Find out how to prepare your meals to maximize your
Discover How To Plan Your Meals To Free Up Your
Learn How To Strategy Your Meals To Free Up Your Time

Meal planning and bulk cooking are both fantastic strategies you can utilize and customize to fit your households needs. The idea behind this is simple. The concept is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and after that maintain them by either freezing or fridgerating them. Likewise, meal planning you can prepare one large 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 offer yourself a much-needed break-- cook ahead today so you can unwind tomorrow!
The primary step in meal preparation is always the most challenging. To make it less difficult I suggest that you get the following supplies: Pen, paper, your individual recipe collection or your preferred cookbook and a comfy chair.
Start by writing down a list of your favorite meals and plan on preparing a grocery list that will coincide with your list. Now, since we are talking bulk cooking here if you usually would dish out one pot of spaghetti prepare to serve 2 (that would mean that you will have to double the recipe so make certain to alter your shopping list accordingly) It will take the exact same quantity of time to prepare simply a little extra preparation is needed.
Next you can use a blank calendar and merely write the meals down on the day you will serve them. I personally post my meal strategy up on my refrigerator for the whole home to see. This also assists to prompt me for the next day of meals that will be served.
The crucial tool in meal preparation and bulk cooking is your freezer. If you have a small freezer, don't stress; you can fit lots of meals because little freezer space it will simply call for a bit more imagination on your part. With using freezer bags, that you can stack flat and making use of some freezer proof containers you will be amazed at the number of meals your freezer can hold.
Here are a few essential and widely used meal preparation techniques and suggestions:
Multi-recipes ~ Utilizing this strategy requires you to prepare lots of main course meals in one day. For example, on a Sunday morning you could prepare a roast in your Crockery pot, some spaghetti on top of the stove, a baked Chicken in the oven and perhaps 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 different meals that you can use throughout the whole week. You can eat one of the meals that extremely evening and you might Freeze or cool the rest. This technique works effectively for some individuals and it provides a wide range of meals that you can use. I personally utilize this technique from time to time. I typically do my multi-recipe cooking on a Sunday and it can take up to 5 hrs to finish but what you are left with is 2 weeks worth of food that you can enjoy. And notice that the meals that I utilize in my Multi-recipe list are easy to prepare.
One Prepare Wonder ~ With this technique you would cook one main dish dish that can be used for various meals. For example, lets state you just baked a large turkey. You could slice a few of the turkey off and serve the breast with gravy, dice a few of the turkey and prepare a turkey gumbo and utilize the rest for either a soup or turkey salad. Mind you, you do not have 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 ~ Be sure to integrate those quick and simple meals into your planning process. If your family loves Sloppy Joes formulate the sloppy joe meat wholesale and freeze it then all you require to do is thaw the meat, get some buns and viola.
What about Hamburger Assistant? Why not prepare 2-3 boxes of it, separate it into 3 separate large containers and freeze them. That idea alone allows you to Fix-It Right Plumbing prepare 3 meals in just 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 pick any night of the week and just designate a meal to choose 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 goes for those Turkey hamburger patties (my family does not eat much hamburger). The concept behind this procedure is that you now have one nights meal currently prepared. You can likewise stock up on that meal when the items are on sale. If you see Frozen pizzas being offered wholesale, grab them up!
Love your leftovers ~ This is one of my favorite parts of meal preparation as it allows you to use your creativity. At least every other week or two be sure to go through your fridge and take stock of what you have in there. When you combine 2-3 leftovers, you might discover that you have a meal right there. You can utilize left over pasta from spaghetti to prepare a pasta salad, leftover spaghetti sauce and simply a couple of pieces of chicken can be a wonderful dish to top with cheese and place in the oven. Once again, with a little imagination you can make your leftovers work for you!
Use the sales paper ~ everybody enjoys a great sale and I use the sales paper to help me in my meal planning. When I see our Family favorites on sale instead of purchasing one, I will purchase 3-4 of the same items and simply get back and prepare the meals or freeze the food that I purchased. My family and I like Chicken. When I identify whole chickens on sale Ive been understood to buy up to 5-6 at a time. Remember that I have a family of 6 and in my household of six; there are 3 teenagers (and you understand just how much they can take in). By shopping like this, I actually 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 place a label on the container with the name of the meal and the date the meal was prepared.
Crockpot: This useful home appliance is my best friend in the cooking area. When using a crockpot you Learn more here actually prepare the meal, location it in the crockpot, Set it & Forget it. It is a hands complimentary cooking experience. I prepare entire chickens in my crock pot and then slice the chicken up to 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 preparation is a cash, peace of mind and time saver-- what else could a busy mama ask for?
Now, lets get Cookin!