I learned a VERY important lesson about Freezer Meal Day today: It’s not much fun without a friend.
I got a text no friend wants to get on the morning of Freezer Meal Day. Tiffany’s daughter wasn’t feeling well and we were going to have to do our freezer meals in our own homes. Alone.
I kind of panicked because I count on Tiffany’s daughter (4) to keep Alyssa (2) occupied while we cook. And this particular day, I had planned three particularly labor-intensive meals. Despite having already made the pasta sauce, having cooked the chicken for the taquitos, and having cooked the beans and rice for the cilantro-lime chicken casserole, I knew my to-do list was very large. And did I mention I’m on day 4 of a cold? Not fun.
Thankfully, Mickey Mouse came to the rescue. I was able to put together my pasta and my Cilantro-Lime Chicken Casserole in an hour and a half (aka two Mickey Mouses and a Jake and the Neverland Pirates).
(Above: I always halve my portion of pasta or lasagna so we can get two meals out of it since the kids are little and we can still do that.)
Since I don’t like to keep the TV on for long with Alyssa, and an hour and a half was already more than I normally do, I decided to take a break. But then Alyssa asked to play with play-doh. That allowed her to occupy herself for the most part while I slowly started on the Baked Chipotle Ranch Chicken Taquitos.
This took about an hour I’d say – but it’s hard to say because I was interrupted just about every 1-2 minutes toward the end. Nevertheless, I was able to finish the 32 taquitos.
(Here they are getting ready to be put in the freezer to flash-freeze them prior to being put in zip-top bags.)
Tiffany hasn’t sent me any photos of her Chicken Tortilla Soup, Meatball Subs, or Ranch Burgers, but she did email me to tell me that she wasn’t having that much fun doing Freezer Meal Day alone either.
Doing Freezer Meal Day without a friend is like cooking for 3 hours straight. Okay, so it IS cooking for 3 hours straight.
Doing Freezer Meal Day WITH a friend is like having 3 hours of girl talk with the benefit of ready-to-eat meals!