My teenage girls and I took a Saturday last week to fill the freezer with food so that the first few weeks of school wouldn't completely sack us. I posted a pic on Instagram and several of you asked me to share our plan and recipes. Yes, of course! Why reinvent the wheel? We homeschooling moms (we non-homeschooling moms, too!) need each other.

Rolling Meatballs - This amount filled two sheet pans.

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The Back-to-School Freezer Cooking Plan

Waffles
Corn-Dog Muffins
Breakfast Burritos
Smoothie Packs
Cinnamon Rolls
Meatballs
Sour Cream Noodle Bakes
Honey Teriyaki Chicken
Honey Rosemary Chicken
Maple Dijon Chicken

Time: This plan took us 6 hours, including cleaning the kitchen afterwards.

Amounts: Each meal we made will feed 8 of us - 3 adults, 3 teens, 9-year-old and 8-year-old boys. We did double the amounts for the chicken meals, but I did not reflect that in the included shopping lists so that you can make the adjustments you need.

The Workload Breakdown: The 17-year-old made two pans of cinnamon rolls and washed dishes for us before she had to go to work. The 15-year-old made the smoothie packs, bacon for the breakfast burritos, waffles, and took pictures. The 12-year-old made the corn dog muffins, chopped veggies, grated cheese, and washed dishes. I gave them each a choice of what they would like to do and I did the remainder of the cooking and prep. The 9-year-old boy was so disappointed that we were nearly done by the time he came inside that I gave him the job of shooting the little video on how to roll the burritos.

Tip: Keep your expectations of your helpers at a realistic level. Mine can't handle the amount of work I plan to give us all so I know they'll fizzle out sooner than I will, and that's okay.

Put chicken ingredients in freezer bags and freeze flat.

Shopping Lists

Gluten Free? Use this list. The non-gluten free list is below.

note: This list does not include ingredients for cinnamon rolls because, sadly, we haven't found a gluten free cinnamon roll recipe we like.

Baking mix - we use Pamela's Baking Mix
Gluten Free flour (I make our own from the How Can It Be Gluten Free? cookbook)
cornmeal
30 tortillas - I haven't found any gluten free tortillas that roll and freeze well for this purpose so I made the breakfast burritos with flour tortillas for my non-gluten free kids. Let me know if you find a gluten free tortilla that works well. ***If you can't make them with flour tortillas, OMIT 44 of the eggs, 1 lb of bacon, and 1 lb of cheddar from this list.***
1 loaf gluten free bread - we use Udi's
2 bags or boxes of gluten free egg noodles - we use Jovial
52 eggs
2 lbs sharp cheddar cheese
2 sticks butter
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups grated Parmesan
32 oz plain greek yogurt
1 lb bacon
1 package hot dogs - we use Applegate
10 1/2 lbs ground beef - we use Zaycon. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about ordering from Zaycon. We love it!
6 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs - also from Zaycon
24 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 cup chopped carrots
3 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 small-medium onions, depending on how much you like
Italian seasoning and/or fresh herbs of choice
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1/2 + 1/3 c honey
1/4 c ketchup
1/2 c gluten free soy sauce - we use San J Tamari
1/3 c + 2 T olive oil
30 oz. tomato sauce
cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper
frozen fruit of choice (for smoothies)

Non-Gluten Free Shopping List

Baking mix
All Purpose flour (around 6 cups)
cornmeal
yeast (1 packet or 1 T)
1/3 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 3/4 t vanilla
30 tortillas
1 loaf white sandwich bread
2 bags or boxes of egg noodles
54 eggs
2 lbs sharp cheddar cheese
4 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup sour cream
1 oz cream cheese
2 T heavy cream
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups grated Parmesan
32 oz plain greek yogurt
1 c milk
1 lb bacon
1 package hot dogs
10 1/2 lbs ground beef - we use Zaycon. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about ordering from Zaycon. We love it!
6 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs - also from Zaycon
24 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 cup chopped carrots
3 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 small-medium onions, depending on how much you like
Italian seasoning and/or fresh herbs of choice
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
1/2 + 1/3 c honey
1/4 c ketchup
1/2 c soy sauce
1/3 c + 2 T olive oil
30 oz. tomato sauce
cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper
frozen fruit of choice (for smoothies)

The Recipes

Alton's Brown's Waffles of Insane Greatness - when substituting gluten free or regular baking mix, just add 1 cup of the mix and omit the dry ingredients except the sugar.

Corn Dog Muffins - we use the muffin recipe from the How Can It Be Gluten Free? II cookbook, but all you need to do is find a corn muffin recipe you like, cut a piece of hot dog, and sink it into the batter before baking. Mighty Joe loves these in his lunch with a little container of ketchup.

Breakfast Burritos -

Bake 1 lb of bacon in a 500 oven. Cool and chop.

Grate 1 lb of cheddar cheese.

Scramble 44 eggs in 2 sticks of melted butter. Huzzah! Add the bacon pieces and the grated cheese and stir to mix well.

Roll into burritos. To see how to get it done quickly, watch video below.

Smoothie Packs -

Freeze yogurt into ice cube trays. Add frozen yogurt cubes and fruit to quart-sized freezer bags in amounts that look right to you. How's that for exact? When my kids use these for smoothies, they add a milk of their choice and whip it all up.

Cinnamon Rolls - The only cinnamon rolls we make around here!

Meatballs - I make a few adjustments. You can, too, to suit your liking. I use milk instead of water and all ground beef because that's what I normally have on hand. I make bread crumbs out of the fresh white bread.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Honey Teriyaki Chicken - for the slow cooker

Honey Rosemary Chicken - for the slow cooker

Maple Dijon Chicken

Someone has to wash all those dishes . . .

Happy back-to-schooling, however that goes down at your house! With a freezer full of ready-to-go meals, I'm hoping it's smoother sailing for you and yours.

-Kendra