Saving On Groceries

So a post I see frequently on some of my Facebook groups for budgeting concerns cheap meals, and or cutting back drastically on groceries. The most expensive expenses for most family are Mortgage/Rent, a car payment and/or the grocery budget! By cutting back on how much you spend in the grocery store, you can use your savings to pay off other bills or let it grow into a savings or rainy day fund!
One of the strategies I use to save money is to have several set meals I make every month without fail that my family loves that are extremely cheap to make! In the Fall/Winter I focus on large pots of tasty soups/stews, chilies, and one dish style crock pot meals which yield many servings, freeze well, and give us a healthy variety without breaking the bank! It's also great to have handy meals ready to go when it's the middle of the week and you just don't feel like cooking anything!
I freeze my soups in FREEZER SAFE mason jars, but you could also use plastic containers. I don't like to use plastic because tomato based soups tend to stain the plastic.
I rarely have issues with my glass jars, because I refrigerate my soups overnight in my crock pot BEFORE I ladle into my jars. The biggest causes of glass breaking would be either temperature shock or overfilling, so avoid that and you'll be good 9/10. The only other cause I can think of would be a defect or small crack in the glass that later breaks under the pressure of the expanding liquid as it freezes.
My family's top 3 freezer favorites are chicken chili, taco soup, and chicken broccoli and rice. Now, I don't really have recipes for these, I just know what I throw in to my crock pot and it turns out amazing so...I'll type a rough recipe for each.

Chicken Chili
1 bag Frozen Chicken breasts
2 small cans green chilies
1 large onion, chopped
1 bag frozen corn
6 to 8 cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained really well
Cumin, Garlic powder, Onion powder
Salt & Pepper
Put the chicken in the very bottom of the crock pot and dump everything else on top. Lock the lid and cook on low about 6 hours. When ready to serve, fish out chicken with a pair of tongs, chop or shred roughly and add back to the pot, stir well. Serve bowls of chili with shredded Mexican blend cheese, sour cream, chopped green onion and crushed tortilla chips.

Taco Soup
1 package ground turkey, browned and rinsed/drained
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 to 2 cans EACH Black beans, Light AND Dark Kidney beans, and Pinto beans, all rinsed and drained well
1 bag frozen corn
1 large onion, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning
Cumin, Garlic powder, Onion powder
Salt & Pepper
Dump everything into the crock pot and stir it around really well.  Lock the lid and cook on low about 6 hours. Serve bowls of chili with shredded Mexican blend cheese, sour cream, chopped green onion and crushed tortilla chips.

Chicken Broccoli and Rice
1 bag Frozen Chicken breasts
1 can cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
Garlic powder, Onion powder
2 bags frozen broccoli florets
2 box instant brown rice
2 cans chicken broth
Dump the cheese and cream of chicken soup into the crock pot and stir it around really well. Add in the frozen chicken breasts and toss them around in the soup mixture to coat really well. Lock the lid and cook on low about 6 hours, until the chicken is falling apart tender. About 30 minutes before your ready to eat, add in the 2 bags of frozen broccoli.
In the microwave or on the stove, make the rice using chicken broth + water. When ready to serve, scoop a big spoonful of rice in a bowl and top with the chicken, broccoli and cheese sauce.

Each of these recipes fills my large crock pot almost to the rim, so we eat supper that night and I get about 8 to 10 pint jars to freeze for future meals. The rice and the beans make these meals really stretch, while at the same time still being reasonably healthy! Also note, I don't add water or broth to my crock pot soups, as the frozen chicken breasts cook, they release their own juices and by the time you're ready to serve, the soups are more than, I guess you'd say soupy, enough.