calzephyr | Batch cooking

It feels so good to be done cooking. Total time, including grocery shopping, was five hours. I have 10 large pork pies, 5 2-3 person servings of pasta sauce, 2.5 quarts of chili (which is still bubbling away in the crockpot), 10 sandwiches and 5 servings of beans and rice. I'll probably figure out the cost per unit down the road...but after tasting the pasta sauce, there is NO WAY I'm buying store bought anymore! When you can make 2.5 litres of pasta sauce for $7, all I can say is pffft!

I was really looking forward to today, even fantasizing about it in bed on Thursday night. It's true that most people fantasize about other things in bed, but the thought of the wonderful things I would make, and the time, effort and stress it would save me was just dancing around in my head.

The first step to success with batch cooking is to not buy groceries on your cooking day. Get all that beforehand, and better yet, go shopping in your cupboards first. Make sure you have enough plastic wrap, foil and containers too.

Here's how I did it:

Round #1 -
Beans & rice plus sandwiches
Common ingredient: cheese

1. Cook brown rice in rice cooker.
2. While rice is cooking, assemble sandwiches.
3. Shred enough cheese for each serving of beans and rice, sandwiches and pasta on Monday.
4. Get the can opener running. Open all the cans for the recipes, remember to recycle!
4. Dole cooked rice into five containers, layer with baked brown beans and corn. Sprinkle cheese on top. Let cool before freezing.
5. Package sandwiches and freeze.

At this point I have to stop and say that beans and rice is surprising good, fibreful and freezes good. WeightWatchers makes a similar frozen entree, but I'm sure that my five cost about the same as one entree.

Round #2 -
Food processing

1. Wash and roughly chop required vegetables.
2. Process corn flakes for Corn Flake Shake n'Bake, set aside. Measure and add spices later.
3. Rinse food processor and process 2 small onions. Divide onions in three for Havana Chili, Basic Tomato Sauce and pork pies.
3. Process potato, celery, apple, and mushrooms for pork pies and leave in container.

If the sink isn't already full of soapy water, fill it up and wash as you go.

Round #3 -
Havana Chili and Basic Tomato Sauce
Common ingredient: diced plum tomatoes, garlic and onion

1. Fill crockpot with diced plum tomatoes and beans for Havana Chili. Because I use the crockpot and veggie ground round, I follow the original recipe somewhat loosely and I don't have to worry about browning beef.
2. Put the other three cans of diced plum tomatoes in a very large bowl (it's almost 90 oz of tomatoes!)
3. On one burner, start the Basic Tomato Sauce. On another burner, start browning the onions and garlic for Havana Chili.
4. Once the burner for Havana Chili is done, assemble all the rest of the crockpot ingredients and set it to high. Note the time it starts.
5. Turn your attention back to Basic Tomato Sauce and work from there.

Round #4 -
Pork Pies

It's almost a relief that the Basic Tomato Sauce requires 40-50 minutes to simmer. It gives you a chance to clean up the counter and start on the pork pies. I think next time I'll get frozen pie shells, as it would be more economical - a box of Robin Hood pastry mix is $3.16, whereas a dozen store brand shells are less than that and doesn't require another bowl to clean up.

Once the pork pies are done, sit back, relax and LJ!