I came across this nice article on meal prepping--cooking enough food at one time to make several meals--and it reminded me that I should probably undertake a similar project soon.
When I was working I would make a whole bunch of one meal (waffles, pancakes, chili, etc) then freeze meal-sized portions so we would have food to eat for future meals without having to do all of the shopping/prepping/cooking each evening when I came home exhausted from work.
There are A LOT of resources on the topic if you are interested in doing such a project (examples here, here, and here) and I think once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature to cook a lot of one item (or many items in a concerted meal prep effort) and then package the leftovers to eat at a later date. Not only does this save money (less food waste and forgotten produce when you use it up all at one time) it saves time (it's easy enough to double or triple a recipe) and effort (simply take out a frozen waffle and pop it in the toaster when you are running late in the morning). Simple!
I do this all the time, but not the complete dish or even meal. I always cook a hen in the crockpot or a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I leave enough in the refrigerator all week, and freeze the rest. I once cooked 24 sweet potatoes in the same oven with other food. I had enough for a week, to give to a friend and some to freeze. I no longer have a freezer, just the one over the refrigerator, so it is hard to freeze whole meals. Still, I make cooking and eating so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI should definitely do that. Having a bunch of boiled potatoes on hand or a whole roasted chicken can make so many meals!
DeleteMy daughter is an avid meal prepper. While I might double soups, she'll prepare weeks of servings of different recipes, ensuring she always has tasty lunches and dinners for one.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. I would love to have a month's worth of meals sitting in my freezer!
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