4 Weeks To Fill The Freezer: Day 1

Last night Money Saving Mom announced a new challenge for the month of May:  Freezer Cooking.   I was giddy!  ;)   I had already posted my menu for the week, and I honestly had NO plans of freezer cooking this week because I had done a lot of freezer cooking last week, and I was tired.

However, when she posted her plan for this week, which consisted of all breakfast foods, I began to change my mind.  I've been wanting to try some new freezer breakfast ideas.  Plus, the thought of getting all the baking done before it gets to be triple digits out is quite appealing.

On her plan, today was her favorite banana bread recipe, which I had honestly been dying to try.  (I've followed her blog for quite some time and I've seen her post it in the past and it looked lovely!)  When I went to Albertsons today, I found a 25lb. bag of flour on clearance, and some bananas that were just beginning to get overripe.   I thought someone was trying to tell me something....

I bought them, and fully intended to wait until tomorrow to make the bread, but then when I glanced at my menu, I realized that tonight was the night that I had to bake my freezer dinner (not tomorrow like I thought), so while I already had the oven on, I figured I would go ahead and whip some up.

So, the stars aligned to overcome my reluctance to bake today, and I must say I'm glad!

This is my oldest helping me mash up the bananas.  They were a bit on the stiff side, and she likes the messy work!

I doubled the recipe, but actually got three loaves out of it.   I think they are a bit on the shallow side, but I was afraid they would rise more than that so I didn't want to fill them too full.

I made the slices nice and thick, though.  I got 26 slices out of all three loaves.  My husband already had one and he loved it!  I think they came out much better than the recipe we normally make in the bread machine, and the sides weren't nearly as hard and chewy.


I just told you about the Live Below The Line Challenge I will be participating in next week, and this will be on the breakfast menu, so I've already calculated the total cost to make the recipe--I won't bore you with all of the math--and divided it by the number of slices  (you can see my calculator up there in that top picture).

The whole recipe (doubled for two loaves) cost me roughly $4.05 to make.  I took that number and divided it by 26 slices, and that came out to just $0.16 per slice!

Now, remember that when those Starbucks pastries are calling out to you at $2.50 a pop!  ;)


I'm not sure if I'll be doing any baking tomorrow, since the exterminator is kicking me out of my house for a few hours  (grocery ad posts will be a bit late for that reason as well), but we'll just see how it goes!