Giving New Meaning to Parenting

I’m still on the path, still pinching the pennies and stretching the dollars. If you missed the first 2 installments in my quest to reduce my grocery budget you can catch up by reading Living Lean and Reducing the Grocery Budget: How I am doing it.

In the past week I’ve tried my hand at a little batch cooking. Following are two quick and very simple meals that were big hits with the Punks and that froze well.

Taco Soup

2 packages ground turkey, chicken, or beef browned with 1 small onion. (I have also made it with leftovers from a whole roasted chicken or turkey)
Add 1-2 packs of taco seasoning (or 1 taco and 1 ranch seasoning) and:
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 can cannelini beans*
1 can kidney beans *
1 can dark kidney beans*
2 cans of corn or bag of frozen
about 4 cups of water (give or take depending upon how brothy you like your soup)
simmer for awhile.

You can also combine the cooked meat with everything else in a crock pot for the day.

Optional garnishes: diced avocado, black olives, shredded reduced fat cheddar, sour cream, and of course……. tortilla chips.

*This is the quick version, but by all means soak the dried beans.

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

(This is adapted from my twitter friend @Gennyfer. Her original recipe is posted here.)

A nice big pork roast or pork loin (~5 lbs)
1 onion sliced thin
1 tsp cumin
1 28 oz jar of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce
1 16 oz jar of southwest salsa.

Toss it all in a crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.
Remove pork and shred. Return to sauce, stir, and serve on rolls.

Before serving I separated 1/2 of each meal and cooled it before freezing each flat in freezer bags.

Your turn… what do you make to freeze?

by Megin Hatch

Photo graciously provided by Kevin Eddy, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved