When my daughter was school she was in a ton of activities and there was about a 3 year period where we had something to do EVER NIGHT except for Sundays...oh how I looked forward to Sundays! Well in a way I did but in another way I dreaded Sundays. I spent Sunday's pre-prepping food for the next week. Since we had very little time to have dinner I would try and make things we could during the week. I would often cook up family packs of ground beef, drain the grease and then put in 1lb package freezer bags so we could have Hamburger Helper, spaghetti or some other dish that used ground beef.
My days are not quite as busy anymore and I don't have to spend my Sunday's cooking a ton of food and storing in the fridge and freezer, heck let's be honest here...I am overdoing it if I cook twice a week. Oh but back to the pre-prepping food! I went to the grocery store because ground beef was on sale and I picked up 20 pounds. I know that might seem like a lot to some folks but to me, well I am regretting not getting at least another 20 pounds! I had intentions of making homemade chili but it was late and that didn't get done. I did get 10 pounds of the ground beef made into patties, they are in the freezer right now waiting to get frozen and then I can toss them in bags and just pull out however many I need when I want to cook them. The other ground beef was broken down in a few 1lb packages and then larger packages when I get ready to make chili.
Another bargain I got at the grocery store was a big bag of over ripe bananas for 99 cents! When I was growing up my mom worked in the meat department of Humpty Dumpty and the produce manager would always ask her if she wanted to get some of the over ripe banana's, and sometimes other fruit so guess I always think about this when I see such things and remember what great food can be made. I brought the banana's home, peeled them, put them in freezer bags and mashed them up. Now each bag has enough bananas for 2 large loaves of banana nut bread when I am ready to do some baking!
I know we all tend to do what our parents did and I am quite certain my mom would be proud of me still thinking ahead and pre-prepping food! Just wonder what she would think of the 30 pounds of pork chops I broke down and vacuum sealed a few weeks ago!
So does anyone else pre-prep food?
yes maaam! i have for years and just the two of us now, i still do. in fact, i think we are shameless food hoarders with one chest freezer, one upright, and 2 refrigerators with freezers (of course). my secndary fridge is out in the entry and we put that there wth intentions of keeping some fresh cold beer/pop for compay and visitors. well 'that' ended up being just another storage locker. got dig in to find that beer if you wanna work for it! luckily we do garden and grow alot of our own veggies, so those take up much room. but i'm like you shirley. when i see a good deal on meat, i grab my faithful 'food saver'.
ReplyDeleteI'm your 2000 follower. Your blog is great and you have the gift of gab. I doubt MS could be this funny even with the help of all her staffers! Laura (Crafty LawyerCreates.blogspot.com)
ReplyDeleteYes I do the same as you. Right now I am packaging up persimmon pulp into baggies to save for persimmon bread. I made a lot of basil pesto and applesauce this summer and those are in baggies too. You could also put the fruit pulp into large ice cube containers, freeze them, and then into baggies. Take one or 2 out for a smoothie.
ReplyDeleteMaureen
I buy in bulk and pre-prep anything I can. Last month it was a great sale on wild caught salmon - which I love but don't like the high price. I came home with about 25 lbs, and packaged it into meal size packages. I also freeze lemon juice when my friend's lemon tree has lots of fruit, and have about 30 quart bags of individually frozen figs for smoothies or jam from my dad's tree this summer.
ReplyDeleteI don't or should say haven't pre-prepped food, but after reading this post I'm going to give it a try. Such a time saver! Thanks Okie!
ReplyDeleteThe only thinking ahead I do is figuring out where to eat out. I hate to cook.
ReplyDeleteI just put away 22 twice baked potatoes, 2 pans of lasagna, 4 bags of spaghetti sauce, 2 bags of taco meat and 3 pans of enchiladas! I try to cook twice as much as I need when I cook and make freezer meals with the extra. Even if it is only enough for one person I'll make it a freezer meal! It really makes it easy to have a fend for yourself night!
ReplyDeleteWhen I cook, I cook big. Spaghetti, Stuffed Cabbage, Egg Plant, Cheddar Ale Soup. I make it all in 25 qt stock pots. Then I put it into containers & freeze it. We have good meals whenever we don't feel like cooking.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom cooked big all the time, but she did it for the same reason you used to. She worked & raised my brother & me on her own. So she would cook 1 big meal & we would eat it until it was gone. Finally convinced her to freeze stuff when we got older.