Cooking in bulk saves money and time

Stock up your freezer by cooking twice as much of your favorite meals, and freeze half for another night.

Dishes that freeze well include:

• pasta casseroles such as homemade macaroni and cheese, baked spaghetti casserole, or lasagna
• enchiladas
• desserts such as coffee cake, cookies, and pies
• soups
• vegetable side dishes such as broccoli/squash casseroles
• taco meat
• spaghetti sauce

Bulk cooking

Bulk cooking is the same idea on a larger scale. You spend a day or two cooking and fill your freezer with a variety of foods. I’ve done a small version of this before. It is a lot of work, and you need a lot of available freezer space. However, you can save a lot of money by purchasing your meat in large quantities.

Learn more about bulk cooking from these sites:

• Bulk Freezer Cooking
• Wise Bread
• 13 Bulk Cooking Recipes

My favorite “cook and freeze” recipe

On a busy day, my favorite meal to throw together is spaghetti. I can thaw the homemade sauce in the microwave and have dinner done within 20 minutes. Lasagna is a close second, so I like to stock up on both.

The following makes about 1 large or 3 small lasagnas and 3-4 dinner’s-worth of spaghetti sauce. I have some great recipe’s for more complicated sauces, but this is the easy and quick version that I make most of the time.

First you need to make a large batch of Spaghetti Sauce

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

• 3lbs of meat of your preference. I use:
  • 1 lb. ground turkey, browned and drained
  • 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
  • 1 lb. Italian sausage, browned and drained
• 4 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (look for buy one get one free sales on these)
• 1 large tomato sauce
• Italian seasoning to taste (I add about 2 Tbsps)
• 1 Cup of water

Simmer all the ingredients on low for about an hour.

Easy Lasagna

• 1 box of lasagna noodles
• Small Ricotta cheese
• 1 package of provolone cheese slices
• 2 packages of 5 Italian cheese -shredded

Cook the noodles for about 10 minutes and drain.

Use a one cup measuring cup to scoop out a cup of sauce and spread it out to cover the bottom of the pan.

Alternate the following layers until you fill the pan:

Noodles
ricotta cheese
Sauce
Provolone cheese (rips into small pieces)
Sprinkle some shredded Italian cheese

Repeat.

Wrap up and label items for the freezer

Wrap for freezer and label

After the lasagna had been made, the leftover sauce is frozen in dinner-serving sizes.

Prepare your food for the freezer by wrapping them in foil. Use a Sharpie to write what it is and the date. I wrote “SS” which stands for Spaghetti Sauce in my special shorthand.

Freezer to Oven

Bake the lasagna in a 350 degree oven for about an hour if frozen and 30 minutes if thawed.
5 minutes in the microwave will thaw the spaghetti sauce.

What’s for dinner tonight?

Credit for these quick and easy dinners goes to my good friend Melissa, a busy mom of 5 kids who also owns a photography business. She certainly knows how to serve up a delicious dinner in a matter of minutes. Check out her gorgeous photography at: www.contemporarycaptures.com/blog

Stuffed Pasta Shells with Sauce

• 1 box frozen stuffed large shell pasta
• 1 large jar prepared spaghetti sauce (26 oz)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Lay the frozen pasta shells in a casserole pan, pour sauce over them, and top with cheese.
Note: if you like spinach, you can add a layer before adding the sauce.

Cover with foil.

Bake at 350^o for 45min-1 hour until the shells are warm.

Serve with a salad and bread.

Chicken and Yellow Rice

• boneless chicken breasts
• olive oil
• garlic salt
• Vigo yellow rice packet
• peas

Drizzle chicken with olive oil and sprinkle on some garlic salt.

Bake at 350^o for 45min-1 hour until done.

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.

Cook the yellow rice according to directions. For better flavor, substitute part or all of the liquid required with the the chicken stock from the baked chicken.

Mix the rice, chicken and a can of peas (warmed and drained) for a complete meal.

Pepper Steak

Melissa said this recipe is a family favorite. It was a huge hit at my house, too. Confession: I craved this steak for several days after eating it...it was so good. I may have dreamed about it.

• favorite steak sliced into thin pieces – flank steak works well
• 3-4 green peppers, sliced
• garlic salt
• 1 or 2 gravy packets

(Note: I left out the gravy to save calories and it was still wonderful)


• white or brown rice

Cook the rice according to the instructions.

Mix the gravy packet, according to the instructions, and heat in a small pan until boiling.

In a frying pan, cook the steak in a pan with garlic salt and a pad or two of butter until browned. Let the pieces drain on a paper towel.

Toss the green pepper slices in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the steak back to the pan and pour in the gravy. Mix well.

Serve over rice with a salad.

Mini Hamburgers with Gravy

• ground sirloin, about 1/4 lb per person
• 1 packet of gravy
• egg noodles or rice

Form the meat into small patties, add in seasoning to taste.
Make the gravy in a small sauce pan according to the directions.
Cook the mini patties in a skillet until done.
Add the gravy and serve over rice or egg noodles.

Spaghetti Casserole

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
• 1 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained

Brown meat and onion with any seasonings you prefer.

Mix together the spaghetti sauce, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, cooked noodles, and soup and stir well.

Add mixture to a casserole dish and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake 20-30 minutes in a 350^o oven until heated.

What is your family’s favorite quick and easy meal?

It’s 6:00 pm and you, tired and hungry, are just walking in the door. Whether you have had a stressful day at the office, just finished a chaotic taxi shift to various activities with the kids, or simply forgot to defrost the meat for dinner, you want something easy and fast.

The kids are revolting and dramatically threatening to pass out if they don’t get food “right now”.

Easy dinners to the rescue

The exhausted chef hands the kids some yogurt to hold them off (and get them out of the kitchen) while coming to the rescue with a delicious meal created in under fifteen minutes.

Avoid breaking down and running to the nearest fast food by keeping the ingredients for quick meals on hand.

Here are a few of my family’s favorites.

Meatball Subs

• 1 package of frozen meatballs (small bag…or get a large and use half)
• 1 jar of Marinara sauce
• 1 small package of mozzarella cheese
• 4-6 Hoagie rolls from the grocery store deli

1. Defrost the meatballs in the microwave for a few minutes if you didn’t thaw them in the refrigerator during the day.
2. Place the meatballs and marinara sauce in a skillet and warm them up for 10-15 minutes on low.
3. Spoon warm meatballs and sauce into hoagie rolls and top with mozzarella cheese.

Add a side salad and some fruit for a complete meal in minutes.

Vegetable Tostadas

• 1 can of petite diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1 can of yellow corn, drained.
• 1 small can of sliced black olives, drained.
• Basil – 1 tsp dried or 1 Tbsp fresh
• Feta cheese (optional)
• Cream cheese or can of refried beans – your choice
• Package of tostadas

1. In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, corn, olives, basil and cheese.
2. Spread cream cheese or refried beans on the tostada.
3. Top with the vegetable mixture.

It is that simple. This is one of my favorite summer meals. You could play with the ingredients and create variations with other vegetables.

Chicken Salad

• 1 can of chicken (or leftover chicken from last night’s meal)
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 Tbsp Sweet pickle relish
• celery, two stalks, chopped
• bread

1. Mix the chicken, a small amount of mayo, pickle relish, some juice from the pickle relish (to keep the mayo amount to a minimum), and celery. Stir well.
2. If too dry, add more pickle relish juice.
3. Toast some bread and make sandwiches.

Add a salad and a fruit and you have a light, fast dinner.

Looking for more recipes – help!

Can you ever have enough quick dinner recipes? No way!

I am looking for more last-minute dinner ideas. I am creating a “Quick Meal” recipe book for the website, so you can print the meals you choose and add them to your own Try-It Cookbook. Add a new category for “quick meals”.

Have any family favorite last-minute meals to share?

I need more recipes! Leave them in a comment or email them to me at info@simplehomeorganization.com. Don’t forget to let me know how you want to be credited for your contribution such as “Julie B.” or “Fabulous Mom in Texas”.