Sunday, April 19, 2015

3/16/15

Well, over the weekend, my Spring Fever got the best of me and I ended up hurting my lower back by overdoing it. Consequently I missed work today and I've been sitting on an ice pack off and on and taking meds. 
So, I decided to write a post about some of the basic meal prep tips that I use to make it easier for a busy week when I work late, as well as helping preserve the foods that I buy so they don't spoil before I have a chance to fix them in a recipe. Most of it is pretty common sense.  For some recipes, I will cook up the meat say like ground turkey with all the herbs and spices and onion for, say, my Stuffed Shells. Then, when I prepare it, I've only to add egg, marinara sauce  and cottage cheese, cook my jumbo pasta shells, fill them with the meat mixture, top with shredded Parmesan and bake.  I'll do that with ground beef as well, for stroganoff and sloppy joes, adding all veggies that can be precious and frozen, then I freeze them in freezer containers and label them, of course, so that I have home-cooked meals ready with very minimal cooking or prep throughout the week. I try to decide on what recipes I'm going to fix and buy my groceries for the week accordingly. I also try to buy meat in bulk, as it's cheaper per pound. Same thing with vegetables, like Vidalia onions, celery, and peppers, if they're on special. 
I will divide up the meat in portion sizes for my husband and I and wrap ithe portions well, then label them and freeze them in freezer safe bags. 
For example the recipes that I've decided six for the week for the menu that I've chosen him I will buy enough of chicken or pork or beef or whatever or whatever part of me or type of mean it is that I'm going to give use and I will depending on the recipe either pick it up or portion it into serving sizes for my husband and I and freeze it that way and I will write the name of the recipe on the bag of the individual cuts of meat.  
The list goes on the fridge and with the recipe name and what page in what book it's in what recipe book and
and is checked off as the meat is frozen for it and then you get a quick reference and you know what's what and what's going on. 
Then I put all them in a larger Ziploc freezer bag marked with what kind of meat it is.  
It's a super quick way to preserve your food save money and make it easier to prepare good nutritious home cooked meals throughout a busy work week