Freezer Cooking, Step by Step

Here's a breakdown of an afternoon spent freezer cooking.  This will result in three 9 x 13 pans of Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti (or 2 big pans and 2 square pans), with a total of 24 servings.  Yikes that's a lot of food!  I only do this about once a week or every other week. 

1:45--Izzy has been napping for about 30 minutes, and I've just come inside from taking Darcy outside for a bit.  Darcy the basset hound has an abcess and has to be watched carefully this week, so she's staying inside.  Time to start making cheesy chicken spaghetti!  There are plenty of recipes out there, so just check out allrecipes.com and find one to your liking.  Mine is Vicki H.'s fabulous recipe, minus the pimentos (too expensive in my opinion), with a little added Rotel, because everything's better with Rotel.

I begin by simmering the chicken and notice that the recipe says it'll take an hour and a half to simmer.  Oops.  Forgot about that.  Good thing I started dinner ridiculously early. 

Then I cut up onions, celery, and bell peppers.  Except that I cut up extra.  Lots of extra.  The extra goes into freezer bags and is put aside for future meals.  Any scraps are put aside for making chicken stock. 

2:10--I have to decide:  Should I go ahead and dice the Velveeta into cubes or not?  The only compelling reason I have for not dicing the cheese is that I just don't feel like it.  I can't think of a single other reason not to just get it done.  I got 8 hours of sleep last night, so I'm not tired.  We made it to the gym this morning, so I should have plenty of energy (in theory).  I've already had lunch.  I'm not sick or pregnant or nursing or anything else that indicates a need for a nap.  I just don't feel like it doesn't fly as an excuse.  It's just the typical afternoon slump that most of us feel sometime after lunch.  So I fight the urge to be lazy and instead dice the cheese and divide it up into pans. 

2:30--Finished!  Damage to the kitchen is minimal, and the entire thing is clean by 2:45, including handwashing dishes because the dishwasher is running.

2:45--I finally give in to the afternoon slump by grabbing a load of laundry and folding it while watching Veggie Tales:  Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella.  Isabelle watched part of it before naptime and I just have to find out how it ends! 

Here's what's left to do later this afternoon:

• Debone and dice chicken after it's cooked and cooled. (15 minutes)  I was completely off on my estimates!  Everything took much longer!!
• Cook spaghetti (10 minutes, while dicing chicken)
• Cook veggies (10 minutes, while dicing chicken)
• Combine everything in pans (20 minutes, max).  
• Add fresh green beans and there's dinner!

Not a ton of work, but the rewards will be huge.  Looking at our calendar, it seems that the summer months are going to prove busier than the spring, so I'll be glad I put in the effort today.