I've tried to do Once a Month Cooking before and it has worked really well, but I usually am not able to make the time to do the whole months worth. One of the things I took from reading about this is a great trick that I use all the time - making a ground beef mix to use in lots of different recipes.
Most recipes that call for ground beef tell you to brown the beef with onions and peppers. Any time I made something that calls for this, I just pull out a serving of ground beef mix which cuts down my cooking time tremendously. To make it, I buy the big family packs of meat. In a large soup pot I boil all of it. Once it has boiled and is no longer red, I pour out the water carefully and add cut onions and peppers to the mixture, mixing it all up and letting it simmer with the lid closed for awhile. When the veggies are cooked I let it cool and then scoop 2 cups worth (about a pound of meat) into ziploc freezer bags. Seal them flat, pushing all the air out of them, laying them down like a record. The bags go in the freezer, stacked one on top of another. And then they ready for me to pull them out as I need it.
Enjoy!
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6 comments:
I also can't handle the whole process of OAMC, but I do like to double up on ground beef, spaghetti sauce, chili etc. Great reminder.
Thanks for visiting my site! Great idea on the ground beef. I hate that job so it makes sense to do one big batch and then not have to worry about it again for awhile.
I agree...that would save time precooking the ground beef!! Great tips...I'll be back!
I've never done OAMC but I have friends that swear by it. I think if you get one good idea that saves you time, it's worth reading! I always see those big things of meat but never thought about cooking it all at once.
I can't imagine how busy you are! I had three in four years and it was very tough - and you are providing child care, too - wow! Hang in there! You sound like a great mom!
Excellent suggestion. Love cooking in batches.
Pam
This is terrific! I can do this a whole lot easier than Meals for a Month. I think it takes me two months to make and clean up that many meals at one time.
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