New Things

About a month ago, an acquaintance (Holly, who I've met a few times and we're friendly, but she's in a different ward, so we don't see each other frequently) sent out a group email asking if anyone was interesting in doing a freezer meal group with her.  I've always wanted to learn how to make freezer meals, so I volunteered.  

Holly sent out texts figuring out a time when everyone could meet (first Thursday of the month) and there was quite a bit of time before our first meeting, so I mostly forgot about it.

Until she sent out a text last week saying we were meeting that week and everyone should prepare five meals.  And I was like, "Wait, whaa....???"  I quickly emailed Holly asking what exactly this freezer group entailed because I had no idea.  Bless her, she called me that day and explained: they used to get together and make meals together (which is what I was picturing), but it took hours and hours, so now they just make meals on their own, get together, and swap meals so you get the variety.

I'd unknowingly signed up to make five freezer meals for a bunch of strangers!  And I'd never made a freezer meal before!  Fortunately, Holly also gave me a quick run-down on what works and doesn't work in this strange new world (she said most recipes are fairly forgiving and to not stress about it too much; that was nice to hear!).  I finally decided I'd make my Mom's enchilada recipe (which I subsequently learned was my Grandma's recipe!).  I knew I was supposed to prepare five meals, but I figured while I was doing that, I'd make one to go in my own freezer, and one to eat that night.  So...(does some quick math in my head)... seven meals!  No sweat!  (Plenty of sweat.)

But I managed to break it down pretty well, I thought.  On Tuesday night I browned seven pounds of hamburger while Craig was at church with the big kids.  On Wednesday night I chopped up five large onions.  (I learned recently that keeping a cup of water near the onion will keep you from crying, so for that night I used the cup of water AND my goggles!)  Thursday morning I washed all the pans I would be using.  And then Thursday afternoon I put everything together!  I weighed everything to make sure the portions were accurate (this was also necessary because I was using larger cans of tomato sauce and soup, so I had to measure those to get the right amounts) (also, pro tip: a pound of hamburger does NOT weigh a full pound once it's been cooked!).

Getting all set up

Once I got going, assembling them all went pretty smoothly.  Enchiladas are a pain because they make such a mess, but there really wasn't a whole lot more mess from making seven of them as opposed to making just one!  After about two pans, I figured out that each would hold about 11 enchiladas, so then I would count out the tortillas ahead of each batch, which was also helpful.  

And here we are!

So there are six pans, and one was in the oven cooking away!  It worked great!

At some point mid-week, I figured out that our group had five people in it including me, so I really only needed to bring FOUR meals to share.  So I had an extra.  But we have a family in our ward going through some really difficult stuff, so it made perfect sense to give them the extra meal.  Done!

We all exchanged our meals that night, so now I still have a pan of enchiladas for another night, plus BBQ pork chops, cilantro lime chicken, Korean beef tacos, and pulled pork.  We should be eating good for the next few weeks!  I think I'm a fan!  Now we'll see if I can come up with something for next month...