I was really excited when we decided to do the outside the box Mondays but I was also a little nervous. {If you don’t know what Outside the Box Mondays, it’s a new series where we explore new ways to save money by making things ourselves.} I was excited because there were several things I’ve wanted to try like cornbread mix and making my own laundry soap, but I a little nervous because I normally buy a lot more box mixes then Jamie or Kerry. Also I don’t have a ton of pantry space. If fact, I don’t have a pantry just a few cabinet shelves. So anything I make is going to have to be something we’d eat regularly.
But one thing I do have is freezer space! Which is one of the reasons, I like making and freezing my chicken stock or making freezer meals like Jamie’s Crockpot Chicken Posole. So for my very first outside the box post, I decided to make a stuffing mix you can freeze. So I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book and adapted their old fashioned bread stuffing recipe.
We don’t eat stuffing all the time but I do like using stuffing mix to make my easy peasy meatballs and with some pork chop dishes. Now I’ll always have some in the freezer that is MSG free and saves me some money.
DIY Stuffing Mix (Freezable)
Ingredients
- 13 slices bread
- 2 T. butter or margarine
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Cut bread into small pieces (like 1/4 - 1/2 inch squares) and place into a baking pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes to dry out your bread.
- Meanwhile, finely chop onion and celery. Saute in butter over medium heat until tender.
- Pour vegetable mixture over bread, add poultry seasoning and mix well.
- Divide stuffing into 3 quart freezer bags and freeze.
When ready to cook as stuffing:
- Defrost stuffing mix in fridge for an hour or so.
- Spray baking dish with non-stick spray
- add stuffing mix, 1 T. melted butter and 1/2 Cup chicken stock. Stir.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes.
Notes
- Each package with serve 2-3 people or works as the equivalent to one box of stuffing mix for recipes.
- For my family, I used two packages.
- When using in a recipe defrost for a couple minutes and add to recipe like normal.
Adapted from Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book
Italian Stuffing Mix
Ingredients
- 13 slices bread
- 2 T. butter or margarine
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 medium onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp parsley
Instructions
- Cut bread into small pieces (like 1/4 - 1/2 inch squares) and place into a baking pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes to dry out your bread.
- Meanwhile, finely chop onion and celery. Saute in butter over medium heat until tender.
- Pour vegetable mixture over bread, add poultry seasoning and mix well.
- Divide stuffing into 3 quart freezer bags and freeze.
When ready to cook as stuffing:
- Defrost stuffing mix in fridge for several hours.
- Spray baking dish with non-stick spray
- Add stuffing mix, 1 T. melted butter and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Stir
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes.
Notes
Adapted from Better Homes & Garden New Cookbook
Bonus Tip: To save even more buy bread at an outlet or when on big time sale or use bread that is starting to dry out. To make both the regular batch and the Italian batch it cost me around $4.50.
I don’t know how long this will keep in the freezer as it’s a new thing I’ve been trying out, but best guess is 3-6 months.
Looking for cornbread version? Try Kerry’s Cornbread Stuffing Recipe.
Got any ideas for my next outside the box post?? I’d love to hear them!
Seriously, other than the two I mentioned in the beginning, I have no idea what I want to do!!
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