Hey friends. Welcome back to another episode of the milspouse mastermind show. I have a question for you. Do you struggle to get dinner on the table when your spouse is gone? Maybe they’re deployed or just TDY or working late. And you’re trying to figure out how do I get healthy meals on the table for me and my family?

[00:00:21] How can I do this when I have young kids around or we’re involved in a bunch of activities? Well, today we’re talking about what we can do to make dinner a little bit easier. This is an insanely practical episode that I think you’re really going to love.

Now, before we dive in, I just want to say thank you for everyone who has gone on to iTunes and left us a review. This is how we get found by more military spouses and really get this message of support and encouragement and inspiration out there. So thank you to everyone who has done that for us. I want to share a review from K123, are they right? I love how much truth and purpose is filled in this show. It’s so encouraging and empowering. This message is so needed.

[00:01:11] So thank you to K123 are for saying that. And just a reminder, if you have not yet gone on to leave us a review, please go do that. It means a lot to me and to all of the military spouses who are going to benefit from this podcast. Okay, let’s dive in to the show.

Now, one thing I want to say before we dive in is to remind you that the milspouse mastermind Facebook community is a free online community for you. It’s your place to ask questions, talk about what you’re struggling with and find encouragement and inspiration for your journey as a military spouse.

[00:02:43] And for the entire month of June, we are doing a 30-day clarity challenge. Each day there is a journal prompt with one question that will help get you thinking about what lights you up. What you can do each and every day to pursue that life of purpose, reflect on where you are, who you want to be and what lights you up.

[00:03:07] You can share your answers in the group, or just keep track of them in your own journal. And I guarantee you, if you do this 30 day clarity challenge with us, by the end of the month, you’re going to have so much more clarity about yourself and what living a life of purpose can actually look like for you. If you are having an epiphany along the way, I would love to hear about it.

[00:03:32] You can email me at helloatmilspousemastermind.com. Or send me a DM on Instagram at milspousemastermind or just drop it in a Facebook group. I want to know what epiphany you’re having along the way, what you’re learning about yourself, if you have questions. And more than anything, what you want us to be talking about on the show, this show is for you.

[00:03:58] And so the more that you give me feedback, we will create episodes to help light you up and help you on your journey to purpose and clarity. Now, if you are feeling stuck, if you are ready for that next level of growth in your life, if you are realizing that something’s missing, but you’re trying to put your finger on it, or you’re trying to figure out how to move towards your dream and do it in a way that doesn’t sacrifice your health and sanity.

[00:04:27] Then it’s time to get into one of my get unstuck sessions. In this one-hour call, we will talk about your strengths, your values, your goals, where you’re feeling stuck, so that together we can create a plan of action to get you moving towards your goals and the things that light your soul on fire in the next 30 to 90 days, whether that be in your business and motherhood or in your home.

[00:04:59] It’s really about figuring out what’s not right. What’s not going well. And what tweaks we can make to get you moving in the right direction. To get you focused on your future and building a life you love, a life of meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and showing up as the person you are meant to be. I know what it’s like to feel like you want to move forward in life. But you’re not sure how or what to focus on.

[00:05:24] So if you’re tired of waiting to chase your dreams, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, unclear, or unsure of what steps to take, then let’s hop on a call and get you unstuck. There’s just a couple spots left of these calls at my special summer rate. And when they’re gone, they’re gone. So here’s what you need to do.

[00:05:46] If this is something that is tugging on your heart, send me an email, Christine C H R I S T I N e@milspousemastermind.com. I cannot wait to help you get unstuck and live a life of purpose.

Now let’s talk about how we get healthy dinners on the table. When our spouses deployed, when they’re TDY, when they’re just working a lot of hours and we’re struggling to fit everything into our day.

[00:06:16] My journey to this started about five years ago. At the time my husband was deployed. I was working full-time. I had a toddler. I had an hour commute each way to my job, and I was pregnant with my second child. By the time I got home every night, I was exhausted and I did what so many of us do. And that’s just either throw a bowl of cereal on the table because I’m too tired to do anything.

[00:06:49] Or I bought these bagged freezer meals that I could throw on the skillet and have ready in five or 10 minutes. Now I still use these bagged freezer meals in a pinch. Because they’re so easy, but they’re loaded with sodium and a whole bunch of other ingredients that I can’t even pronounce. So I knew that this was not the healthiest and best option for our family.

[00:07:14] I just didn’t know what to do. So at the time I started reading online, trying to figure out what I could do to get meals on the table. I tried some of these meal services, like hello fresh, where they send you all the ingredients in a box, and then you prepare the meal. And some of them tasted amazing.

[00:07:37] My biggest problem with these services was that it was still at least 30 minutes of meal prep. And with a toddler who had…it was basically through food on the table, get her into bath time and then bedtime routine. And I didn’t have that window of time, even if I hadn’t been completely exhausted to really prepare that healthy meal from scratch.

[00:08:01] Enter freezer meals. Now I know freezer meals can sound daunting because it is a lot of work at one time. But this was a game changer for me and my family.

So what are freezer meals? Essentially, it’s where you take a period of time, like a Saturday or a Sunday. Whenever you have a block of time and make a bunch of meals, stick it in the freezer, and then you can have those ready made for when you’re having those crazy days where you struggle to get dinner on the table.

[00:08:36] What we’re going to do today is talk about how you get started with freezer meals. You may be a little hesitant and say, yeah, that’s not for me. I don’t love to cook. But I promise you, I don’t love to cook either actually. I kind of really enjoyed cooking before I had kids, but once I had a bunch of littles running around, it was no longer a relaxing process.

[00:08:59] It’s like the most stressful process. And if your kids are anything like mine, they get to that period in the afternoon. And that’s when they just kind of lose it. I call it the witching hour. It was so hard, especially when they were a little bit younger, to actually do anything when they were at their most emotional point of the day.

[00:09:22] Just listen to this episode, I promise you, you’ll probably get something out of it. And I may convince you to give it a try. So what I want to do is talk about my top seven tips for trying a freezer meal prep day. Then I will give you my process. And if you stay to the end, I have a special gift for you, to get you started.

[00:09:45] All right. So tip number one. Start small. Do not try to do a full blown freezer meal weekend on your first try. Now I say this because I have been doing this for several years now. I’ve even gone as far as being able to make like 45 meals in one weekend. But that is not where I started.

[00:10:13] And that’s not where I want you to start, because if you try to go too big on your first try, you will probably give up. Start small.

Number two, there’s two main types of freezer meals. There are your crock pot meals where you put everything that you’re going to throw in the Crock-Pot in a bag and it gets frozen.

[00:10:38] And then you just pull that out the night before in the morning, you can just toss it in your crockpot. The other method is to prep casseroles, and then freeze the casserole. You can then pull it out of the freezer and just stick in the oven. I have done both of these, and I will tell you that your crockpot meals are way easier. That is a better place to start.

[00:11:00] The casseroles, I think, are more convenient when I haven’t planned ahead. And I forget to start something that morning and I’m like, oh, okay. What are we doing for dinner? It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. I can just stick the casserole in and we’re good. But I will say that the dump meals are much better place to start.

[00:11:24] My third tip is to find meals your family will eat. This may take some trial and error. But I’m pretty sure that you at least have an idea of what your kids will eat and won’t eat. There are a ton of resources available online. If you want that one stop-shop approach to finding freezer meals, there are entire websites. People have entire businesses devoted to helping you put freezer meals on the table.

[00:11:46] However, my thing was, when I started looking at some of these recipe kits with all of your grocery lists included, I realized there were some meals that probably would not get eaten in our home. So I went ahead and I created my own menu and this took some more work.

[00:12:13] But I’ve been able to use this same plan multiple times. So it’s saved me in the long run. After my first freezer meal session, I made note of which dishes worked well for our family and which ones did not. And now I just keep adding to that list and try a few new recipes each time to see what stays in the rotation and what gets tired.

[00:12:42] My fourth tip use frozen veggies. Now I know it may not be quite as beneficial health wise as using fresh vegetables, but it is so much more time consuming to chop up all your fresh vegetables, whether it be your onions, your carrots, your celery, sweet potatoes, or squash, or whatever the meals that you’re making calls for.

[00:13:07] I have tried it with fresh vegetables, but so many of those vegetables you can find pre-chopped for you in the freezer meal section of your grocery store. The frozen diced onions were a game-changer for me when I finally found them. I was like, no more of this making my eyes completely water while I’m trying to chop this onion. I’m just putting the frozen diced onions in my meals.

[00:13:34] So if you’re trying to think about how much time do I actually have to do this, getting pre chopped frozen vegetables is going to save you a lot of time and effort in your day. My fifth tip, use grocery pickup or delivery. Now, this is funny because I actually started doing grocery pick up for my freezer meal sessions four years ago, before grocery pickup was even a big thing.

[00:13:58] They had just introduced it at my grocery store. And I was like, this, I’m trying this because I’m tired of going to the grocery store, getting all these different ingredients and having this huge cart full, along with my kid that I’m trying to take to the checkout. So that was also a game changer for me and, up until last summer, when we moved, I had basically stopped grocery shopping on a regular basis. Except if we needed a couple of items, I had just only done grocery pickup.

[00:14:20] We moved last summer to an island. They don’t have grocery pickup here. So I actually just attempted my first freezer meal session since we’ve been living here. I haven’t done a freezer meal session and almost a year, but a couple of weeks ago I sat down and I just did a full-up casserole session, which we talked about difference between Crock-Pot meals and casserole meals.

[00:14:47] The casserole meals are more time intensive, but in one day I made 20 casseroles that are now in my deep freezer. And I did it all while going to the commissary, which is usually out of a lot of things, but for some magical reason, they had almost every single ingredient that I needed to make those casseroles, which was great.

[00:15:15] I just stuck with either frozen chicken breast or ground beef and was able to make a ton of meals just with those two meats. So if you have the option to do grocery pickup or delivery, that will save you a lot of time and effort as well.

[00:15:39] My sixth tip is to do as much prep work as you can the night before your prep day. So a lot of times that looks like, if I’m doing my crockpot meals, I lay out all of my bags and label everything. I go ahead and get out all of the spices and condiments that I’m going to use for the day, so that everything is ready to go. And I can just wake up, start cranking food out and get it done.

[00:16:04] All right. My last tip is that if you’re going to do freezer meals, sometimes it’s almost just as easy to double it. Instead of making five, you got 10. or if you’re going to make 10 different recipes, you end up with 20 and that’s enough for almost an entire month, which is magical.

[00:16:33] Now, one caveat before we get into my freezer meal day process is if you are solo parenting. If your spouse is deployed, if they’re gone, if they’re not around and they cannot help you on this date and you have kids that are still little. There are options. I have tried all of them. Sometimes it’s just saying, okay, today they’re going to get a little extra time watching the TV.

[00:17:01] It’s not every day that they’re going to spend this much time in front of the TV, but I just need to be able to focus and get this done. Or I’ve also worked out or I was able to have a friend come and watch my daughter while I was working on the meals. Very thankful. She knew my husband was gone and she was like, yeah, I will come help out so that you can get those freezer meals made, or you could do it with a friend, or you could alternate you watch your friends kids while they do stuff. And then. They watch your kids while you get the freezer meals done. There’s, there’s a lot of ways. I mean, you could even just hire a babysitter if you have the resources to do so, but don’t use that as an excuse to say, I can’t get healthy meals on the table for my kids. If my spouse is gone.

[00:17:56] Alright. Let’s dig into my actual process of what I do when I’m doing a freezer meal session. Okay. Number one, put the date on the calendar. If you just say, oh, let me see. When I have a free day, it’ll keep getting pushed down the road because I’ll be honest. It’s not my favorite thing to do. But I love it because it sees me so much time and effort later on.

[00:18:22] And it’s totally worth it for me to give up one Saturday. If it means I’m going to have a lot easier time getting dinner on the table for the next two to three months. So then once I have that date on the calendar, my next step is to figure out which meals I’m going to make. And then I take those recipes, make a list of all the ingredients I will need.

[00:18:46] And then I figure out which of those ingredients I already have at home, especially like my spices and my condiments. And then which ingredients a need to be purchased. Then I create my whole grocery list. Then the next thing, and this is probably the most important part of your whole thing, is to create a day of prep guide.

[00:19:10] This is going to save you so much time on the actual freezer meal prep day. So if you have 10 things that need to be done, there’s probably a certain order that you can do that in. That’s going to make it go so much quicker. If you just go recipe by recipe, by recipe, it’s going to take you a lot longer then if you say, okay, And this needs to be cooked first.

[00:19:40] So I’m going to do that first. Then I’m going to get all of my vegetables chopped, because they didn’t have this frozen vegetable. I had to get it fresh. And so I’ve got to chop it. So that’s going to happen next Let’s just say that you’re just doing crock pot meals. Your day of prep guide is going to say, Hey, I’m just going to go through, I’ve already labeled my bags.

[00:20:02] Now I’m going to put all of my meat in my bags. Now I’m going to put all of my sauces on top of there, and then I’m going to top it with my vegetables or beans or whatever else is going to go in that dish. So when you’re batching, what you’re doing each step of the way. It’s going to make the whole process go much, much quicker.

[00:20:22] You’re going to create your recipes. You’re going to figure out what you already have, and what your grocery list needs to be. You’re going to create your day of prep guide, and then you’re going to go grocery shopping. Whether that be putting in the order online, or you want to go buy in bulk at Costco, or you’re going to go to the store or you’re just going to have it all delivered, whatever it is.

[00:20:47] The ingredients to your home, then either the day before or the day of print out all the recipes. So you can see everything that you’re making. Label all your bags, layout, everything, and then you’re ready to begin. Now. I said earlier that I was going to help you get started. And so what I’ve done is create a list of 10 easy freezer meals, crockpot meals that you can make at one time,

[00:21:10] You can even double this and wind up with 20 if you want. You may look at that list and say, Hey, my family is not going to eat this, this and this. So don’t make those recipes. Just find the recipes, pick at least five. And my recommendation would be to double whatever that is.

[00:21:34] So you’re going to need the amount that is listed in the recipe, and then you’re going to pick a day and get started. So here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to print off the recipe sheet and I’ll tell you where to get it in just a second. You’re going to figure out which of those recipes you’re going to make.

[00:21:52] You’re going to make a list of what ingredients you have on hand, what you need to get at the store. So you have your grocery. And bonus for you. I’ve already created the prep guide for you to make alternatives. So if you decide to make all of the recipes that are included in the guide, you’ll get the day of prep guide to note which order you need to do each thing in.

[00:22:15] And then you’re going to make freezer meals. And I guarantee you, if you take the time to do this and just knock it out, it’s going to save you so much time and effort and energy on the backend. You’ll be able to get healthy meals on the table for your family, that don’t take a lot of time and effort on the day.

[00:22:42] This is my best tip for you. If your spouse has gone, if they can’t be there to help, if you’re just struggling to get dinner on the table every night, because you’re running to so many activities, the crockpot freezer meals are going to be a game changer for you. So the link to download your 10 easy freezer meals with day of prep guide is in the show notes.

[00:23:08] Or you can head over to the web. I’ll also link it in our Facebook group. Just head over to milspousemastermind.com. I am so excited to hear if you tried it and what you think. So either email me, put it in the Facebook group, send me a DM. Let me know if you tried it and what it was like for you. Thank you again for tuning in to the milspouse mastermind show.

[00:23:37] I know this was not as much on the purpose side of things. But I think sometimes we just need to figure out our daily, weekly, monthly schedules and practical things we can do to make life easier, especially in a challenging season of life. So this was a game changer for me and I hope it will. For you as well.

[00:24:00] I can’t wait to hear how this works for you. And if you decide to try it, please let me know. Just a reminder. There are only a couple of those get unstuck one hour sessions available. So if that is something that is peaking your interest, then me an email christine@milspousemastermind.com.

[00:24:23] I am excited for you. I’m cheering for you. I am praying for you until next time. May you live filled, fueled and full of joy.