Gyros

The last thing I posted was about all the time I spent making freezer meals.  It was a lot of work, and I'm guessing it seemed like too much to some.  I intended to make a list of things I was able to do because I had the freezer meals, but... I didn't.  I forget to document stuff.  So I don't have a comprehensive list, but I will say that I find life a lot easier when I have freezer meals.  It's easier for to find the time and energy for other things when I don't have to worry about dinner, and it's easier for me to keep up on cleaning the kitchen and other housework when I don't have cooking messes all the time.  I didn't keep a written record, but from memory here's some of the things I did now that dinner was taken care of:

Final Days and Summary

I've done a full week of cooking before, and I generally start out strong and then lag at the end.  This is definitely the case this time.  On day 8 I made the souffle and SW chicken burgers.  All that was left was the falafel and some vacuum sealing.  The falafels are easy, but I took me almost a week to get around to making them.  I took me a few more days past that to get around to vacuum sealing the last of the food.  Also my notes are getting sparse, and I have fewer pictures.

Day 7: Pierogi, Lentil Joes and Black Bean Burgers

On Tuesday I took a break from cooking.  I took my kids to an event in the park, we had a picnic and we ran errands, including picking up ground turkey for my SW Burgers (more on that next post).  On Wednesday I got back to cooking with a big project, pierogi.

Days 5 & 6: Veggie Crepes Continued and Thai Chicken

Day 1: Shopping
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

Sunday

Day 5 was on a Sunday, and during the day I didn't do much other than go to church and take a nap.  All this cooking is tiring!  In the evening I got back to work.

Day 4: Veggie Crepes, Potato Tacos and Gyros

Saturday

Day 1: Shopping
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

Day 3: Jambalaya and More Brisket

Day 1: Shopping
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

Friday

Onto day two of cooking.  I spent the majority of Friday out with my kids.  We went to a free magic show in the park and to the playground.  In the evening we went to our town's ice cream social.  Both were very fun, and I love that our new town has lots of family-friendly events going on.  This type of thing is also a big part of why I do freezer cooking.

Day 2: Chicken and Brisket

Day 1: Shopping
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

Thursday

Usually on my first day of cooking I do all the slicing, dicing and mincing on the list in the "Prep" tab of my macro.  Today I decided to do things differently. As shown yesterday, my fridge is packed and I decided to start by using up some of the items that are taking up the most space, specifically the 2 briskets, 9 lbs of chicken breasts and 10 lbs of chicken cutlets.

11:05 - I started with the brisket.  I have 2 large briskets, and half a brisket will fit into my crockpot at once to make French dip sandwiches.  I am making 3 batches of French dip and saving 1/2 a brisket to cook in my smoker at some point.