This post is just for encouragement! If you begin cooking ahead, at first . . I assure you . . it will seem like a lot of trouble, it may even seem like more trouble than when you’re cooking the regular way.
Here’s my example:
Friday morning when I had butter in my black iron pot to saute the onions and celery for making cornbread dressing.
Onions & Celery
After those were dumped, I cooked the bacon for our Saturday morning breakfast casserole, the sauteed the onions for our breakfast casserole. Knowing that I could cook green beans for lunch in the same pot, I added extra onions. Once they were sauteed, I removed the onions needed for the breakfast casserole, leaving some behind for the green beans. The I added garlic.
Onions and Garlic
Once it was cooked a bit, I added green beans to the same pot.
Green Beans
Cooking the “normal” way, I would have:
- Friday morning: Used one pot for sauteeing the onions and celery for the dressing. Wiped that pot out and put it away.
- Friday before lunch: Used a pan for sauteeing the onions and garlic, then heating the green beans. Washed that pot.
- Saturday morning: Used a pan for frying the bacon, and then sauteeing onions for breakfast casserole. Washed that pot.
This kind of cooking will not only save time cooking, but it also saves cleaning time.
Dottie N. says
Cooking ahead does really save you a lot of time in the long run – I’ve been doing a lot of this for several years now – especially around the holidays. Sometimes I ask myself if I’m “really” saving time (at the time), BUT, when I have the “cooking ahead” items ready when needed, I’m grateful that I took a minute or two extra to save that time when needed.
Liz says
I’ve started cooking chicken and other meats at one time, then cut them up and store either in a sealed container (fresh seal bag or container) or frozen. It’s a lot easier for me to defrost a bag of chopped chicken to make a salad than to cook, cool,chop.
I also trying to prep foods when I come home from the store – I’ll wash, cut and seal the items in smaller containers. Salad greens stay nice when vacuum sealed in a mason jar (salad in a jar process) and then so easy to open get some out, reseal and eat!
If you don’t have a food saver due to cost, go check out the little “fresh saver” hand held gizmo. I also bought a few of their containers (looks like tupperware but with a spot to do the seal) as well as the attachment to use on mason jars.
I also bought some small pyrex bowls with good lids. When I’m in a cottage cheese mood, I’ll buy a container and split up the cheese into the smaller bowls. Easy to grab for a snack, especially if trying to watch calories or points for weight loss!