I tried the idea from my previous post about cooking the meat ahead this past weekend. I did about 10 lbs of chicken and 8 lbs of ground pork/turkey mix because we don't eat ground beef.
I have to admit that it was easier than I thought it would be and the results have been fantastic! If you have not tried this idea yet I urge you to do so! It is a great time saver and made for some tasty meals!
Saturday I made chili with the precooked meat. It was so easy to just dump the bag in and add all of my other ingredients, turn on the pot and GO!
Tuesday night I made tacos and enchiladas with the prepared shredded chicken and they was delicious! I just thawed the meat, wrapped the enchilada shells around it and threw it in the oven. Tasty and good! QUICK TOO!
Tonight is baked ziti with the prepared ground meat mix. It will be so easy! The meat is thawing, now all I have to do is boil noodles, open a jar of sauce and throw it all together. Put in the pan and throw cheese on top and pop it into the oven. Now that's the way I like it....quick, easy and GOOD!
I decided to compose a list of reasons why I like doing the meat ahead so much:
1. I only had to handle raw meat one time. This is a major ICK factor for me in cooking, and also the reason I keep rubber gloves on my microwave.
2. I only had to chop raw onion and cry once.
3. I could easily see how many meals I had enough meat for when I stacked it in my freezer.
4. The Ziploc bags of cooked meat take up much less room and store flatter that the bulky packages of meat.
5. The precooked meat makes it super quick and easy to throw together easy homecooked meals. It was quicker to put the tacos and enchiladas together than to order pizza.
6. The flexibility of the cooked meat makes trying new recipes easy and enticing again, even when I don't feel creative. :)
If you have not checked out the idea of cooking ahead, please give it a whirl. It took me about 2 hours to do both the chicken and the ground meat, and I have enough meat prepared now for about 12 meals.
Let me know what you think!!!!
2 comments:
Just found this link and thought of you. I'm sure you've already found it, but just in case... http://frugalhacks.com/
I haven't gotten brave enough to try this yet, but my hubby is encouragin me to do it with hotter weather on the wya, I only have to heat the house once a week with the oven.
I need some great recipe links though.
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