Day 2: Chicken and Brisket
Day 3: Jambalaya and More Brisket
Day 4: Veggie Crepes, Potato Tacos and Gyros
Days 5 & 6: Veggie Crepes Continued and Thai Chicken
Day 7: Pierogi, Lentil Joes, and Black Bean Burgers
Final Days and Summary
Wednesday
It was my intention to start doing my freezer cooking last week. It got derailed a bit when one of my kids got super sick Sunday night and didn't sleep AT ALL. I took him to the doctor Monday morning and got him started on some medications. He started doing better immediately, but the lack of sleep combined with needing to take care of a sick kid threw off my plans and exhausted me. By Wednesday July 25 I was tired of waiting and really wanted to get some food in my freezer. I decided to get started with the freezer cooking, but to do it at a more relaxed pace so as to accommodate taking care of a sick kid. I used Walmart pick-up for the bulk of my shopping. I'm using a lot of ground chicken there and it's cheaper there than the other grocery stores around.
I intended to blog this as I went, but it turns out that after cooking all day I didn't feel like writing about it. I'm blogging this a week later. Hopefully my notes are good enough.
It took me 40 minutes to order everything through the Walmart grocery app for a total of $264.66.
Walmart didn't have everything I needed, so I decided to head to Wegman's for the last things I needed. I spent about an hour there. I could have probably done it faster, but the store has free childcare. I was enjoying the quiet and took my time. I spent $96.03.
I drove to Walmart, which was about an hour round trip. Unfortunately Walmart didn't have very much ground chicken, leaving me 7 lbs short. This was pretty irritating since that was a big reason I went to Walmart in the first place. I'll have to make another trip later.
I spent another hour cleaning out the fridge and fitting all the food into it.
Somehow a few other items were missing from my Walmart order. I don't know what happened. I definitely remember looking them up and thought I added them, but they don't show up in the order at all. I ran out to the store for another 30 minutes and $29.81.
Time spent so far: 4 hours 10 minutes
Money spent so far: $390.05
Fitting everything in the fridge:
It can be difficult to fit almost $400 worth of food into a refrigerator. Here's some tips about how to make it happen.
Clean out the fridge - This is an obvious first step. Get rid of old leftovers, produce and condiments you're not using any more to make space for the new food. Usually I do this the day before I go shopping. This time I did it when I got home with the food. This actually worked out well, since everything was out of the fridge it was easier to fit everything in.
Cut down on staples - My fridge usually has a lot of cheese sticks, milk and fruit for my kids. When I do freezer cooking I cut down on this stuff to make room in the fridge. It does mean I will have to go to the store soon after the freezer cooking.
Use a cooler - I didn't need one this time, but in the past I have used a cooler for overflow from the fridge. In retrospect I should have used a cooler for some of the produce this time. The produce I had on the top shelf in the back froze.
Use large items right away - If there are items that are large and don't require a lot of work, time your shopping so you can use those items immediately when you get home so they don't have to go into the fridge at all. Often when I smoke meats I go to the store early in the day, so the meats can go straight to the smoker when I get home.
Stagger shopping - While it was irritating that Walmart didn't have all my ground chicken, it worked out for the best. My fridge was packed, and I was able to get the rest of the meat while out running errands another day.
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