Once a Month Cooking

I was browsing some blogs over the weekend and came across an article by Erin over at Jane4Girls $800 Annual Budget. I normally prepare a week's worth of meals in advance but have never considered doing a month in advance. It is a smart way to use up products that you purchase during great deals, not to mention the free time you will have during the week.

Erin has posted on this method for waffles, and 3 ways to do potatoes. After cooking, you allow the food to quick freeze, then package in portion sizes and re-freeze until needed. I love the waffles idea as you can toss them into the toaster to re-heat, super easy!

I typically cook 4 cups of medium grain rice a week and portion out and freeze until needed. If you are going to freeze rice, make sure to portion up and freeze while it is still warm so that it has moisture in the bag for re-heating. I also like to do this with chicken breasts, season and bake in the oven until done. Then slice some if it up for salads, but I mostly dice up the chicken to use in soups, quesadillas, and fajitas. Make sure to slice/dice it up before freezing as it freezes faster and is ready to go when you need it. You could also cook up crumbled hamburger in a pyrex container, I find that cooking hamburger this way I can avoid adding fat/oil. Once cooked it is great for re-heating for lasagna, pasta with meat sauce, Velveeta & burger chip dip, tacos, sloppy joes, soups, and we even sprinkle cooked hamburger on mac-n cheese!

Make sure to stop by Jane4girls $800 Annual Budget for instructions on how she does this as well as some great pictures on how the products look.

Have a great week everyone!