Filling the freezer

Christmas tree sales were strong enough this year that we were able to fill the freezer with a side of beef and a side of pork. That's obviously going to help me stick to a scaled-back grocery budget for 2011 : ) Now that the freezers are full, it's going to require a little planning to use everything up in a timely manner and not let anything get lost in the corners of the deep freeze.

Yesterday Patience read a story (to me) about a man and his cat (Mr. Putter & Tabby) who made soup. That got me thinking that we could easily make soup, too, just like in the book! We used the "meaty soupbones" from our freezer, added all the vegetables that the book mentioned, and, viola! Dinner on a dreary day!

A new favorite for our family is cheeseburger pizza. I really like it because we're not using processed meat which is unhealthy and which sometimes the Littles complain about being too "hot." Here is dinner from a few nights back, before they were cooked:

Here is the funny part. I made a large one and a small one. Dylan wasn't home for dinner so it was just the 6 of us, but the large pizza fed all of us! The small one went into the fridge for the next day. I remember not too long ago when I'd have to make at least 4 pizzas if I wanted leftovers.