12 Days of Holiday Giveaways
Welcome to Freezer Meal 101’s first annual 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways.
We wanted to thank you for your loyalty, support, and encouragement this year. 
You may have noticed that we are just a wee bit passionate about freezer cooking. That’s because it is not over-exaggerating to say that freezer meals have changed our lives.
Sharla’s thoughts…
“Busy doesn’t come close to describing my life back before I discovered freezer cooking. At that time, we were foster parents and between our kids and sweet fosterlings, we had 5 kids ages 5 and under.
Yep, you read that right.
Diapers, sleepless nights, sticky fingers on my walls, piles of laundry, and general chaos described my days. I loved taking care of the kids, but I could not figure out how to stay on top of the house and keep them fed. I felt like I was drowning.
I tried meal planning, but my “good intentions” went mouldy in the crisper. I tried prepping for dinner while the kids napped, but sometimes discovered that I didn’t have all the ingredients and would have to pack the kids up and walk to the store.
Nothing was working.
Many days, 4:00 would roll around and I would realize that I once again had no idea what to make for dinner. I didn’t hate cooking (I quite enjoyed it actually), but I did hate figuring out what to make every day.
We had a pizza delivery magnet on our fridge that got used often (I don’t even like pizza!), a to-go pasta place that a lot of our grocery budget went towards, and sometimes, popcorn was considered a meal.
This was not sustainable and I knew it.
I was beyond overwhelmed.
By the time I stumbled onto the idea of making meals in batches and freezing them, our family had grown even larger and included some kiddos with special needs, so not only did I have more people to feed, I was also juggling a multitude of appointments.
The feeling that first week after I had made the meals is a bit hard to describe. Opening the freezer door and seeing that the decisions had already been made, no groceries were needed, the work was already done was…
RELIEF.
It was like there was a break in the storm of the chaos.
While I still had a pile of laundry, a chaotic schedule, and things were not easy, I no longer had to worry about dinner. Taking just that one thing off my plate (😂) made everything else feel manageable.
And little did I know back then that life would someday be more chaotic because of what the future held including some severe health challenges for two of our daughters…
Fast forward a number of years to when Christie and her family moved in two doors down. She also did freezer meals so we decided to try to get together and make them. The rest, as they say, is history!”
(more on how Christie and I came to be doing this together below)
Christie’s thoughts…
“I was a young newlywed, working full time. My husband often worked late, so I was primarily responsible for the cooking. The transition of cooking for just myself (which sometimes meant popcorn for supper) to cooking for a spouse soon made me realize that thinking of what to make for supper every day after work was… taxing. One day, I saw a notice in our church bulletin saying that there would be ladies coming to do a demonstration of how to prepare freezer meals to promote their new book “The Big Cook”.
I sat in the church meeting room to see three women at a long table with six freezer bags open and a few chicken breasts in each bag. I watched them add ingredients for a sauce in a large bowl (six times worth!) and stir and then evenly pour the sauce over the chicken. They zipped up the bags and the whole thing took less than five minutes!
And the penny dropped.
I could see the massive value in time saved instantly. Over the next few years, I would come to understand how much money I saved and the best part: how much mental load making freezer meals saved me.
Eventually we started a family and decided we needed more space. As providence would have it, in 2011, our family moved to an acreage a few minutes out of town. I got to meet my new neighbour, Sharla, who only lived two doors down! She had seven kids and homeschooled, so there was always someone for my own children to play with. We became fast friends and discovered early on that we both made freezer meals!”
Our story…
The first time we decided to tackle making freezer meals together, we carefully suggested recipes to each other, both being very agreeable to trying each other’s tastes.
It was foreshadowing of our future working relationship!
Sharla took the lead on making the shopping list because she had the most experience making freezer meals, and we agreed to do the assembly at her house as she had more children than I did.
I walked into her home and saw all the recipes laid out at “assembly stations” with the required ingredients. She was so organized! She had also stayed up late the evening before and prepared the freezer bags by writing the recipe title and cooking instructions on all of them with a Sharpie.
I think we made 80 or so meals that first time.
The next time we got together for another session, I definitely wanted to contribute to the organization more by making labels for our meals. With my background in office administration, I was able to quickly whip up labels for our planned meals, complete with cooking instructions.
In those early days, we would assemble meals, dance to music, have heartfelt talks, mother our children and do football touchdown dances whenever we emptied a sheet of its labels. 
We learned a lot along the way, too. About each other, about life and about freezer meals.
At the time, Sharla was running her blog, The Chaos and the Clutter. She was attending blogging conferences and building her website to help families by providing trauma-sensitive and sensory processing resources.
I was at home with my children, but also spent some time working in engineering offices from time to time. Freezer meals were still SO important in our busy lives.
And we were getting better at them.
Those little tips and tricks that we pass along today in our videos, all started in her kitchen! And the best part? The meals tasted so darn good!
Sharla has that special quality that foodies have – she knows what is going to taste good together! She has an excellent palate and we’re both pretty great cooks.
Over the next few years, Sharla started a blog about freezer meals (this very one!) and then created the Freezer Meals 101 Club with the idea of building a website that could help people easily create meal plans, personalized shopping lists, and prep lists.
We knew how beneficial freezer meals were to our lives. She wanted to bring freezer meals to the world so that other families could have the benefit of a freezer full of meals!
The time-saving, money-saving and sanity-saving benefits could be for others too!
She started the Freezer Meals 101 YouTube channel to teach people how to make freezer meals, and after a year and a half, managed to convince me to join her. She was busy enough to need some administrative help and I was more than happy to jump in front of the camera in her new channel.
Fast forward to today:
We have almost 40,000 subscribers on YouTube, over 46,000 group members in our Facebook group and 170,000 followers on our Facebook page.
Freezer Meals 101 is growing more every day and we genuinely are grateful and humbled.
We continue to find ways to push the boundaries of what freezer meals can be.
We love our viewers, our group members, and our Club members. We receive emails daily of how freezer meals are changing people’s lives! They say they couldn’t have done it without us.
But we couldn’t have done it without them! Without all of you…
That’s why we are thrilled to host our first annual 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways as a way of saying thank you!
Day 1: Sedhoom Vegetable Chopper
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 1
We love this vegetable chopper. When you’re chopping 40 cups of onions at a time for a mega session, a tool like this makes a big difference!
You can find it in our Amazon shop.
Day 2: One Year Freezer Meals 101 Club Membership
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 2
Actually making freezer meals can be overwhelming. The planning, choosing recipes and knowing which ones will freeze successfully and still taste good, creating the shopping list, figuring out what to prep ahead, it can all feel daunting. The Freezer Meals 101 Club is our solution.
The Club make freezer cooking do-able for everyone. It simplifies the planning and takes out the guesswork.
With the Club, you’ll take our tried and true recipes and create your own custom meal plans (including being able to change the serving sizes) and it will make your shopping list, prep list, and… even printable labels for all the meals with the cooking instructions.
Suddenly, freezer meals just became a whole lot more attainable!
Before you know it, your freezer will look like ours!
Did you know that you can give the gift of freezer meals this year? Check out our One Year Membership gift option.
Day 3: Cuisinart Electric Can Opener
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 3
We discovered pretty early on in our freezer cooking journey that if you’re going to be making 100+ meals at a time, your wrists will start to dread the “can heavy” recipes. Getting an electric can opener was a game changer!
Plus, some of our kids think it’s fun to use so we almost never have to open cans anymore!
Our favourite was made by WestBend, but they stopped making it many years ago so the Cuisinart is the best we’ve found since then.
You can find it in our Amazon shop.
Day 4: Grocery Saving Tips for Freezer Cooking eBook (3 Winners!)
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 4
Freezer cooking is already a huge money saver, but over the years, we’ve discovered even more tips and tricks on saving money at the grocery store which we compiled into an eBook for you.
In Grocery Saving Tips for Freezer Cooking, you’ll find the best tips for filling your freezer for less!
Day 5: Set of Cushioned Anti Fatigue Kitchen Mats
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 5
Standing on your feet for hours while you assemble meals can lead to some sore feet! We wish we would have discovered these anti-fatigue mats sooner. Since they come in a set of two, I keep one over by the sink for when I’m doing dishes and one where we stand when we’re assembling the meals.
You can find these in our Amazon shop.
Day 6: Set of our Favourite Measuring Spoons
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 6
All measuring spoons are not created equal. We love, love, love these ones because not only are they sturdy and include a half tsp. (😮 not all measuring spoons do!), but they are shaped in such a way that you can fit them into many spice jars!
You can find the best measuring spoons ever in our Amazon shop.
Day 7: $100 Amazon Gift Card
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 7
With an Amazon gift card, you can choose your own prize. Whether you want to pick up something special for yourself or choose a gift for someone else, there is a lot to choose from!
If you’re looking for quirky, fun, or out-of-the-box ideas, check out our Amazon Gift Guide.
Day 8: Freezer Meals 101 Apron
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 8
Yep, you can be one of only 3 people in the world (Christie and I being the other 2!) to have your very own Freezer Meals 101 apron!
We plan to someday create a shop where we offer these and some other Freezer Meals 101 related merchandise. Let us know what items you’d like to see there.
Day 9: Slow Cooker Freezer Stack Bundle (3 Winners!)
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 9
Our Slow Cooker Freezer Stack Bundle includes the Slow Cooker Freezer Stack, Slow Cooker Take Two Stack, and Summer Slow Cooker Freezer Stack. Each PDF includes recipes, shopping lists, prep lists, and printable labels with the cooking instructions.
Using these makes it easy to stack your freezer with freezer to Crock Pot recipes the whole family will enjoy.
Day 10: Bliss Collection Daily Planner Sheets
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 10
I love these daily planning sheets for so many reasons. With the “You can do it!” at the top, I feel like I’ve got my own personal cheerleader rooting me on every day. I also appreciate the little details like the visual clock, water intake, meal planner, gratitude, and top 3 achievements so you can celebrate those wins.
Find these in our Amazon Gift Guide.
Day 11: Slow Cooker Liners (3 Winners!!!)
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 11
Save the heavy cleanup of those stuck on meals with slow cooker liners.
You can find slow cooker liners and some of our other kitchen favourites in our Amazon shop.
Day 12: Aqua Notes and One Year Freezer Meals 101 Club Membership
12 Days of Holiday Giveaways – Day 12
I’ve been using Aqua Notes for years. In a house with 9 people, it’s not easy to find peace and quiet. Except when you’re in the shower!
What I love about Aqua Notes is that they allow me to get my thoughts down on (waterproof) paper while they’re still fresh in my mind. And the winner of the Aqua Notes will also get what we consider the most valuable prize, one year of membership in the Freezer Meals 101 Club.
The Club makes it easy to get your freezer stacked so you can relax!
Thank you for participating in our 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways. We appreciate you.
