Monday, September 20, 2010

Freezer Full of Fun!


Friday night I got to participate in what I hope becomes a new trend for my household: Batch Cooking through Menus, Meals and More. This is a home business started this summer by a friend of a friend, who became a direct friend after her son and my son became friends when placed in the same kindergarten class. LOL. The serious explanation is that I have really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth, and I so appreciate her combination of listmaking skill, shopping prowess, and knack for good freezable recipes.

The ultimate selling point that got the Captain's signoff was that she uses very few casserole-type dishes. Another nice feature was that I could request to split several of my entrees. Each of her recipes feeds six, and between the five of us we usually eat about three adult servings. Thus I came home with the same amount of food as everyone else at the party, but it was packaged into more usable portions for my family.

The way it worked was that she offered a list of about 20 choices, evenly divided between chicken, beef and pork entrees. Each participant in the Batch Party chose 2 recipes. Then the night of the party each of the five of us assembled our two recipes, times five.

Depending on the participants, the party could also involve just one recipe per person. Also, I think the available entrees list varies from time to time, and can be customized to the preference of the participants.

The end result made for a great photo opportunity there on my kitchen counter. For a grand total price under $135, I came home with ten meals using almost 20 pounds of meat, seven of which were divided into 2-meal portions. The three crock-pot roasts did not divide, but usually I cook a bigger roast anyway and either use it for a company dinner or reinvent the leftovers.

Next time I will take a cooler, because the cardboard box someone happened to have on hand to give me almost couldn't take the weight of all the goodness.

I was impressed that all that food actually fit into my freezer. Fortunately, it was mostly empty before I arrived home with my treasure.

I can't decide if my favorite element of this is the convenience of someone else doing all the shopping and directing, or getting new recipes to try on my family. I am so bored with dinner, and this is a great jump-start.

Now the hardest problem I have is deciding which meal to serve next.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds great! Wish she was around here. Even if you use these along with with some of your other 'usuals' they will provide great variety. ??Is the idea to go to one of these parties regularly, or to just use it as an idea of how to do it yourself? Mom

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