March Meal Plan & 7, 30 Minute Tasks for Filling the Freezer

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It’s March! It’s March! That means spring is coming. Here’s another month’s worth of menu planning, plus seven more 30-minute tasks for filling the freezer! I hope you are enjoying these posts. I know they are really helping me stay on track.

March Meal Plan with recipe ideas for the entire month and 7, 30-minute tasks for filling the freezer #mealplan #menu #recipes #freezercooking

Monthly Meal Plan & 7, 30 Minute Tasks for the Freezer

Recap from February’s Plan:

While I’ve always tried to cook some meals in huge batches to end up with extra for the freezer, planning my menu in this manner is relatively new for me. I explained the hows and whys in January’s Meal Plan if you need a recap. February’s plan worked pretty well for me. However, I did not end up with eggrolls for the freezer, nor did I make a double batch of the Spinach Enchiladas {though I did make them and I thought they were very good – the rest of the family wasn’t convinced!}. I did end up frozen, pre-cooked bacon, bacon wrapped egg muffins, more cooked beans, chili, beef barley soup, and a couple extra meals of Parmesan Garlic Chicken in my freezer!! This month, I am changing my Friday  category to be crockpot meals instead of pizza as Fridays are pretty crazy days for me and the homemade pizza just isn’t happening on that day. I’m also changing out one other day that wasn’t working so well, either – Souper Saturday. While I knew my family wasn’t huge on soup, I had hoped to convert them. Didn’t happen, so we’ll try something else this month.

Monthly Menu Ideas


Meatless Mondays

Taco Tuesdays

Wing It Wednesdays

Porker Thursday 😀

Slow Cooker Friday

 Ground Beef  Saturday

From the Sea Sunday

Homemade Breakfast Ideas

Seven, 30-minute {or there about} tasks for filling the freezer

I’ve got lots of freezer tasks this month! You can pick and choose your favorite, or visit January or February meal plans to see what else you could do.

1. Cook a whole ham in your crock pot. Eat some for dinner, shred the rest and save in 2 cup portions. Also, freeze {or save for the next night} the ham-bone and juice as well. I usually skim off the fat and save for a delicious, bubbly crock pot full of ham and bean soup.

2. On the night you have tacos, either cook up a big batch of taco meat to save, or cook up a big mess of beans to freeze, or BOTH! Again, freeze the meat and/or beans in meal sized portions.

3. On the night you eat Chicken Oreganto , go ahead and throw two complete meals together and freezer one. I would suggest holding the potatoes. After eating this meal numerous times, I think it’s better to add fresh potatoes the night you cook it.

4. The day you make the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas, go ahead and cook up extra chicken to shred. I either buy organic chicken from a local farmer or from Costco and then slow cook until it falls apart. Freeze the leftovers in 2 cup sized portions.

5 & 6. Choose two of the ground beef meals from the Saturday list and made huge batches to freeze. I like have ground beef based meals in my freezer as I find they are really easy to make and freeze. It’s work for me to add other meals sometimes, which is why I am also focusing on chicken and pork in this meal plan.

7. Bacon Wrapped Egg, Spinach & Cheese Muffins – this is a new recipe for me and one that I promise you freezes very well. Since we don’t do cereal, I can’t tell you how nice it is to have breakfast items that are quick to prepare as well as nutritious. Make up a double batch of these and freeze them! You will be glad you did.

8. BONUS – Also make up extra packets of muffin mixes. It really does cut out a lot of time when you only have to pull a packet out of the freezer instead of gathering all ingredients and measuring and mixing.  I plan to make up 4-5 extra Mix and Match Muffin packets as well.

And that’s it! One month of recipe ideas PLUS tasks to fill your freezer! Have you jumped on the freezer cooking bandwagon yet?? How’s it going for you? What would you like to see more of?

Linking up: MPM; Mostly Homemade Mondays;

About Michelle Marine

Michelle Marine is the author of How to Raise Chickens for Meat, a long-time green-living enthusiast, and rural Iowa mom of four. She empowers families to grow and eat seasonal, local foods; to reduce their ecological footprint; and to come together through impactful travel.

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21 Comments

  1. This is a terrific post. I certainly can identify the need to make changes at times when ‘life takes over’ so to speak. Thanks for sharing all these delicious recipes and for including my deep dish stuffed veggie pizza for #meatlessmonday.

    Have a great week!
    Joanne

  2. What a great recipe collection! Thank you for adding my Breaded Tilapia Parmesan to your Seafood Sunday List. A monthly meal plan is such a fantastic idea! These recipes all look very interesting. Have a great day!

  3. Planning meals like this can just be such a lifesaver when life gets busy! I love your “tasks” for filling the freezer, too – seriously well-organized and brilliantly compiled! And hey – thanks a million for including our Mediterranean Shrimp Pasta! We’re honored to be a part of such a cool post! 😀 Have a wonderful week!

  4. Great group of recipes this month. I think I’m most interested in trying your German pancake and breaded Parmesan tilapia recipes the most.

    1. I’m also excited about that tilapia. I included a different tilapia recipes on my Feb menu plan and is was really, really good! Enjoy the German Pancakes. They have been a long time favorite at my house. 🙂

  5. Thanks so much for sharing my One Skillet Smoked Kielbasa with Green Beans & Potatoes. I found some awesome new recipes on this meal plan!

    1. I actually made this last night, {I know – not even Thursday!}, LOVED it! Thanks so much for a great recipe, Heidy.

    1. I actually made this last night, {I know – not even Thursday!}, LOVED it! Thanks so much for a great recipe, Heidy.

  6. So organized! I can do a week at a time but not a month yet!!

    Thanks for adding my Unstuffed Green Peppers to your meal plan!

    1. Thanks, Jenny. This is the third month for this this new menu format and it really is helping me out a lot. Can’t wait to try your unstuffed peppers. Love that idea since I don’t have fresh peppers in my garden right now. 🙂

  7. What a fantastic post! Believe me, I understand how much work goes into creating meal plans and I know yours will be appreciated by many!

    1. Thanks, Linda. It is a lot of work, but worth it in saved money and pre-planned ideas! It helps me a lot.