Holiday Grand Plan - Week 2 - In the Thick of It

It's Week 2 of the Holiday Grand Plan, and we're getting right into it with freezer meals and buying extra flour and sugar for baking projects.

This is the week where the real prep occurs, in my mind. This is the week when we start stashing meals in the freezer for those crazy nights in December when cooking - or even just getting to the grocery store - is a major accomplishment.

Normally this is one of those lists where I just cut and paste from last year; however, looking over my notes I realize that the way I cook has completely changed.  My old freezer list has things like meatloaf, lasagne, and chicken pot pie.  I rarely cook those things anymore unless it's a special request.  Just when I was feeling a little deflated about my health and fitness goals because, yes, it's been another week of not really working at it, I realize that there are little changes we've made that have become deeply ingrained habits.

Our healthier way of eating requires me to reconsider these meals and find a few of our new recipes that would work well in the freezer.  Thankfully, Gina over at Skinnytaste has a whole section on freezer friendly recipes.

This week turkey sausage is on sale, so I'm making a double batch of Gina's Baked Sausage and Spinach and freezing half.  I've tried this one before, and it works beautifully. (It's also nice to have on hand when you need to bring a meal to someone on short notice.)

The deep clean room for the week is the living room, which we don't have, so my office is the target.  Every year I feel a little let down that it isn't perfectly clean and organized, but looking around now I realize it is better than it was.  What more can I ask for? 

That, truly, is the point of this exercise; not a picture perfect holiday, but one that is less stressful and frantic, one that lets you hold onto the reason why we bother in the first place.

If you have great freezer meals to share, please leave a comment. 



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