Thursday, September 2, 2010

Buying Meat in Bulk

Each month I take a trip to my local food warehouse store (Sam’s Club) and purchase the meat that I will need for my cooking this month.  I typically purchase around 12 lbs of beef and 12 lbs of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts.

DSC_8857 DSC_8868

I’m not a big fan of cooking, so I like to make my meals as quick and easy as possible.  One of the ways I cut down time when cooking is to pre-cook all of my ground beef.

First, I stick it all in a big pot (usually about 6 lbs at a time).  I use my Pampered Chef Mix and Chop (I don’t know how I ever lived without this!) and just star mixing away as it cooks.

DSC_8860

I’ll put a lid on it so it cooks a bit faster opening the lid every once in a while to mix and chop some more.

DSC_8865

When all the pink is gone and the meat is browned and chopped I let it cool.

DSC_8867

I then divide it up into 1 lb (approximately) freezer quart size bags, take the air our, flatten them, and stick them in the freezer.  When I am ready to use one for a casserole, sauce, lasagna, taco meat, etc. I just pull one out, defrost in the microwave and warm.  With my Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe I don’t even warm it.

Crockpot Lasagna

Source: everydayfoodstorage.net

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Total Time: 3Hr. 0Min.

Ingredients

  • 8 Lasagna Noodles , uncooked
  • 1 lb Ground Beef
  • 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
  • 28 ounce jar Spaghetti Sauce
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 4 ounce canned mushrooms
  • 24 ounce Cottage Cheese
  • 2 cups mozerella cheese , Shreeded

Directions

  • 1. Break noodles. Place half in bottom of greased slow cooker.
  • 2. Brown ground beef. Drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. Spread half over noodles in slow cooker.
  • 3. Layer half of sauce and water, half of mushrooms, half of ricotta or cottage cheese and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layers.
  • 4. Cover. Cook on low for 5 hours. (You can also double these ingredients and make 3 layers.)

Powered by Plan to Eat

  DSC_8870

With my chicken, pork, steaks, etc. I just divide them up in to meal size portions (for my family that is usually 3 breasts).  I just pull one out and prepare as directed in the menu.

DSC_8869

 

What are some time saving tips you have?

Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping

For a long time now I have searched for a software that will not only help me with my meal planning, but also help with my grocery shopping.  I have found some software that will do a little of what I want (See Aisle-By-Aisle) but not exactly…until TODAY! 

This website is AMAZING!!!! It is called Plan to Eat, and it has just about everything you could every want in a software to help you plan meals, eat healthy, and shop quicker.  It is missing a few items that I would like to see (but they are just extras, not necessary) and hopefully I will be able to work with the developer to add some of them.

Meal Planning Website
MEAL PLANNING AND MORE
  • Add recipes from 100+ websites & blogs
    Search multiple recipe sites from your dashboard, import recipes with one click, and we’ll do the rest.
  • Share recipes with friends — not the world
    You see their recipes, and they see yours. You can also share your individual recipes with anyone, on your blog, facebook and email.
  • Meal Planning for the rest of us
    Easily drag recipes from your personalized recipe book to your monthly meal planner and then import your meal plan to your personal calendar program. Save your favorite meal plans to use again and again.
  • Automated grocery list maker
    Your shopping list is automatically created from your meal plan, and items are combined and organized into grocery store categories. Add your own items or create separate lists for each store you shop. Print or email your shopping list to simplify your grocery shopping.
  • Mobile Ready. Shopping on the go.
    Access your shopping list and recipes on your mobile device. Check off items on your list at the store and they'll automatically move to your inventory list on the main site.