.com). All three are made with white whole wheat, which is just as healthy as regular whole wheat, but with a lighter flavor. We go through a ton of it but, lucky for us, it's very affordable in the Trader Joe's brand. We also make a TON of stuff from one bag.

 I made the cheddar biscuits almost two months ago. They were really intense to make (it involved cutting a stick of butter into pea sized pieces...) but for it to last me probably 3 months, I think it's worth it. They only have natural, whole ingredients so there isn't the guilt that I have when making Pilsbury. Plus, if I make Pilsbury we will eat the entire can of them. With these, we just pull 2 out of the freezer, microwave them for about 20 seconds, and they're ready.

 Pizza pockets are also somewhat intense to make, mostly because it takes an hour or more to put them together. Once you have the technique down, they're fun to make, in my opinion. We make a double batch every time and they last us between two to three weeks. A double batch makes 12, so 6 meals for us. They're a great option to take for lunches or for dinner when we don't have time to cook. Again, they are made from whole, natural ingredients, though we need to work on our cheese source because sometimes we get it from Food Lion when we should be getting the higher quality cheese from Trader Joe's. They take about 2 minutes in the microwave and are SO filling. They are actually calzones, I think, but we call them pizza pockets because that's what the website calls them. We used to eat hot pockets ALL the time, and I feel so much better knowing how few ingredients are in these compared to hot pockets, and how healthy they are in comparison. We did the math one day, and each pizza pocket came in under a dollar. I'm sorry, but you can't beat that! Healthy doesn't always have to be expensive.

This afternoon, I just restocked the freezer with pumpkin muffins. Ok... chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. You won't find chocolate chips in the original recipe but I added them once, and now I'm hooked. If you don't use much, you can get high quality (read: not processed and full of things you can't pronounce) chocolate chips and they will last a while. Off of one bag, I can usually make 1-2 batches of chocolate chip cookies (also whole wheat and on the above mentioned website) and 1-2 batches of muffins. Anyway, I usually make one batch of the muffins, but did 2 today because we are totally out. They are a great grab and go breakfast along with a piece of fruit (and a yogurt, depending on how far away lunch is, but I have to eat yogurt sparingly with PCOS). I will keep about half out on my cupcake plate, and we will probably have them each morning until they're gone, and then the other half in the freezer which we eat here and there until they are gone.

So, even though quick, packaged, processed, microwavable (etc) food appeals to my lazy side, stocking the freezer has really helped me to be so much healthier but to not have to stress all the time about cooking. If I made each of these things every time we needed/wanted them, I highly doubt I would stick with it. I'm sure that will be doubly true when we have children to feed. But if I can spend an hour or two here or there making a really big batch of something, and then be done for a while, it feels completely worth it. There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from feeding someone you love and knowing exactly what's in everything you serve. When I used to serve packaged/processed foods, I never really got that satisfaction. I think there is really something to putting love in your food. Often times when we pray before dinner, Steven thanks God for having me in his life to prepare healthy meals. Man, does that put me over the moon and make it all worth it!