Discover How To Strategy Your Meals To Maximize Your
Learn How To Plan Your Meals To Maximize Your Time
Meal planning and bulk cooking are both fantastic strategies you can utilize and customize to fit your households needs. The concept behind this is basic. The principle is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and after that protect them by either freezing or fridgerating them. Also, meal preparation you can prepare one big meal and get 2-3 other meals out of it! The key here is to make every meal you cook count!
When you are going to prepare a household favorite, double, triple, even quadruple the recipe if it will keep in the freezer. Sound terrific does not it? Why not provide yourself a much-needed break-- cook ahead today so you can unwind tomorrow!
The first step in meal preparation is constantly the most tough. To make it less challenging I recommend that you get the following products: Pen, paper, your personal dish collection or your preferred cookbook and a comfortable chair.
Start by making a note of a list of your favorite meals and intend on preparing a grocery list that will coincide with your list. Now, since we are talking bulk cooking here if you generally would provide one pot of spaghetti prepare to serve 2 (that would mean that you will need to double the recipe so be sure to modify your shopping list appropriately) It will take the same quantity of time to prepare simply a little additional preparation is needed.
Next you can use a blank calendar and just write the meals down on the day you will serve them. I personally publish my meal plan up on my fridge for the entire home to see. This also assists to prompt me for the next day of meals that will be served.
The most important tool in meal planning and bulk cooking is your freezer. If you have a little freezer, don't worry; you can fit numerous meals in that little freezer space it will just call for a little bit more creativity on your part. With the use of freezer bags, that you can stack flat and using some freezer evidence containers you will be shocked at how many meals your freezer can hold.
Here are a couple of essential and widely utilized meal planning methods and suggestions:
Multi-recipes ~ Using this method needs you to prepare many main course meals in one day. For example, on a Sunday early morning you could prepare a roast in your Crockery pot, some spaghetti on top of the range, a baked Chicken in the oven and possibly a great salad. You likewise could quarter and boil some potatoes, prepare some rice and some veggies (either fresh or canned). What you now have is 5 various meals that you can use throughout the whole week. You can consume among the meals that extremely night and you could Freeze or refrigerate the rest. This technique works effectively for some individuals and it offers a wide array of dishes that you can use. I personally use this technique from time to time. I normally do my multi-recipe cooking on a Sunday and it can take up to 5 hrs to finish but what you are left with maintenance checklist for homes is 2 weeks worth of food that you can delight in. And notice that the meals that I utilize in my Multi-recipe list are simple to prepare.
One Cook Wonder ~ With this method you would cook one main course dish that can be utilized for various meals. For Instance, lets state you simply baked a large turkey. You could slice some of the turkey off and serve the breast with gravy, dice a few of the turkey and prepare a turkey gumbo and use the rest for either a soup or turkey salad. Mind you, you do not need to prepare all of those meals on one day. After the Turkey has been cooked and cooled, you can freeze and cool the turkey that you cut off the carcass and prepare your other Turkey related meals at a different time.
Quick and Easy meals ~ Make certain to incorporate those quick and simple meals into your planning procedure. If your family likes Sloppy Joes cook up the sloppy joe meat wholesale and freeze it then all you need to do is thaw the meat, get some buns and viola.
What about Hamburger Helper? Why not cook 2-3 boxes of it, separate it into 3 different large containers and freeze them. That concept alone permits you to prepare 3 meals in simply 30-minutes.
Designate a meal for a specific night ~ Every Friday night in my home is either Pizza or burger night. The idea here is to select any night of the week and simply designate a meal to opt for that night. I constantly make certain that I have a lot of Frozen Pizzas with a variety of toppings on hand in my freezer. The same opts for those Turkey burger patties (my household does not consume much ground beef). The concept behind this process is that you now have one nights meal already prepared. You can also stockpile on that meal when the items are on sale. If you see Frozen pizzas being sold in bulk, get them up!
Love your leftovers ~ This is one of my favorite parts of meal preparation as it allows you to use your imagination. A minimum of every other week or so make sure to go through your refrigerator and take inventory of what you have in there. When you combine 2-3 leftovers, you may discover that you eat right there. You can use left over pasta from spaghetti to prepare a pasta salad, remaining spaghetti sauce and just a few pieces of chicken can be a terrific meal to top with cheese and place in the oven. Again, with a little creativity you can make your leftovers work for you!
Use the sales paper ~ everyone enjoys an excellent sale and I use the sales paper to help me in my meal preparation. When I see our Family favorites on sale instead of purchasing one, I will acquire 3-4 of the same products and simply come home and prepare the meals or freeze the food that I acquired. My household and I love Chicken. When I spot entire chickens on sale Ive been understood to acquire as much as 5-6 Plumbing Troubleshooting Guide at a time. Bear in mind that I have a family of 6 and in my household of six; there are 3 teens (and you understand how much they can take in). By going shopping like this, I really save hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year in food alone!
Helpful supplies
Labels/ freezer bags/Freezer-proof containers: Make sure that you have all of your freezing and refrigerating needs on hand. When storing food in freezer safe containers be sure to put a label on the container with the name of the meal and the date the meal was prepared.
Crockpot: This helpful home appliance is my buddy in the kitchen. When utilizing a crockpot you actually prepare the meal, place it in the crockpot, Set it & Forget it. It is a hands complimentary cooking experience. I prepare entire chickens in my crock pot and after that slice the chicken approximately freeze and use for sandwiches, enchiladas, chicken salads, chicken soup, chicken stew. as you can see the possibilities are endless.
As you can see, meal planning is a cash, sanity and time saver-- what else could a hectic mom ask for?
Now, lets get Cookin!