Cooking ahead

[Janet]

Yes, last Sunday my husband picked some up too so he could have something for lunch while he was off this week. He finds more deals than I so I told him maybe he should start getting the groceries...lol

[HALEY]

I go myself, if Mike goes with me the groceries are 100.00 more, he buys junk food! and i really don't want Micah eating that stuff right now, and i don't need to eat it .. don't want that extra weight back... i made him take all that stuff and put it in his car ... he gets chips, cookies, etc.. junk food.....

[Marilyn]

Hubby and I have been cooking together lately. We're doing a bunch of 30 minute meal ideas we just throw together. We've cooked chicken breasts, salmon, spagetti, sausage, etc, with lots of veggies. Hubby made some stuffing with chicken (using precooked roticceri chicken) in it for a fellowship dinner at church and he made extra, so we had that one day. We got creative with the salmon. We baked salmon fillets one day and two days later, I crumbled the leftovers and made salmon patties using a little clam juice from a bottle for the liquid that is usually in a can of salmon. The taste was a little different than using canned, but it worked and was a great way to use leftover salmon.

I also make my own tartar sauce using dill pickle, onion, Tabasco and mayonaise in a small food processor. The key to making it not too runny is to slice the pickle and blot it with paper towels to get rid of a lot of the juice.

One night we had BLT's. Not really cooking ahead ideas, but some thoughts to share. We'd been eating out way too much, and it was getting more and more expensive so decided to start using our kitchen and all that equipment we have again and saving some money and actually, it's quicker than eating out and waiting for them to serve us and cook the food.

[judy]

I used to do all of the cooking for the week on Sunday, and then freeze up portions. It was great, but I got sick of it after a couple of years.

When I do cook cook now, I almost always freeze a portion.

[HALEY]

I use to cook all the time, loved my grams recipes.. and mom's, but with Mike now working 10 hours a day, plus Saturdays, there just isn't enough time, and i can't have Micah running around the stove while i'm trying to cook.. it's hard. So we just been cooking out on the grill. come winter when the work hours slow down, i'll start cooking again.. plus it will heat up the kitchen too...

[gja1000]

Well, my school has started and I am very busy during the week, tired, and just not "into" cooking when I get home. My hubby lived on sandwiches last week and I felt guilty, so today I made up a lasagna to cook tomorrow night. That should be good for two meals. I also cooked some hamburger and put it in the freezer so that I can get it out toward the end of the week to make his favorite hamburger casserole.

Next week I'll make a pot of pinto beans - we eat them the first night with cornbread and then the next night I mash them and mix with some Mexican seasoning (cumin, red pepper, etc), and cheese, and make bean quesadias. Oh and we have fresh Hatch New Mexico chiles - so I'll put some of them in also.

Anyone have any more good ideas for cook ahead meals???

[Nina]

When I make spaghetti, chili or soup, I try to make a double batch for the freezer. That way, I always have meals that can just be warmed up. I also use my crock pot alot in the summer. I have a good crock pot recipe for pot roast that is very easy.

Pot roast (or any roast)
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can french onion soup
1 can golden cream of mushroom soup

Put roast in crock pot. Mix all soups together and pour over roast. Cook for 6-8 hours on high in crock pot.

This is excellent served with mashed potatoes and a salad!