Will a freezer help?

[VisionaryMom]

We've had some major schedule changes that we're in week 5 of. We're just not getting the hang of things, and we've been hit with a couple of financial whammies that are going to mean I have to take on more work. End result: we don't have enough hours in the day! DS is getting cranky, and we're all running low because we're eating out and having crap food. For those who have a freezer, is it worth it? Did you/will you make up the cost of getting it with the money saved on eating out/impulse food buys?

[Charmie981]

We have a giant upright freezer that I love. It would have cost quite a bit new, but we traded a sleeper sofa that we never used for it and it was definitely worth it. Since I've started freezer cooking, two of my best friends have also bought much smaller freezers than mine and neither of them have regretted it.

The key to freezer cooking and eating is to make the time to defrost the food ahead of time or to make something that can be stored in a bag, dumped into a stockpot, and defrosted in about 30 minutes that way. I find that the only way freezer eating doesn't work for me is when I get so busy that I don't make time to plan what we're eating that night. I've been bad about it lately, but am getting back on track this month.

If you only have one child and a regular freezer, try freezer cooking out for a month by putting away 1-2 meals a week (whatever you have or can make space for) and see if it helps. Then you'll know if a freezer would be beneficial or a waste for your particular family and situation.

[mnnice]

I have a deep freezer and love it. I know it saves me money because I can buy 1/4 of a pastured cow, a whole lamb, freeze some of my garden produce, and stock up on good deals of other frozen items.

That being said I don't know that a freezer helps me get food to the table faster very often. I think good meal planning and a crockpot have been better tools for that my freezer.

[luv-my-boys]

I have a freezer and definately love it. I know for us it has saved money as I tend to only buy meat when something is on sale, so for instance pork chops were on sale so I bought 4 family sized packs. Divided them into usable meal sizes for our family, labeled and dated. It did take a few trips to get a nice stocked freezer selection. I also take advantage of sales on items and freeze. For instance raspberries were $1 a pack. I literally bought 15 packs, washed and froze them on parchment paper. We know have frozen berries for awhile for smoothis, muffins and whatnot.

The key is to remember to defrost items such as meat. Im somewhat bad about this so I try to take out what we will have for tommorrows dinner the night before. That way it sits in the fridge all night defrosting.

If your eating out alot but not really a cook even store bought frozen foods tht you reheat at home can still save you money. For instance a *pizza night* can easily run you $25. But 2 store bought frozen pizzas can be under $10. Oh course your paying for the convenience of the food being already made but it would still be cheaper than eating out.

[Sarah8Jane]

I'm not sure that it will help. Perhaps a little more planning would help you decide whether it would help or not.

I don't have a chest freezer, all I have is the freezer above my fridge, but I'm attempting to "feed my freezer" this fall. We've had to start doing this because this school year we're out of the house a minimum of 12 hours every day (5 am - 5 pm), but we don't care to eat out.

Right now I have in the freezer:
2 lbs of ground beef cooked
meat from 2 roasted chickens
pizza dough
banana muffins
breakfast burritos
frozen waffles

This is in addition to:
a roasting chicken
chicken breasts
frozen green beans, corn, peas
cheddar and mozerella cheese
cottage cheese
ground beef
choppen onions, peppers

By making my meal plan at the start of the week, I know how much rice to cook to cover the whole week (lunches and dinners), as well as how much meat to cook up. This way I only need to cook once and then assemble during the week.

[CameronsMama]

Having a freezer saves us from eating out fairly often! The way I do it is anytime I make something that is easily doubled (lasagna rolls, spaghetti, meatloaf, soups, chili, etc) I make a double (or sometimes triple) batch at one time, then I freeze the extra. It's definitely better if you remember to plan ahead, but I don't always- on nights that I'm like "oops, it's 5:30 and I have no idea what's for dinner" I take something out and heat in the microwave. From frozen to the table in 15 minutes or less (not ideal, but I figure it's better than eating out, right?) I also make things like dinner rolls, muffins, and individually wrapped bean burritos in large batches and freeze to pull out however much I need whenever I need them. I freeze them after fully cooking, so it only takes a few minutes to prepare once they're thawed.

As a pp pointed out, too, you don't have to freeze homemade meals only to make it better than eating out- having a freezer lets you stock up on some healthier premade frozen meals when they're on sale (like one store near me recently had all natural chicken sausage on sale, so I bought a few of those- serve with some rice and a veggie and you've got dinner in about 15-20 minutes).

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by mnnice

I have a deep freezer and love it. I know it saves me money because I can buy 1/4 of a pastured cow, a whole lamb, freeze some of my garden produce, and stock up on good deals of other frozen items.

That being said I don't know that a freezer helps me get food to the table faster very often. I think good meal planning and a crockpot have been better tools for that my freezer.

That.

We have a large chest freezer and then 2 refrigerators with freezers attached. I don't store many actual meals in them, but they're full of meat, veggies and breads.

I'd try meal planning. It works really well for us.

[lmonter]

Considering our upright freezer cost us a whopping $35 on craigslist and our extra fridge/freezer in the garage cost us $75, yeah, worth it. If you had to drop $600-$700 it might be a big tougher to justify it, I'm with you on that. Maybe just see what you can find through a friend-of-a-friend or a dent-and-ding store or craigslist or whatnot.

Our hangup is actually getting chickens out of the freezer enough days in advance to thaw in the fridge before roasting or having completely prepped food ready to go in there (I'm intrigued by the OAMC gal, but half her recipes are not something I'd make or the kids would eat - good ideas though!). Have lots of meat and frozen berries that were picked in season and bread and such in there though - keep ourselves stocked with basic things like that.

[Chicky2]

We have a 20 cu ft upright Crosley that I ! My mom actually bought it for us this past summer. It's the only one you can get that has a 10 yr warranty. They are n.i.c.e! And at $699 it was the best deal I could find, esp. w/the warranty.

Anyway, we've always had an upright, and I don't know what I'd do w/out one. The one we replaced was almost 43 yrs old, and I was getting scared. We thought about getting another one off of Craigslist, but we had done that already and almost lost 2 pigs when it pooped out.

I can stock up on everything and am constantly feeding it doubled meals, or meal starts. I stock up on berries and veggies and we raise our own meats, so I cannot do w/out one. We eat out alot less because I always have something in there we can make in a pinch.