I have been having a lot of trouble just lately with my energy level. I just can't seem to get up the energy to deal with common household chores or cooking. I know a lot of it is just being tired. After all, I work two jobs and take care of a very active one year old! Still, I don't like the idea of giving up on my commitment to serving healthy, home-cooked meals to my family. We have lived on Hamburger Helper and Macaroni n Cheese for way too long.
So, I have been looking into making meals that are freezer friendly. I really like the idea of the Once a Month Cooking system, but I don't think I could cook for a whole month all in one day. I DO think it would be very do-able to make double or triple recipes every time I cook, though, and freeze the extras. I come from a long line of "cook enough for an army" cooks, anyway, so this shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I am just going to have to make sure that the meals I make are actually HEALTHY as well as easy...
Have any of you tried this? Do you have any recipes you would like to share?
5 comments:
Hi BG,
Mr. Food has saved me many times. He has a ton of good recipes on his website (mrfood.com) and many of them use common ingredients. I also use my slow cooker alot and like the recipe book "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook." I'm not very good at planning ahead either, so have never made anything ahead to freeze, although I will freeze any leftovers.
Here's a couple other recipe websites I occasionally use: www.bettycrocker.com/Recipes/ and http://www.campbellkitchen.com/
Good luck! Hope you find some good ideas.
I can't do OAMC for the whole month either, but I do try to make multiples and freeze some. One thing that has been a real life-saver has been to cook a number of pounds of ground beef and freeze in approximately 1 pound bags. That way, I can whip up tacos, spaghetti, or whatever very fast.
I also get large packages of *fresh* chicken and divide them into serving portions in Ziplock bags. Then I make multiple recipes of favorite marinades, add to the bags, and freeze the chicken in the marinade. When I thaw the chicken, it gets marinaded at the same time! Easy!
One last thing...I also make up prepackaged mixes of the dry ingredients used to make corn muffins etc, so I don't have to drag out all the components every time. Then i just have to add the wet stuff and get to the baking and eating part!
My grocery store sells rotisserie chicken. The stuff they cook that doesn't sell goes into the refrigerator and the next day, they sell it cold for 80 cents off. I can get already cooked, refrigerated organic chicken for about $5. I buy a couple of those each week. I reheat it for one meal, and then any that's left over after everyone has had his/her fill (including bones) goes into a big pot that night. I boil it to make broth, and the next day, I add potatoes and carrots or egg noodles for soup. You could also make pot pie. So, I get two meals with very little effort and at very low cost.
I don't do this, but I DID write out all the meals we like or are willing to eat (including hamburger helper, premade fish & chips, and hot dogs & mac&cheese) and every week I use this master list of meals to plan out one week's menues, then I shop based on that menu, and I can resort back to the menu to remember to remove the necessary meats from the freezer to thaw in time. I don't have room (even with a huge upright freezer) to store a month's worth of meals, nor the energy to cook them all. My plan works well for me & my fam., esp. as my Master List of meals has 90+ meal ideas on it (and I add more every now & again). Also, if you write up a master list like this, be sure and note next to each meal whether it's a slow-cooker meal, a "weekend & plenty of time to cook" meal, a "hubby can do it" meal, or whatever your categories are. I see no reason to NOT use the resource of Hamburger helper & boxed mac&cheese on occasion if MOST of your meals are considerably healthier. And Hamburger Helper can be made semi-healthier if you add some of the additions that are suggested sometimes on the backs of the boxes. (My friday meals tend to be of this easy, semi-premade sort while the rest of the week are healthier & cooked largely from scratch.) Also, if you make one meal item from scratch (say, your meat), why NOT serve it with a box of RiceARoni or pasta??? It makes it easier on you, while still keeping things somewhat homemade.
Best of luck!
Thanks for all the ideas!
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