Freezer Cooking Day

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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!