I officially have been working on my freezer clean out challenge for one week now. My husband and daughter have totally jumped on board and the days when I don’t feel like cooking, they have been more than happy to pull something out of the freezer and cook it up.
Tuesday, I ended up making BBQ Jalapeno Bacon Poppers. They were SO addicting and even with the large batch that I made, did not last long in my house between my husband and me!
Did you see those weird looking black things in my freezer on the right side? Do you know what those are?
If you guessed bananas you were correct!!! They had gotten somewhat dehydrated in my freezer but when thawed out, they were still great for banana bread. Learn from my mistake! After the bananas are frozen, stick them inside of a Ziploc bag and store them in the freezer…they stay a lot cleaner that way. Anyways, I wasn’t feeling up to making banana bread but my daughter was more than up to the challenge. And my husband who likes to do things big, decided to make a very large, double batch of banana bread. Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to snap any pictures of the bread before my family gobbled it all up! It came out really good and we used this recipe from King Arthur.
On Saturday, I finally made it to the grocery store for the first time in over six weeks. I spent more than I normally would since there were some items that I just needed to get. But for the most part, I didn’t think that spending $52+ was that bad considering it had been so long since I had been to the grocery store. I will say, it took quite a bit of will power NOT to stock up on some hot sausage patties that were marked down. I knew that my readers would know that I added to instead of taking away from my freezer, so I only purchased that which I could use within the next week. Aren’t you proud of me?!?!?!
For our dinner on Saturday night, I made a new recipe that I found off of Pinterest. I used a small package of boneless chicken breasts for the recipe, along with a can of cream of chicken soup and a box of Stove Top stuffing mix. Overall, the recipe was more expensive than I would normally make, but once in a while, I don’t mind making something that uses up so many different items that I have on hand.
Looking back on the week, I don’t think I did too bad with using things out of the freezer. Today, I’ve been scouring Pinterest, looking for some new ideas for the food in my freezer. But right now, I have a few things in my refrigerator that I need to use up before I make anything new. I think tomorrow will be crock pot split pea soup. Unfortunately, that doesn’t use anything out of the freezer, but I don’t want my ham bone to go bad.
Here’s an updated picture of my freezer as of today. Do you see any progress??? One funny thing my 10 year old daughter said to me when she pulled out the package of chicken breast on Saturday. “Mom, I can see all the way to the back of the freezer now!!!” It’s a shame that that shocks my 10 year old. I guess the freezer has been REALLY full for a very long time!
If your new to my blog, I am currently participating in a Freezer Clean Out Challenge. You can read about it here.
Oh, I would so jump into this challenge, if I was in my home. We are currently living in a hotel and waiting on all of our stuff. Beautiful blog and I love your title. I will be checking back for frugal tips as we as a family start a new year with different finances. Blessings!