Eat at Home Challenge

We are on a tighter budget this year due to unforeseen medical expenses so I am challenging myself this month to eat at home more. Now I know a lot of you probably already do this, but we still eat out quite a bit even on a budget. My challenge for myself is to cut our estimated eating out budget down significantly this month so that we can put some of that money into CHRISTmas presents.

I decided to get together a list of 25 meals (we are eating at church 3 nights and I did it up until the 23rd) to have this month. Then I decided to go ahead and buy everything we would need for those meals. After doing all of the planning and shopping, I decided to go ahead and freezer prep/cook as much as I could to make life even easier the next 4 weeks since we will be so busy.

What I Did:
I prepped Salisbury Steak - I will only have to thaw and cook and add some rice and veggies.
I prepped Meatloaf - I will only have to thaw and cook and add some potatoes and veggies.
I cooked a pound of meat for Meaty Pizza - I will only have to thaw and toss on the pizza.
I cooked a pound of meat, peppers, and onions for Crockpot Lasagna - I will only have to thaw and toss into the lasagna in the crockpot.
I cooked 2 pounds of spaghetti sauce for Spaghetti and Baked Ziti - I will only have to make the pasta and toss in the sauce (add some cheese to the BZ).
I cooked 4 pounds of chicken for Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Stuffing Pie, and BBQ Chicken Pizza - I will just have to put everything together and bake.
I prepped a bunch of different marinades for chicken - I will only have to thaw and bake and throw together with some rice and veggies.
I prepped a few pounds of plain chicken for a few other recipes.

I am super glad that I won't have too much to do. Most of these things will go in the crockpot or oven and require a few things. NICE.

I will update on how it goes.

I would love to hear your favorite ways to save time and money on recipes. Do you freezer cook, crockpot cook, and/or cook for the week? I would love to hear some great recipes. :)