Two Posts in One Day?!

I have been working on bulk cooking. I have done it for a month here and I am totally sold on the idea. It makes meal time so easy. I love not having that "Oh my goodness what am I going to make for dinner?" feeling all afternoon!

I have been cooking once a week. On Sunday or Saturday when Peter is home, he practices the guitar and the children play outside and I hit the kitchen.

The basic idea is to do all your prep on a larger scale to make more meals. It is nice to not have to wash the prep dishes 30 times when you can just do them one or two times- especially without a dishwasher! ;) I love just reheating something and then only having plates and cups to wash after meal time! So when you are going to brown beef for tacos, you go ahead and brown a big portion and make 3 meals instead of one. You have just saved yourself washing that frying pan and spatula 3 times. Or if you are going to cut and peel potatoes, do a big portion, keep them in a Tupperware covered with water in the fridge. You just saved yourself the time and effort of finding your peeler and cutting board and washing everything extra times. Then you can throw them in with chicken, make them into baked fries, or make a skillet meal with them. If your going to bake a chicken, bake 2-3 and then shred up the meat and make something else. If you are making a roast make 2 and shred that up too. If you are making a crock pot meal double it and freeze one.

You get the idea. You'll also save on electricity. You'll also save on eating out, because it is easier to pop something into the oven or microwave than to get everybody into the car to go out!

So this week I had a lot of beef (again!) and I was going to make a dinner, I was feeling no motivation to do more. Well instead of just one, I made 5. It takes less time than you think. I was in the kitchen only 1 and a half hours- and that's from scratch cooking. Now my freezer is filled with- calzones, individual pizzas, gyros, meatloaf, hamburgers, spaghetti and baked ziti. Notice they are all kind of the same types of food. Last week I made all Mexican kinds of food and foods with BBQ sauces. So it's still in there ready to eat. I love the feeling of having something done!

I am going to move up to once a month cooking... OAMC. It is really worth it I think. I found a great site... the menus are done, the shopping list is done, the how to prep is listed and I am so glad to pass this information on to all my great friends here.

http://onceamonthmom.com/

These ladies who do this site are totally amazing and I can't believe how much help it is to just go on there print out their ideas and do it. I will keep you posted as I walk the path of OAMC. I have no doubt it is a good idea, the question is will I actually do it?

I am going to UB tonight. I am going on the train and I will buy chicken and cheese--- then I will come home and cook it all up! So have a great weekend. It will be radio silence here for a few days! The kids are staying here with Peter, so I am going with Sharon for a little girl time! :)