Feb 13, 2017

You guys. I can’t even tell you how happy I am right now. Tired, yes, but happy. And not like the kind of happy you are when someone hands you a free donut you weren’t expecting, but true joy that only comes from previous suffering that really makes you appreciate how good you’ve got it. Such is the bliss that is freezer meals.

Saturday morning I woke up early and planned out a bunch of meals, maybe 8-10 different dishes. I made a huge long grocery list and went shopping for all of it (with both kids and a big pregnant belly, somebody get me a medal or something). Bought extra tupperware and freezer bags and did everything I needed to do to prep for today.

Then this morning at 10am I started washing veggies and by the time my mother-in-law came over around 10:30am we hit the ground running and work work worked until about 4pm prepping and cooking alllllll the meals. Our good friend Paige came over and helped out a lot too. We chatted and cooked and cleaned up and washed the same big bowls and pots and my one ladle a billion times until finally the last meal was finished.

My mother-in-law left around 4pm and then Paige and I cooked some extra taco meat to freeze too. Paige stayed and even played with the kids for a while and Olivia drew her pictures and Felix followed her around until she had to leave around 5:30pm. Then I soldiered on and heated up some leftovers for dinner tonight and covered up the last of the freezer meals and got them packed up and in the fridge.

The delivery guys came and brought our new standing freezer (like a full-sized fridge, but it’s all just a freezer). They set it up and plugged it in, so it’s all ready to go. Yay! It needs to be running for 24 hours before it’ll be cold enough to freeze the food, so all the meals are just sitting in my fridge right now in the meantime.

When we were all done, Paige and I counted it all up and I think I have about 30 dinners worth of meals all ready to go. There’s stew and enchiladas and stroganoff and chili and chicken curry and salsa swiss steak and shredded beef tacos and homemade mac and cheese and black bean soup and I can’t even remember what else, but it’s a lot and it all smells and tastes delicious.

When Bryan got home at 6pm Olivia had already set the table and dinner was all ready to go. We ate together and had family night and did bedtime stuff and got the kids to bed by 7:30pm for the first time in way too long. No big meltdowns. And because my super kind friend started picking Olivia up from school today, Felix was able to sleep an extra hour past when I usually had to wake him up and, as a result, he was a much happier guy and I got a lot more done. Plus it gave me a change to focus on Olivia when she got home instead of having to do damage control on a super fussy Felix.

So yes, all my dreams came true and I am so so so incredibly grateful for all the people who helped make those dreams a reality today. Here’s to you and your dreams and making them come true too.