Cook for a day, eat for a month: A handful of recipes and a freezer add up to more "freeper "time

newsobserver.com via newsmax ^ | Wednesday, October 17, 2001 | SUSAN HOUSTON

[fuzzthatwuz]

Thanks for the tip Michael. Happened to me also, but was unaware of the cause.

[WIladyconservative]

After a day in the kitchen putting up food - the last thing on earth I am interested in doing is dealing with dinner. Generally, I'm not even interested in eating.

I hear ya! I make 30 or so different kinds of Christmas cookies every year to give as gift tins. I begin baking in November (oh gosh, that's not far away, is it? ) and by Christmas, I don't want to LOOK at another cookie, let alone eat one!

I've often thought of trying this cook-for-a-day-eat-for-a-month strategy . . . maybe . . .maybe . . .

[Thinkin' Gal]

In preparation for the big day, she cooked 4 pounds of chicken thighs in a slow cooker a couple of days earlier and 5 pounds the night before.

Well there's three days right there. Say, I wonder how many gallons of ketchup she needed for the 'BBQ' sauce, lol.

It's one thing to appear organized, but when you need a spreadsheet and a freezer map to serve dinner... forget it. I'm more of a "why do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow" kind of person.

[Gabz]

I do the same with cookies and candy for Christmas and you're right, the time to begin is coming quickly!!!

Once a year a friend and I take an entire day and put up apple sauce and apple butter, we start at 7am and try to get done by 7pm - the last thing on earth I want to see after that is applesauce!!!!

I've never tried the cook for a month thing, although I do freeze a lot of stuff when I get a good price or when I have lots of fresh veggies.

[VOA]

bump

[Ladysmith]

The last thing I want to spend my time doing is dishes - I hate doing dishes! Cooking is a close second! So I do this to a degree. If you plan it out well, you save money on food (buy in bulk), on energy (running the oven and stove solid for one or two days instead of many) and on water (a lot less dishes to do after the initial cook-off!) Then the money you save can be spent on paper plates and cups, plastic ware, etc. Voila', even less dishes to do! ;o)

My big problem is getting organized and then committing a couple days for the cook-off. So this article really got my attention!

[Aquamarine]

Ketchup usually is the base for bar-be-que sauce, unless its the North Carolina variety with only a vinegar base. In the South there is a simple sauce made of 1 small bottle of ketchup and 1 can of Coke cooked with chicken pieces in a covered skillet simmered for an hour, which is quite tender and tasty although a little sweet. Of course there are more graduated sauces with up to 20 ingredients, but they all contain some amount of ketchup.

[dead]

Last month, I cooked three meals a day, for 220 people, for a week. Man that's work!

[callisto]

I make a slow-cook beef barbeque that I substitute a home-made variety of ketchup. It's made from fresh tomatoes from the garden, looks like ketchup (sort of), but tastes nothing like the store-bought variety.
My recipe is one those with 20+ ingredients.

[Siouxz]

I've done the once-a-month cooking 4-5 times over the past 5 years or so. There was a lot of trial and error (finding out that NOBODY liked a particular recipe sucked!), but overall I found it to be extremely beneficial to our homeschooling family.

I have used the book mentioned in the article, but found many of their recipes to be a bit "exotic." I have used once-a-month recipes from an old Gentle Spirit magazine which were great.

The last time I kind of modified things. I made a lot of spaghetti sauces, beef stew, turkey stew, some yummy casseroles, etc. I made 30 meals, but served them over the course of two months, so nobody would get bored.

Once you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun to do: The planning, shopping, and even the cooking. Toss a loaf of bread in the bread machine, throw the casserole in the oven, and open a bag of salad, and dinner is done!

Uh-oh. I'm motivated now. Time to check the web for once-a-month menus and get to work!

[ST.LOUIE1]

Last month, I cooked three meals a day, for 220 people, for a week. Man that's work!

You work at a prison?

Or just a large family.

[usmom]

What a coincidence! I just purchased a book yesterday called '30 Day gourmet- how to cook for a day and eat for a month" and am excited to try it. They also have a website with recipes and other good information on freezer cooking called 30daygourmet.com

[dead]

I volunteer at a camp for handicapped kids every summer. This year, for the first time, I volunteered to be the cook. It was, by far, the hardest job I've ever had to do there. Up at 5:30 am and on my feet till 7:30 pm.

It was also alot of fun, though. I had a great staff of assistant cooks and a loud stereo.

[1Old Pro]

ONE WORD: CHILI. It's a whole meal with some bread and can be frozen in containers for future meals.

[SuziQ]

I read recently about this method of planning ahead. Sometimes I get to 4:30 or 5:00 pm and still haven't thought out what's for supper! I've tried to find a book at the library called "Frozen Assets", but it has been checked out for the last few weeks. It also has this kind of info.

[ethical]

I'm going to try this. I tried something new this school year, assigning a night to cook to everyone in the family, even the kids. Already that has fallen by the wayside. It worked good for about a month, then schedules got in the way.

[callisto]

a quick bump for the lunchtime crowd.

[Aquamarine]

I make a slow-beef barbeque...

I also make a slow beef barbeque, I wonder if its the same one although I doubt it because yours has homemade ketchup in it. The one I make is a homemade sauce that includes beer, orange juice, and chipotle peppers among other ingredients. Beef short ribs are cooked on a low heat all day in this special sauce...delicious! I usually cook up a big pan of these and freeze the leftovers for future occasions.

If anyone wants the complete recipe, freepmail me.

[Gabz]

That sounds like a recipe I would ADORE!!!!!

Early evening dinner crowd East Coast BUMP!!!!!!!!