Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tackle it Tuesday

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

My tackle this week was to cook 7 meals in advance. I like to do this because afternoons are my low energy time. Defrosting and throwing something in the oven is right up my alley. And 7 meals can easily last us two weeks.



I use Cyndy Salzmann's book The Occasional Cook because she gives you menus, recipes, shoppings lists, and a game plan. It cuts down on the thinking for me.

For this week I made Nebraska Shepherd's Pie, Taco Soup, Barbeque Cups, Chuckwagon Quesadillas, Porcupines, Swedish Meatballs, and Sloppy Joes. All are family friendly.

I photocopy the recipes to use on the counter while I'm cooking because I'm a messy cook and I'd rather replace a splattered photocopy than a whole cookbook.

The whole thing took me 2.5 hours including clean up, which works out to about 20 minutes a meal. Quite a time saver!

9 comments:

Clickin Mama J said...

That is a wonderful idea. I need to try that! Great tackle!

Pencildancers said...

Good for you! I used to do that when my kids were home, cook for month. It was a HARD day of cooking but the rest of the month was fantastic. Maybe I should do that again, there are only two of us but if I split everything into 2 portion sizes....hmmm, I'm going to check this out. Thanks Jen!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! That's quite a tackle and a great plan!

Melanie said...

This is a great idea. I should really do this. Many evenings I'm trying to keep my toddler occupied while I try to make dinner. This would make it so much easier. Are those vacuum seal bags that you stored the food in?

Come check out my first Tackle it Tuesday!

~michelle pendergrass said...

I think I could do some cooking like that. We could eat it during the weekdays. I don't know what Phil would do if he couldn't cook on the weekends!

Nicola said...

Wow 2.5 hours!! What a great idea. I can't wait until we move & get a bigger freezer. That is definately something I'd like to try.

Unknown said...

I use 1 gallon freezer bags and put them inside the 2 gallon zipper bags that I write on. I can reuse the 2 gallon bags and throw away the 1 gallon ones. Seems to work for me anyway.

Heather said...

Fantastic! It would be SO great not having to decide what's for dinner every day... Great tackle -- congrats!

Corrin said...

Those sound like great recipes! I may have to pick up that book.