Back to School 2016

School starts back in just a few more weeks so I'm using these last few days of summer to fill the freezer!  It will be amazing to lay out a dinner to thaw the night before, then come home to minimal prep and a hot meal after a long day. 

First, I checked out the grocery flier to see what meat is on sale because that is usually the most expensive part of my shopping trip.  This week, it was chicken breast, boneless pork chops, and ground pork.  I spent about $78.00 on ingredients and prepped 10 meals.  Each meal will feed all three of us so that means we're eating for about $2.60 a person!

Here are the recipes for this round:

Creamy Italian Chicken from Mommy's Fabulous Finds.  This recipe is just one of 10 on this page.  It's one of our favorites!  I serve it over farfalle pasta and Jason likes the leftovers over toast.

Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops from Creations by Kara.  This is another of our all-time favorites.  They're delicious served over my mom's signature mashed potatoes.

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti from Living a Changed Life.  We've never tried this recipe before but the ingredients look great so how could it go wrong? ;)

Tator Tot Chili Bake Casserole from The Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook.  This is another one that's new to us but I've made plenty of recipes from this book and they've all been amazing!

Any time I prep a crock pot meal, I put all the ingredients into a gallon-sized ziploc bag and write the cooking instructions on the outside of the bag before freezing flat.  If it's a casserole or something cooked in the oven, I grab an aluminum pan.  Then, I prepare the recipe as if I'm going to make it that night for dinner, but instead of putting the pan in the oven I cover it with cling wrap and pop it in the freezer.  I write the cooking instructions on the plastic lid.

Here's to a great school year and two weeks of dinner ready to go!

Update: The Tator Tot Chili Bake went over really well!  I ended up dividing it into two smaller pans instead of one 9x13 dish.  We had plenty for dinner and just enough for lunch the next day.