Some persons refer to it as once a month cooking, one-week cooking, or just freezer cooking. Although the names differ, they all refer to the same concept. You use one day to do cook in bulk for a time period which you designate, and freeze the results.
For families who do not have sufficient time to prepare weeknight meals and therefore frequently eat out, this can be a great way to save money. It is great also because it allows you to make your weekly meal plans around sales, buying in bulk discounted items, or items that you can buy using coupons.
If you are doing this for the first time, you should plan to cook for a week. Select a day on which you know you will be able to cook with little interruptions. Once you have some experience the amount you can cook will only be limited by the size of your chest or upright freezer.
Create a list of the meals you will be cooking for that week. Aim to make different meals with similar ingredients. For instance, chicken stir fry which has bell peppers and onions for a meal and then chicken fajitas for another as it also has bell peppers and onions. The taste will vary enough for you not feel as if you’re eating the same thing again and again. As they are made using the similar ingredients, you not only save the time used to prepare them but also money.
Buy or gather the needed ingredients for your cooking spree. Observe all of the recipes for the meals you will be cooking for the week in order to get yourself organized. When cooking in such a fashion a prep list is a handy tool. Write down everything from your recipes that should be done for your cooking spree. If there is a recipe that requires you to chop some garlic, write down the amount of garlic needed. If another recipe also requires chopped garlic, add that amount to the first one.
This will help you to be organized and allow for getting things done much faster. Let us suppose that you will be having spaghetti and tacos for dinner this week. For these two meals ground beef is required. Instead of just browning beef one time for the spaghetti and then another time for the tacos, it is best to do a large batch for both all at the same time. The same goes for cutting up your vegetables. If chopped onion is required for four of your recipes, chop the onion needed for all four once as oppose to four times.
After cooking the items, allow them to cool then later you can freeze the entire dish or just divide them into separate servings and then freeze them. The great thing about separate servings is that you may either use them to make your dinners for you alone or to carry lunch to work. Freezer cooking is a great way to save money. Instead of purchasing items at the convenience store or eating out, you can have a healthy, homemade frozen cooked entrée for lunch when working.