Cooking and time

[YellowRoseTex]

As many of us are probably pressed for time, especially during the weekdays, cooking can be a time constraint. My dh usually works much later than I do so I certainly don't want to be cooking at 8pm. I'd like to share what has worked for me.

I plan my week's meals and do all my cooking on Sunday. I steam veggies, make soup, a nice roast or perhaps throw something on the rotissiere. Of course I make sure whatever I make is a healthy meal. :goodscale: I put it all in individual size containers so that when I or my husband gets home from work all we have to do is pop it in the microwave. If dh is not going to be extremely late he will call me and I'll have a nice meal all ready for him when he gets home.

Saves time on clean up also! :bliss:

[Poppie]

That is a great idea, :( I don't cook like I use to. We eat out alot and that isn't healthy for us. I may try this. Thanks Kim

[wingriderprincess]

Oh wow! I need to do that. My dh works 12 hour shifts and since I am a morning person, by evening I'm sooooo tired and don't want to cook. I do ok if I get my meal ready ahead of time and just need to pop it in the oven. I try and make a salad when I get home from work and wrap potatoes to bake. Your way seems like my kind of cooking!

:queen:

[YellowRoseTex]

Another good idea is to start something in the slow cooker. I use mine alot on the weekends, but it's also handy for weekday meals. You can prepare everything the evening before, put it in the fridge in the stoneware pot provided, than just pull it out and turn it on in the morning. When you get home, the house will smell heavenly and you'll have a great tasty meal.

Y'all are going to start calling me Betty Crocker. ;) :jumping:

[Kyleigh]

You don't look like Betty Crocker! ;)

Those are really good ideas! I need to get organized and try them out. Mealtime around here isn't one time since we all seem to be on different schedules. :( Gotta work on that, too!

I'm definitely putting this on my to-do list!

[QuiltAngel]

Kim, Betty Crocker it is!

When I have left overs, I try to make them up into individual servings in microwavable containers. Makes it easy for a quick lunch (no one is ever home at the same time) or an easy meal on those short on time meal times.

[clogaholic]

Nice suggestions Betty :D
I love one pot meals - could just about live on soups alone. But, my DH doesn't think of soup as a meal. So, I think I'll start fixing meats and dividing them up into the individual servings for him. That way, we can both be happy :bliss:

[bumblebeequeen]

The crockpot saved me in the two years during our kitchen remodel!

[YellowRoseTex]

Betty Crocker here checking in :D I found a new time and cleaning saver. The steamer bags from McCormick are great! You put your veggies in the bag, mix the sauce and put it over the veggies and microwave for about 8 mintues. The veggies turn out really yummy, they don't taste microwaved at all.

[wingriderprincess]

Ok Betty.... errr uh... ((Kim))
I have beans and smoked ham hock cooking in the crock pot, buttermilk corn bread, a quich made from left over veggies and mixed cheeses, a veggie salad and a fruit salad. I peeled 6 oranges and placed them in a container ready for snacks, took the grapes off the vine for my dh :rolleyes: , washed all the apples and vegetables I brought home from the store and put them in containers, chopped veggies for stir fry this week, made some jello and even dug out gramma's pudding recipie and made a banana cream pie. My refridgerator looks like Martha Stewart's :lol: It wasn't that hard and I even found myself dancing to the CD's I had going in the kitchen!
Thanks for the idea ((Kim)). I had fun!

:hi5:

[stampinafwife]

ok Betty GGG Crocker, I need kitchen help. we are a LARGE family and I spend forever cooking...cooking ahead would be great but no room to store everything. We have all the time 5 teenagers and then we have 2 available slots for all different ages (we are an emergency foster shelter/home so any ideas how to make things smoother for a LARGE family?

[Autumn Moon]

When I do the week's grocery shopping, I prep as much as I possibly can. I will brown all the ground beef, wash and cut whatever veggies I can (broccoli, cauli, onions, peppers) I roast a garlic bulb and mince a garlic bulb (thats bulb not clove).
I will pre-assemble as much of a slow cooker meal as possible so that I can take it out of the freezer ( I bought plastic freezer containers just a little smaller than my slowcooker), put it into the crock, add whatever else I have to and leave for work.
I also utilize my oven timer and bread machine. My house ALWAYS smells good at the end of the day.
Organization is the key! and dedicating the necessary time to do so on grocery day and at the end of the day to set up for tomorrow morning.

[ester 6" tall]

I try to cook some big meals sometimes. Like my spaghetti sauce or lasagna - we have fresh the first day, then I package up the leftovers into freezer bags. When I make chicken/beef pot pie, I make them in individual dishes (kind of like an onion soup bowl) and what ever we don't eat that day gets popped in the freezer. But make sure that you label everything, so you know how long things have been around.

[Mykhal Jaems]

DH is disabled and can't cook much. So it's up to me when I come home from work.

I usually cook at least twice as much as we need and freeze the rest in serving sizes.

It comes in handy for lunches for DH and for suppers when I just don't have the energy to cook.

I also try to keep a couple bags of boneless skinless chicken breast in the freezer, you can do alot with them and it doesn't take all that long.

Yesturday we made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce, I'm freezing it in quart bags and we will use it for all sorts of pasta dishes in the next couple weeks.

This won't be a good idea for those of you with large families, you would need a walk in freezer to keep up with it, but it works well for just the two of us.

MK

[ester 6" tall]

BTW, when I make my spaghetti sauce, I also put some aside for something special.

When I make my sauce, I start with my tomato base and add the herbs/spices and let that cook for a while, then add a bunch of veggies, then later, the meat.

Before I add the veggies and meat, I take a little bit fo the sauce out and put it in a small freezer container and use this as my home made pizza sauce. The family is always happy when they get home made pizza. :D

[pad1220]

Hey Everyone, Reading all your great post and ideas brought to thought a question I've had for a while regarding cockpots. When I put meat, usually boneless chicken no matter what I do at the end of the day there is all this clumpy gross stuff that comes out of the meat. I assume it is some kind of coagulation of some kind but I would love to not have it because before I can eat my dinner I have to strain the gravy with is a pain in the butt!!
Any ideas?????????

[YellowRoseTex]

:wave: PAD,
I have not had that problem. Are you skinning the chicken? And defatting the meat? I always trim away the fat of anything I put in the crockpot. Maybe searing the meat before putting in the crockpot would help? How long are you cooking the dish? Checking your settings to make sure that if you're cooking for 8-10 hours that the setting is on low. If you're cooking on high, one thing that I found with my old crockpot is that the high setting cooked the food way too fast. I don't have the problem with my new one, but have found that in 4-5 hours the food is DONE, therefore it's time to either put the crockpot on warm or it's time to eat.

[pad1220]

Thanks Kim, And yes no fat or skin. I'm talking bonless chic breast. It could be my crockpot, it is just a cheap one!

[Autumn Moon]

PAD
Try rinsing your chicken under cold water, then wiping dry (with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel that you will immediately rinse out with hot water and soap then put into the laundry) before putting it into the crock pot.

When I cook a roast or a whole chicken, I usually sear it in a 400 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes (morning shower time) before putting it into the crock pot.

Maybe this will help.

Autumn

[pad1220]

Thank you, Autum. Maybe searing is the trick! I will try this the next time and let you know. Although, now it is grill time not crockpot time. Spring is here!!