Yesterday I decided around 11 that I was going to go grocery shopping and then do a day of cooking meals to be frozen. I've done this once before, but I had Grand Plans(tm) for this day. I knew I wanted to do some ground beef meals, which I've found reheat super easily (throw frozen meal into a frying pan with a little water, cook till it's hot), as well as some uncooked chicken in marinades (pull out the night before, so it marinates as it thaws). The big thing I had decided to do was use a whole chicken to make shredded chicken and stock, by simmering in a stockpot till done.
I hit the grocery store, and along with the regular weekly groceries, got 3 lbs ground beef, 2 lbs ground pork, 3 lbs chicken breasts, a whole chicken (I think it was 8ish lbs), a large bag of carrots, and 3 red peppers. I had a lot of the other things I needed at home, and as I normally do, I was planning on winging it to some extent.
First thing I did was grate the whole bag of carrots, using my Cuisinart. Then I chopped up the 3 red peppers, 6 onions, and a bunch of garlic. And by bunch, I mean probably half of one of those pre-peeled garlic containers. 20 cloves maybe? Those each went into a bowl, to be grabbed as needed. Yes, I know that's four dirty bowls already, but this way, that happens only once rather than every time I need these ingredients!
Next step was to put the whole chicken in a big stockpot, cover it with water, and throw in some spices and onions. I think for spices I put in oregano, basil, pepper, bay leaves, and parsley. I would have put in celery, but it turned out the bag I had was going mushy. I brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for probably 3 hours.
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| Whole chicken simmering in a stockpot |
Once the chicken was going, I tackled the ground beef. That went into a frying pan (though I quickly discovered I actually needed two pans because of all the add-ins), then I added a handful or two of onions, half the carrots, half the peppers, and 1/4 of the garlic. The carrots bulk up the beef, and add veggies where you wouldn't expect it. When you add them, it looks like a TON of carrots, but as everything cooks down and blends, it isn't so bad. Once this is cooked, put it aside to cool. I put it into a baking pan, but if you don't want to dirty another dish, you could probably just portion it out into bags. I wanted to do all my bagging at once, since I wanted to measure the weights, so I figured another dish wouldn't hurt.
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| Ground beef with carrots, peppers, and onions |
Next, the pork went into the frying pan(s), along with the other half of the carrots and peppers, and the rest of the onions. I also added taco seasoning, which you could either make yourself or just use purchased seasoning packets. Again, once it's cooked, put it aside to cool.
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| Ground pork with carrots, peppers, onions, and taco seasoning |
After I was done with the cooking (aside from the whole chicken, which was still simmering away!), I pulled out the chicken breasts. I cut them into cubes, and then made the marinade. I wanted to do a soy sauce-based marinade, so I went for the traditional Asian marinade we make for chicken: soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and ginger. I was low on soy sauce, so I added some cooking sherry and olive oil to make more liquid, and threw in the rest of the garlic. Mmm, garlic. I realized this was only going to be enough for about 2/3 of the chicken, so I consulted my refrigerator. I found a bottle of Caesar dressing, so I decided to use that for the rest of the chicken. The chicken went into bags (I got six bags of about 12 oz each), then I put about half a cup of marinade into each bag. I made sure to mark that this was uncooked chicken, along with the date and what the marinade was, and those went into the freezer.
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| Bags of chicken ready for the freezer |
While the whole chicken continued cooking and the ground meats cooled, I made pesto. Basil, walnuts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a splash of lime juice went into the Cuisinart, then I separated it into about 1 cup portions, and it went into the freezer. I also did my first round of cleaning at this point, including a run of the dishwasher.
Finally cooled, the ground meats went into bags, where I noted that they were cooked, what they were, and the date. When the chicken was good and cooked, I took it out of the stockpot, let it cool, and then shredded it, using two forks. I portioned the shredded chicken, marked it accordingly, and poured the cooled stock into ice cube trays.
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| Ground beef and pork portioned out, my kitchen scale to the left |
So, to recap, this is what I ended up with:
-4 bags ground beef (can be used in spaghetti sauce, over rice, in shepherd's pie, or in any recipe calling for ground beef)
-4 bags ground pork with taco seasoning (can be used in tacos, enchiladas, burritos, or anywhere else you'd use taco meat)
-4 bags Asian marinated chicken (let thaw overnight, cook and serve over rice)
-2 bags Caesar marinated chicken (let thaw overnight, cook and serve over salad)
-4 portions of pesto (thaw and use with pasta, as a spread, or anywhere else you'd use pesto)
-4 bags shredded chicken (use on salads, in casseroles, on sandwiches, the possibilities are endless)
-2 large freezer bags of chicken stock cubes (use wherever a recipe calls for stock, or to add flavor elsewhere)
Over 20 meals prepped in about 4 hours, and not all of that time was active cooking time. I'm pretty pleased, and my freezer is nearly overflowing!
