Bulk Cooking

I know we have all heard about bulk buying but bulk cooking may be something new to you. I read a couple of articles about this recently and realized that I have been doing this for years. So I thought I'd share :)

The idea is to cook everything at once this will save energy and time later. We do this usually with items like cookies - we bake a lot and then freeze the rest. But this idea of baking or cooking in bulk can be carried on to a lot of other items. You can actually build and entire menu around this way of cooking.


Let me give you a basic example: I buy a 15 lb bag of russet potatoes. Wash them and then bake them all. I have baked potatoes for dinner on the first night with chili and cheese and a salad. I store the rest in a ziploc in my fridge. The next day for afternoon snack I take 3 or 4 of the potatoes, quarter them, and then scoop out the guts leaving the skins. I put the skins with grated cheese on them into the broiler for a couple of minutes and we have potato skin snacks. The pulp of the potato I save for later. That night I cut the potato in half and scoop out the pulp and put it in a bowl. I add tuna, egg, cheese, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and a bit of milk to the pulp. I mix them together and put them back in the potato halves. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and serve with additional cheese and butter - voila! Tuna Boats. The next day I cut the potatoes up for breakfast - brown onions and green bell peppers toss in the potatoes and O'Brien potatoes are born. For dinner that night I create a white sauce add cut up potatoes, ham, steamed carrots and some pepper for a ham and potato stew. More potatoes skin snacks for the next afternoon and then the final night I make potato, corn and ham chowder with all the potatoes (and pulp) that is left.

The one baking of potatoes has become the base for serving dinners, snacks and breakfast for 4 days. FOUR DAYS! I do this same process for chicken (Costco bag - bake the whole thing - then enchiladas, chicken Alfredo, quesadillas, quiche, omelets, chicken wraps, etc.). You just have to develop a pattern that works for your family. Bulk cooking makes life easier and gives you dinners at a moments notice. I do beans, chili and spaghetti sauce by the gallons and freeze so when I don't feel my best I already have something easy for dinner already in process. And I do GALLONS not just a small pot. I usually get 6 -8 dinners out of that bulk cooking. It just makes sense and makes life a bit easier.

You should seriously give it a try. Enjoy!