And the Journey Begins with Freezer Meals!

Alright, so I didn't just post about my desire to lose weight and then forget about it over the last few days, I've just been deciding what I wanted to post first. 

**As a quick update, I've already lost five pounds.  I'll post later about what I'm doing so far.**

On Saturday, one of my friends, Sarah, invited me on a walk.  She is in much better shape than I am so I know that I slowed her down considerably, especially when we went up a large hill, but about 90 minutes later we were done and I was tired!  It was a great walk and we had great conversation. 
We talked about our personal struggles with weight loss/management and what we were both doing now to help remedy the situation.  I thought a lot about what the biggest culprit of my weight gain is, and it kept coming back to food.  That's obviously not the only problem, but it's one that I can take care of and change now. 
First of all, let me put out there that I'm not a big snacker.  I don't really like cake, brownies, ice cream, cookies etc., so staying away from sweets isn't a huge problem.  However, if you throw a plate of chicken enchiladas in front of me, I'll eat until I can't move.  Or lasagna?  Yes please!  Why not have 3 or 4 servings?  Or when it's late and I've had a long day?  Taco Bell dollar menu here I come!
So knowing that I have this problem, and with classes starting up again this fall (I'm in school to get a degree in math education), and having 30+ piano students on top of that, I've decided that I have to prepare better for meals so that pre-packaged grocery store meals, pizza, and taco bell don't become my main source of food.
Monday through Thursday I won't be at home or I'll be teaching from 8 AM to 7:30 PM.  So I've decided to do home-made freezer meals- quick meals that I can just throw in the crock pot or in the oven.  I got together with my mom, grandma, and sister Alix a few weeks ago and we planned the ones that we wanted and threw together the following:

I shouldn't way "threw together"- it was more work than that- but in the end we ended up with two bags of chicken curry (on the left), two of teriyaki chicken (the brown ones), two of apple cranberry chicken (on top of the teriyaki chicken), two pans of sausage rice casserole, and a meatloaf.  We got the aluminum pans at the dollar store- I think they come three to a package.  I know that this isn't a lot to start, but we plan on getting together once a month and making a bunch of them. 
I'm excited to have these!  I know this will cut down tremendously on our Taco Bell visits and pre-packaged meals.  I know fresh vegetables are ideal, but at least this way we'll be eating more veggies too!

Here's the recipes for the curry, teriyaki chicken, and apple-cranberry chicken.  If you'd like the recipes for the sausage rice casserole and/or meatloaf, leave a comment!

**We made sure that we bought gallon-size FREEZER bags.  There are also STORAGE bags so make sure you have the right ones.**

Teriyaki Chicken
(Makes 2 Gallon-size Bags)

• Split a large bag of Baby Carrots between the 2 bags (We just cut up carrots we already had)
• Chop a red onion into large chunks and split between the 2 bags
• (1) 20oz can UNDRAINED pineapple in each bag (We used pineapple chunks)
• (2) Garlic Cloves chopped per bag
• (2) Chicken Breasts in each bag (We cubed the chicken)
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce in each bag

*Add an additional 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce when you put everything in the crock pot . Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Serve over Rice.

Curry Chicken 

 (Makes 1 Gallon-size bag- you can easily double the recipe for more bags)

•  1 1/2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 Tablespoons curry powder (I put in more because I really like curry)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. garam masala (optional)
• 1 pound cubed chicken thighs or breasts
• 1 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes (can use regular potatoes)
• 1 cup baby carrots (I chop them in half)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 of a chopped zuchinni
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 chicken buillion

*Add one to two cans of coconut milk (depending on how thick or thin you want the sauce- I usually do two) when you put everything in the crock pot.  Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours.  Serve over rice.  You can garnish it with raisins, peanuts and/or cashews.

Cranberry Apple Chicken  

(Makes 1 Gallon-size bag- you can easily double the recipe for more bags)

• 2 medium apples cut into wedges
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1-2 pounds chopped chicken breasts or thighs
• the juice of one and a half lemons
• 1 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca or Arrowroot flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsps honey
• 1 can cranberry sauce or you can use fresh if in season

*Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.  Serve over rice or couscous.

**If you have any great freezer meals that you've done, I'd love to have the recipes!  I'm new to this so any suggestions and/or comments would be greatly appreciated too!**