The Maiden Voyage into Freezer Cooking!

We've been struggling lately to figure out what meals will look like now that we have this new work schedule which is VERY different than a student schedule! I've been reading a lot about the concept of Once a Month Cooking, or Freezer Cooking, and know there are a ton of families that swear by this method, but I hadn't ever ventured into this world. But I figured since planning on cooking nightly just isn't realistic any longer (neither is sitting down and eating together at least 4 nights of the week), I needed to try something new. We need food that is still healthy, but easy to grab and go, can be reheated at the church for the nights we end up eating on the floor of my husband's office etc. So I began researching. There are a ton of methods to this process, and everyone seems to have something that works well for them. If you're interested, here's what I learned and what I made. If you're not, well you can stop reading now :)

I learned that just about anything can be made for the freezer, you don't have to eat just casseroles or stews. So I decided to try some variety since really, who wants to eat the same dish all month? I chose 4 dinner recipes to start with (there are only 2 of us, and really, this won't last all month, this was just a first step) and a batch of cookie dough. Here's what I made (click on each recipe for the link to where I found it).

"The Best" Lasagna (I haven't tried it to confirm that it is the best, but it looks good!) I made two smaller ones instead of one big one.
Jamie's Minestrone Soup (I don't know Jamie, but my friend Sara makes this for her freezer and loves it)
Sara's Hidden Vegetable Marinara Sauce (this made a TON--2 crockpots full!) Part of the sauce is going to be in the lasagna, the rest will be frozen for spaghetti, pizza sauce etc)
Sloppy Joe mixture (I can't seem to find the recipe)
A big batch of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate chip cookie dough (Sara has a great post here about how simple it is to freeze cookie dough ahead of time so you're always ready to bring a treat to an event. As a youth director's wife I am already realizing how often this happens in the church!)

Next, I went through all the recipes and made one big grocery list. It actually wasn't that huge, I had a lot of things on hand already and headed to the store.

Then I did what everyone online suggested...I went through all the recipes to figure out exactly what needed to be done before you can assemble the meal. So how many cups of onions total were going to need to be chopped? How many carrots (which were in two different recipes) would I need to peel and slice? I wrote everything down on one list to I could simply look at that instead of flipping through all 5 recipes constantly.

Yes it was a LOT of chopping, but I just stuck an episode of Glee on my computer and chopped veggies for an hour while rocking out to the Glee cast!

Once all the prep work is done you can start assembling each recipe, I was able to do 2 at a time, but I wouldn't try more than that at once! It was a few things to keep straight! I did the sloppy joe mixture and the minestrone soup first, then let those cool in the fridge before transferring them to freezer containers (apparently this cuts way down on freezer burn).

Then I put together the ingredients for the marinara sauce in the crock pots and cooked those on low over night. I'll assemble the lasagnas and cookie dough this morning (I didn't start cooking day til 5 yesterday, there was no way I was going to get everything done in just a couple hours, so I'll finish up this morning--besides I needed the marinara to cook so I had sauce for my lasagna!)

Do any of you do freezer cooking? I'd love some tried and true recipes if you have any favorites!