Freezer challenge - August

[luvabargain]

Hey ladies.  I am doing the freezer challenge again in August.  My freezer still needs to be cleaned out, so I am going for another month.  Who will join me? 

[Bee Lady]

i am in too 

[farmmama]

OK, what exactly are we supposed to be doing?  I know I have lots of odds and ends lurking down there...

[gabbie427]

Doing a big grocery run today, but we are still trying to use up stuff in the freezer before it gets buried (again. LOL) or outdated. 

Found a pound of sausage and some biscuits (prepackaged, but I found them on a major sale and had a coupon too) in the freezer, so this weekend we are having biscuits and gravy.

I have more tortillas than any woman should in the freezer too, and trying to think of ideas of how to use them.  Any brilliant ideas other than burritos, tacos, enchiladas, etc.?

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

[luvabargain]

Molly, we are all just trying to use up what is in our freezers and not buy anything to go in there (except for ice cream  ) when we go to the stores.  I personally started the challenge, because I had so much in my freezer that the frost had built up and I had to get it off around the edge so that I could close it.  I am trying to use things up, so I can totally defrost it and start over.  I haven't cleaned it out in several years and I know that there are things  in the bottom that have probably been there for atleast 3 years or more.

I went to Aldi's today.  The only thing that I bought for the freezer was chicken nuggets and pizza rolls that the kids eat for lunch.  I bought me 2 pkgs of the fit and active lean pockets for lunch and of course the fit and active creamsicle sandwiches.  Other than that, I am still working on the cleanout.

[Trudy in TN]

I am in.  Did ok this last month but still have a lot of stuff in there.  Dh goes back to work next week so it will mean more lunches to pack.  I am hoping to find surprises in the deep freeze to help.  Dd goes back to school August 30 and ds graduates August 20.  She wants to pack a lunch for her longer days and who knows what ds will need.  Praying that he finds a "real" job soon.

[MicaLynn]

I AM SOO IN.. i need to clean the one upstairs and the basement one would scare you..

I have more hot dog buns and tortillas its not even funny...   I need new oil  for my deep fryer and I am gonna cut them and start using them to make tositos chips..  and the kids are going to start eating ALOT of wraps

Cryssie

[Connie]

Doing a big grocery run today, but we are still trying to use up stuff in the freezer before it gets buried (again. LOL) or outdated. 

Found a pound of sausage and some biscuits (prepackaged, but I found them on a major sale and had a coupon too) in the freezer, so this weekend we are having biscuits and gravy.

I have more tortillas than any woman should in the freezer too, and trying to think of ideas of how to use them.  Any brilliant ideas other than burritos, tacos, enchiladas, etc.?

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

Would your family like if you made turkey or ham and cream cheese pinwheels out of the tortillas??  I love when we go to showers and people make those.  I never think to make them for myself! :

[gabbie427]

Oh wraps (thanks Cryssie) and pinwheels sound good (Connie)!!  Thanks for the ideas.  I don't know why but my brain was just stuck on what else to do with them.  And chips.....yes!!!


God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

[luvabargain]

My freezer is going down and getting close.  I did go to the grocery store today and I added a few items to the freezer.  They were a couple bags of vegetables which will be eaten in a few days, chicken nuggets and pizzas that the kids will eat for lunch.  I also found some loaf bread marked down to .59 a loaf, so I bought about 6 loaves.  We go through the bread quickly and my husband takes bread to work to eat sandwiches.  It certainly won't stay in there long.  I hope to have the freezer cleaned out, defrosted and ready to fill by the end of September.  I would like to get in on some really good deals on some turkeys around Thanksgiving and start filling the freezer up with a lot of meat instead of just stuff.

[Trudy in TN]

Went into my deep freezer yesterday to pull out all of the protein that I had in there.  There was not as much as I thought there would be.  I have salmon, tilapia, 1 lb ground meat, 2 whole chickens and 3 meals of chicken parts.  One pound of pork sausage and some turkey bacon, oh and I found 1 hamburger patty.  I also have cooked beans in there ready to use.  so all that is left in the deep freeze is veggies, flour, butter, coconut, chocolate chips and the cooked beans.

[luvabargain]

You are doing good Trudy.  I have a question for you.  After we get the freezers cleaned out, where do we start? 

[Bee Lady]

you guys are really doing awesome

me not so good, although I have not bought a lot more to go in there - I have not been really good at emptying it either 

I am trying to decided if I am going to unplug my deep freezer for a little while or start to restock it when I get that far?
questions questions questions

[Trudy in TN]

Well one of goals after the deep freeze is empty is to buy an upright freezer.  With my disability it is now really really hard to get things out of our chest freezer once it is below half.  I will be restocking proteins.  Mainly chicken and ground turkey, I will home can some beans to have in storage like store canned beans.  I have done this in the past and I loved it.  I will not freeze beans if I can help it.  I also store flour, cornmeal and sugar in the deep freeze.

How are you going to restock?

[luvabargain]

Trudy, that is the main question that I have.  I don't know where to start.  I want to have a lot of protein.  I have always had a lot of this and that, because I used to be in a co-op and we would get a lot of cookie dough, bread dough, pies, etc.  All of that is about gone and I don't want a freezer full of that type of stuff again.  My husband wants to buy a half of a grass fed cow.  We will see.  That is kind of pricey.  I hope to hit the sales around the holidays and get lots of ham and turkeys.  I would also like to cook up a lot of casseroles and meals and freeze them.

[Trudy in TN]

My husband would not want to buy half a cow right now because most days the smell of beef makes me sick.  I normally don't buy any protein unless it is on sale and a good sale at that.  Around the holidays I will also stock up on turkeys and hams.  I love ham but will not buy it unless it has a really good sale.  Dh will not eat casseroles and really didn't like it when I did once a month cooking.  Which is fine I really enjoy cooking.  I will have some frozen veggies in there also and maybe some fruit. I will definitely keep fish in their as we love fish.  We hope to go to visit dh family on the east coast in October and maybe we will bring some fresh stuff back.

[luvabargain]

How is the freezer challenge going for everyone?  I am now starting to see toward the bottom of mine.  I think that I should have it defrosted and ready to fill again by the middle to  end of September.  It's nice to be able to actually see what it is in there.   

[Bee Lady]

How is the freezer challenge going for everyone?  I am now starting to see toward the bottom of mine.  I think that I should have it defrosted and ready to fill again by the middle to  end of September.  It's nice to be able to actually see what it is in there.   

Cindy ~

I have been terrible but am planning on going like a crazy woman come Sept
I am really going to need to plan out all our meals and lots of crockpot meals because we are going to be SO busy

so my goal is to make some thing easy to pull out of the freezer plus have the freezer cleaned out so I can plan better

so thanks for the re-motivation - I needed it ~~ my September top priority

[luvabargain]

Cathie, you have been a great motivator to me for not spending and for cleaning out.

[sbdriver]

I did well on my freezer, well both lol, and didn't have to buy any meat at all during the whole summer. Helps that there is only Zachary and I here now and we don't always have big meat meals. Sure is nice to have that much put away especially when I was not working. Time to start restocking soon now that I'll have money coming in again.
Thanks for starting this challenge for us!!!

Laurie

[Bee Lady]

Cathie, you have been a great motivator to me for not spending and for cleaning out.

awwwww you are sweet