QUIZ... IS BATCH COOKING FOR ME?
* Do you find yourself asking "What's for dinner?"
* Are you too tired to think of what to cook?
* Do you hate repeatedly going to the grocery store?
* Do you want your family to have home cooked meals?
* Do you have some empty real estate in your freezer?
* Do you want to spend time doing other things besides being in the kitchen all damn day every day?
If you answered "YES" to these questions... you are ready!!!
Step 1: MEAL PLAN
Chose a few assorted recipes. Double them and buy accordingly. It works best to use recipes that mainly consist of chicken/beef, veggies and a sauce of some sort. I leave OUT the pasta, rice, noodles or couscous because it turns to mush when I'm not looking. I cook the carbs SEPARATELY right before dinner to serve with the meal. You might find a lot of your recipes can be adapted to make freezer meals.
STEP 2: GROCERY SHOP
*Add 1 gallon freezer bags to the list.
STEP 3: SET UP
Label your bags with a sharpie (to avoid confusion later).
Roll the top of the bag down and put in a bowl or container to stabilize.
Place corresponding recipe in front of containers.
STEP 4: PREP SAUCES & MARINADES FIRST
Whether it's tomato sauce or BBQ sauce or whatever, dump the saucy ingredients in your bags first.
Then add the spices and stir them up inside the bag. (It can get confusing as to what you have added... so cross things off if you have to. I like to get everything I need out on the counter and then put it up after I use it).
STEP 5: VEGGIES
Start with the canned or frozen veggies.
Then chop the fresh veggies (i.e. chop up 4 white onions and divide among all the bags, then chop up 3 green peppers and divide where needed, etc.).
STEP 6: MEAT
Put the meat on top. For the chicken, I ended up using 3 frozen breasts per bag OR 6-8 frozen tenderloins per bag.
STEP 7: SEAL AND MIX
Seal the bags, mix each all around. Open the edge and press all the air out and reseal.
STEP 8: FREEZE
Lay the bags flat to freeze. Once frozen, you can stand them upright to store.
STEP 9: ORGANIZE
Make a list of what you have. Write down other ingredients you want to serve with each meal.
STEP 10: COOK
Thaw your frozen meal on the counter for 15 minutes or so. You can run the sealed bag under hot water for a few minutes to help loosen things up. Break it up into chunks. Toss it in and fire it up! Generally I don't stir or touch the it again until dinner time. Shred the meat and make your corresponding carb.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a chef and this is not gourmet cooking. I'm a busy mom.)
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