I have always admired the “Once a Month” bulk cookers. However, I did not think I could ever do it myself. It seems like a lot of work and time to get much of the food prepared for a month’s worth of meals ~ all within a day’s breath. Lately, though, I have been evaluating my meal preparations and realize that I could (and should!) combine some of my efforts to make things simpler for some of my dinners.
Currently I buy my ground beef at the local fruit market. If I buy at least three pounds, I get a discount. In the past I have bought the meat, used what I could within a couple days, and divided the rest into suitable portions for the freezer. Recently, it dawned on me… I could oftentimes brown most of the meat simultaneously to help with future meals.
Today I took out my five pounds of ground round, and divided it into three portions: one two-pound section and two 1.5-pound sections and placed them into separate pans/pots.
I chopped all of the necessary vegetables for the various dishes – tacos, nachos, and Sloppy Joe’s.
I separated the ingredients accordingly and put the extra seasonings into the pans for the nachos and tacos. Once the meat dishes were finished, I used one pan for tonight’s tacos. Tomorrow I will warm up the other Mexican beef pan for nachos. The following day, I will warm up the beef that I browned with onion and pepper and simmer it with the Sloppy Joe sauce ingredients.
It took just a little bit of extra work today to help a couple dinners run more smoothly!
I like that!
How can you combine some of your meal preparation efforts to make life a little easier for yourself?
Great job!! I haven't been thinking and planning ahead enough lately. It would be so helpful to have a couple bulk cooking days a month for things like this. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteGood idea, but I try to cook a different meat each night. So... I would do the same as you, except I would label and freeze for the next weeks.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Love that idea! thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete