Once a week cooking

[lcsamano]

Has anyone tried this method were you cook only once a week like on a weekend and then you just heat your meals up during the week? I read about this on another forum and thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone does this. It looks interesting.

[Mama Mangia]

Ok - in all honesty - cooking many meals in a day or two is great!!! As long as you prepare a nice variety!

I would make a large pan of sauce (either to can or freeze) and while that was on I would have a roast and a couple chickens in the oven. Fry hamburgers with mushrooms and onions and make gravy. And a large pot of potatoes.

I would have my sauce to any pasta dishes, the burgers I would freeze in an aluminum pan and cover with foil so that I could pop them in the oven for a quick meal. I would make plenty of gravy for the roast beef and assemble TV dinners in aluminum pie plates and freeze. Ditto with chicken. Since you need to assembel the TV dinners and they have to sit in the fridge to get cold before freezing, it gave me a chance to remove the foil top and add frozen veggies, recover and place in freezer. The crockpots would be going for beef stew and chili that I could also portion and freeze. Bake a large cake, cool and frost, cut into individual portions and freeze. Ditto with cookies. And don't forget the sausauge, peppers and onions. There is so much you can do and if you do it once a week you will always have something different for dinner with no fuss.

Frozen or canned homemade soup broth is great as well - even with veggies and pasta or rice or couscous in it. Additional containers of gravy are nice if you want to have some for dipping fries. Smaller containers of sauce can be used on pizzas or as dipping sauces for "finger" foods.

[lcsamano]

It is a great way to plan and think ahead. You have giving me alot of tips that I will take into stride if I decide to do this. I am leanign towards it everyday since my husband calls me asking what I want for dinner al least 5 times.

[Mama Mangia]

With a variety in the freezer - dinner can be made in no time. Just pop in the oven and its done. Or while the water is boiling for pasta, the frozen sauce is warming in a saucepan. During the cooking times you can assemble salads, relish trays, make stuffed eggs, etc. to make a big meal or just to have something extra special.

A whole frozen lasagna can take an hour (depending on how big it is) in the oven. During that hour you can do a lot - including whipping up a coffecake or a pudding pie for dessert!

[r8rpwr]

I do this sometimes, when I am prepared enough. It's great for those busy weeknight dinners. At least I try to shop over the weekend and do the prep work so everything comes together quickly.

I also tend to cook more than we want and freeze the leftovers so they are good for another time.

[medako]

I'm terrible about cooking ahead and freezing. The only time I really did it with success was when I was planning around the upcoming birth. I spent a whole day in the kitchen making meals that could be easily heated.