I have to tell someone

18 years ago

What a day. I cooked. I don't really love cooking, but sometimes I just get in the mood. So today I made the most of it, and I shouldn't have to do it again for a little while.

I made a pot roast for a mom/family just had a baby. So I made another for us. The one for us was 4 1/2 lbs. So after dinner, I cooked some noodles and added the leftover meat - that's another meal.

Then I boiled about 4 lbs. of chicken. Cut up some, made a pot pie, it's in the freezer. Shredded the rest, made shredded chicken for sandwiches, about 3 lbs. of it.

Made 3 lbs. of sloppy joes.

Buckeyes (my family's favorite candy)

deviled eggs

washed a bunch of strawberries and grapes

cut cheese into bites

Now the frig is full, and I won't have to cook and dirty any pans for a few days! Man, that feels good! I need to make a habit of that.

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Comments (9)

quiltglo
18 years ago
Woo, woo! Time saved cooking is my idea of a great job. I don't really enjoy cooking either. But with 6 in the family, I certainly do it a great deal.

A couple of things I have always done is buy hamburger in very large batches, brown it all up and freeze in meal sized amounts. Only one dirty pan and I had several meals worth ready for things like tacos, spaghetti, etc.

I do the same with the frozen chicken breasts. I load the crockpot and let them cook in some broth. Then I cut it up and freeze. Again, quick for meals which call for cooked chicken.

Enjoy the week away from the stove!

Gloria
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intherain
18 years ago
I'm thinking about freezing meals again. Good for you!

Sheryl
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Julie_MI_Z5
18 years ago
I hate to cook. Only ONCE did I spend a weekend cooking ahead, and I filled the freezer with chicken casseroles, lasagne, spaghetti sauce, cookies, etc. I thought I cooked enough for a month... it took my entire weekend and only lasted a week in the freezer! Never again. LOL

Gloria probably has a better idea--cook up the hamburger and chicken ahead of time that goes in recipes, rather than the whole recipe.
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des_arc_ya_ya
18 years ago
Well, aren't you energetic!? LOL Sounds like a good idea to me! I made five batches of chicken spaghetti this week - one for us for now, one for DS and DIL, one for DD and her DH, a small one for my DM and an extra one for the freezer for us.

Two questions - what are Buckeyes and may I have the recipe? What's the best way to thaw the browned/frozen hamburger? Ooops, guess that's 3 questions!
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jannie
18 years ago
When I was younger, there were us four kids plus Mom and Dad. Mom always prepared double batches of food, served one and froze the other. It worked out well, she had plenty of spare time to volunteer at school,we ate well even when Dad was unemployed , and if she went out , we kids could pull a caserole out and heat it in the oven. I remember well, because this was in the days before microwaves.
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stephanie_in_ga
Original Author
18 years ago
Gloria, Jannie, you know why I need to do this... four kids here, too. DS#1 is old enough now that I can leave something for him to put in the oven so it's ready when we all get home from whatever practice we've got. I've been working on better dinner/cooking plans for a few months now. I feel so much better when I don't have to think about a meal every day. It give me a headache! I feel less stressed if I make a plan for the week, write it down, so I just refer to plan every day.

To thaw cooked meat, I just set in the fridge the night before or microwave it on defrost.

Buckeyes are chocolate covered peanut butter balls that resemble the nut off a Buckeye tree. It's an Ohio thing. I don't measure, I just grew up making them, but this is a good estimate. There is no baking, kids can do it.

Blend 1/2 c. softened margarine and 1 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter until smooth
Stir in sifted powdered sugar a cup at a time until mixture is like playdough, about 3-4 cups.
Roll into 1" balls, set on cookie sheet covered w/ wax paper. Refrigerate 15-20 minutes to firm up.
Melt 12oz. semisweet chocolate.
With toothpick, dip each peanut butter ball into chocolate until almost covered, leave dime-sized circle around toothpick uncovered.
Set back on wax paper. Refrigerate 1 hour til set.
I think it makes about 40-45. But they're gone before I can count! LOL!
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talley_sue_nyc
18 years ago
congrats--it sounds like you had fun.

I need to get some cooking time in; I think I've forgotten how to do it.
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artmom
18 years ago
Hey Stephanie, I know Buckeyes, I make them every Christmas (being from Ohio). I miss those cooking marathons, used to do them every once-in-a-while. Now the best I do is cook about 5 lbs. of ground beef and freeze it in 1 lb batches for tacos, sloppy joes, spaghetti, etc. Sometimes if I make a large batch of veg. soup and freeze it but, even in my chest freezer, it gets freezer burn. Guess I'm not wrapping it properly.
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jamie_mt
18 years ago
Congrats on your cooking marathon! That will be nice for the week...

When I lived alone, I used to cook for the week or month. I'd spend one weekend cooking, freeze everything, and then just reheat. But I got tired of that pretty quickly - because not everything tastes good out of the freezer (IMO), so now I'm back to cooking on a nightly basis. I like to cook though, which makes it a lot less of a chore, and I don't have kids to cook for, so I can go as simple or complex as I'd like for DH and myself, depending on how I feel on a day to day basis. I do freeze leftovers occasionally, for an easy meal some night when I'm super-busy.

I actually like getting home from work and spending an hour or so in the kitchen making dinner...it's my "wind down" time - switching gears and relaxing from the day. :-)
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