It’s November 1st, which means a new round of freezer cooking menus at Once a Month Mom!! Have you done any freezer cooking lately? This crazy-busy holiday time of year it’s nice to have a few extra meals stashed away.

Here’s a roundup of freezer-friendly meals I’ve made recently:

Served with warm black beans, tortilla chips, and plenty of salsa, my picky six-year-old claimed this creamy enchilada dish the BEST.THING.EVER.

With a gingerbread candle burning, and a bushel of apples waiting to be peeled, there’s nothing more I could want to get ready for my favorite season except maybe a helping of this hearty Chicken Stuffing Bake.

My grandma and then my mom often made this meaty casserole. There’s nothing gourmet or secret about it, it’s just an inexpensive, simple, comfort meal that’s continued to fill bellies for four generations.

This simple rice and bean dish is the perfect accompaniment to your favorite Mexican meal such as tacos, burritos, or enchiladas, but also makes a tasty meatless main dish when served with warm tortillas, or on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream.

Chicken and veggie stew topped with biscuits. Can a meal get any more comforting? Serve this one-dish casserole as-is, with a simple green salad, or a bowl of warm cinnamon applesauce, and you’ve got dinner. Pass the napkins, please.

This family-favorite features familiar fall spices and make me long for a cool, crisp Saturday morning in which we eat a big breakfast before heading out to rake (and of course jump in!) leaves.

My family loves chili, and we often eat cornbread with it, so one day I thought, why not combine the two? Cornbread Chili Bake combines the flavors, and made the meal much less messy than a bowl of chili was for my toddlers.

My broccoli-hesitant kids think these veggie-filled roll ups are okay. Sometimes, I think it’s all in the presentation.

These muffins mock the fall-favorite pumpkin muffin, and were a good way to introduce/sneak in/use up sweet potatoes in the mouths of my young and older babes.

Cranberry Chicken is one of those classic “fix-and-forget” meals I find myself coming back to over, and over.

Just a round-up of all the yummy (and freezer friendly!) dishes I shared at Once a Month Mom during August. . . .

{Creamy Mashed Potatoes}

{Hearty Beef Stew}

{Cream Cheese Chicken}

{Homemade Applesauce}

{Shepherd’s Pie}

Wrapping up this sweaty month of July! Haven’t wanted to be in the kitchen much, but cooking for Once a Month Mom and having summer guests has kept me going. Here’s this month’s roundup of all the freezer-friendly recipes I’ve been sharing. Maybe you’ll find one you like too!

{Unstuffed Pepper Bake}

{Southwest Chicken Salad}

{Sausage and Pepper Penne}

{Spicy Stuffed BBQ Chicken}

{Maple Oat Scones}

Since I haven’t done much of anything around here lately, cooking has definitely been low on my priority list. Jared makes amazing scrambled eggs and the kids never seem to get tired of hot dogs so thankfully no one has starved. But the one thing that has really saved us over the past several weeks is having a full freezer. Behind the scenes at Once a Month Mom we work a couple of months ahead, so while my family has definitely had take-out more than I’d like, freezer meals have continued to keep dinnertime semi-sane. At least most nights.

Here’s a round-up of a few simple and freezer-friendly dishes we’ve been making this past month:

{Strawberry Banana Breakfast Popsicles}

{Homemade Pizza Sauce}

{Bacon Hashbrown Breakfast Wraps}

{Chicken Burritos}

{Easiest Ever BBQ Beef Sandwiches}

{Pita Pizzas}

Do you have a kitchen tip that helps you when life gets crazy?

One day last week I got together with a couple friends for a group freezer cooking day. I do a lot of freezer cooking on my own, so it was fun to get together and share the task with friends. I mean, we all have to eat, and we all have to feed our families, so why not do it together?

Being our first time, we’ll likely make a few organizational changes for next time, but overall, it went really well. We each chose three recipes we wanted to make, and brought the ingredients to prepare those meals as well as our own freezer dishes. After a few hours of working we each came away with 11 meals (two of the recipes ended up making enough servings to divide into two meals). We were all tired, but felt so good about our success and it’s soooo nice to be able to grab an already prepared meal out of the freezer on a busy night. Getting together to cook was also a good way to share new recipes and try new foods to introduce to my family.

{chicken cordon blue bake}

It’s been a month since I started contributing posts at Once a Month Mom, and April is my first “solo” menu. Writing recipes and menus has been an interesting, challenging, growing experience for me, but as I have done so, I’ve become even more converted to freezer cooking. It definitely “works” for me and my family as it relieves most of the “dinnertime stress” I used to feel.

I thought I’d post a little round-up of what I’ve been posting in the past month in case you missed them. And definitely stay tuned because the upcoming menus are even better!

{homemade refried beans}

{teriyaki honey chicken}

{baked chicken and artichoke pasta with sundried tomatoes}

{artichoke bread}

{tacos in a sleeping bag}

This post will be linked to: Frugal Food Thursday @ Frugal Follies; Ultimate Recipe Swap @ Life as Mom; Things I Love @ Diaper Diaries

A few months ago I was invited to Mexican-native, Marta’s home, early one morning where she spent all day teaching a few friends and me how to make traditional Mexican dishes such as chicken and pork tamales, and refried beans. She spoke only a few words of English, and I speak even less Spanish, however–food has a way of bridging cultural gaps and our communication never lacked.

Later that night we had a Mexican Fiesta at our church. The food was impressive and tasted AMAZING, the entertainment kept us laughing all night, and the hand-made piñatas were a smashing success .

Before Marta taught me how to make refried beans, canned beans were always a cheap staple in my pantry. But now that I know how EASY (and inexpensive) making refried beans can be, I’ve been making my own.

If you come visit me at Once a Month Mom today, I’m sharing my healthified recipe, and freezer tips! YES, these beans freeze well! And a bag of dried beans (which costs about the same as a can of refried beans!) makes a huge batch, so you can freeze them in portions. It’s super handy to be able to grab the beans out of the freezer and just reheat a portion for a quick side dish, burrito filling, nacho dip, etc. In fact, yesterday I got together with a couple of friends for a big freezer cooking day and one of the meals our menu was freezer burritos stuffed with homemade refried beans, taco meat, and cheese. They are individually wrapped so I can easily grab one (or more) out of the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner. Love having “convenience” foods on hand!

See you at Once a Month Mom!

Teriyaki Honey Chicken, rice , and veggies was the first meal I cooked for my husband on one of our first dates as freshmen in college! He must have liked it because here we are 10+ years later! The sweet chicken is still a staple for our family and I especially love that it’s EASY (just dump in a bag!) and that it freezes so well.

Come visit me at Once a Month Mom for the recipe!