Freezer meals or Once a month meals

“I try to do it in one day, I have no other things to do that day. But if I get too tired I'll carry it over to a second day. There's not really much to prep, the hardest part is figuring out what goes in what pot, cause I have 4 slow cookers and then 4 burners and the oven going (it gets so hot omfg) So, I spend like the whole month planning this, I use a spreadsheet and come up with meal ideas. Then I break each one down into meats, carbs, veg, and other so I can order what I specifically need. I prefer to make everything fully cooked so it is easy to just defrost and throw in the oven to heat up. My partner likes to pull one out of the freezer and store it in the fridge and just pull a serving out for the microwave for lunches but for dinners I throw it in the oven straight from the freezer.”

“I've not had too many issues but most of the stuff I eat is pretty good for that, I'd avoid high water content veggies like zucchini cause I imagine that wouldn't freeze and defrost well. Pasta definitely needs a sauce over it and a tin foil lid (I tin foil the tops of all of them) if you'll be putting it in the oven because otherwise it can dry out and get an unpleasant texture. Rice can get a little mushy if its very well done before you put it in the freezer, some people just make rice the day of and only freeze the meat/sauce/veg mix which is probably tastier but I don't mind it. Toast doesn't work well although I'm sure that's obvious, I did try pre-made toast that I micro but it was too crunchy and gummy lol.”

“I had more control over what got cooked when, and other than the fresh items and things that we’d run out of (milk, bread, etc.), everything we needed for the month had already been purchased. Staying under our food budget had never been easier. It was also nice to wake up in the morning, knowing that I already had a meal thawed, ready to dump in the crockpot for dinner. And when I got home from work, it was sitting there, waiting to be eaten. It honestly eliminated a lot of the stress and guesswork that goes with meal planning for such a large family. But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. [...] Yet nothing can quite prepare you for 30 meals, all at once, on your counters and cutting boards. It’s overwhelming.”