I don’t mean to brag, but the inside of my freezer looks so good right now.

“Weird flex,” as the kids might say, but still I’m proud.

See, every break I have from school, I pledge to improve my house.

I’m going to go through my closet and deep clean the kitchen and hose off the porch.

And every year, I fail to cross off all the things on my to-do list.

Part of that is because I plan to do too much.

In my heart of hearts, I truly believe I will be able to do all the extra household chores and also get enough sleep and also responsibly take care of the kids and also cook almost every meal.

Turns out, that’s not really possible. I can do some of those things completely or all of those things partially, but I can’t do all those things completely.

This past fall break, I narrowed my definition of success. “If I can organize the inside of this freezer,” I thought, “I’ll have done well.”

I know, I know. What can I say? I’m a big dreamer.

Luckily, the goal of cleaning out the freezer dovetailed just beautifully with the goal of cooking every meal. I began making all kinds of random meals.

Meatballs but no tomato sauce? No problem. I’ll make IKEA-style sour cream meatballs over egg noodles. (Never mind that I’ve never set foot in an IKEA.)

A quarter bag of frozen chicken wings and half a bottle of Asian-style barbecue sauce? Perfect. We can have it with the four-cheese gnocchi and all the Romaine that is fit to eat.

I reached the point where I was judging my meals not on the taste but on the number of odds and ends it would clear out of my freezer.

The Frito chili pie was yummy, but it was only a one-bagger, as only the chili came out of the freezer.

By the middle of our second week off, we had eaten enough from the freezer for me to pull everything out onto the floor and organize it into piles: carbs, raw meats, fruits and veggies, cooked meats.

I put each category into its own box-shaped reusable shopping tote. I knocked the frost off the freezer walls with a rubber mallet and a putty knife. (This is how all the fancy ladies do it, from what I understand.)

And in the midst of all that, YouTube – which is clearly some sort of mind-reading device – pushed to me a recipe that would get rid of so many boxes and bags I could scarcely believe it.

This one took care of three bags (chicken, corn, and potato cubes), a box (cream cheese), and a tub (homemade chicken stock). And! It was a slowcooker recipe.

I had reached the pinnacle of freezer cleanout perfection.

But would it taste good?

As it turns out, yes. It was hearty and filling without being overly thick or gooey.

I’ll make it again, even when I’m no longer measuring dinner by the freezer bag.

CREAMY CORN CHOWDER

Ingredients
1 pound chicken breast (about 2 large breasts)
1 8-ounce block cream cheese
Ranch seasoning packet (or equivalent amount ranch seasoning from can)
Can of corn, drained (or one small bag frozen corn)
1 pound potatoes o’brien from frozen foods section (or 1 pound diced potatoes and peppers)
2-3 cups chicken broth (canned, homemade, or from chicken bouillon)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: shredded cheddar and cooked bacon, for topping

Directions
■ Place chicken, cream cheese, Ranch seasoning, corn, potatoes, and chicken broth into crock of slow cooker. I prefer heating the cream cheese until it’s just a bit melty and will easily blend into the broth rather than putting it in cold. If you do add it cold, be prepared to stir quite a while to get it to blend smoothly into the soup. Cook ingredients all together for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
■ When cooking time has elapsed, remove chicken from crock and shred. Add back to crock and stir well. Taste. Add salt and pepper to taste if desired. Serve each bowl with a sprinkle of cheese and bacon, if desired.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.