Batch Cooking Ground Turkey — Mini Cooking Session

I haven’t really felt the need to do huge cooking days since I am only cooking for two right now.

However, I still like to do some meal prep.  Now I am mostly just doubling or tripling when I cook.

I took 2 pounds of ground turkey and divided it for four meals.

I seasoned this with bell pepper, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to keep it kind of generic.

I made one meatloaf for the freezer.  I’ll cook this in the crockpot when I cook it.

I kept one portion out for Big Mac in a Bowl (recipe share coming tomorrow) — I kept this warm in the crockpot until supper time.

One portion went into the refrigerator — it will go in pasta sauce to serve over spaghetti squash.

The last portion went into the freezer and will either go in chili, a “hamburger” helper, or another pasta dish.  

5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Thank you all for the well wishes.  I’m mending.  Never as fast as I want because I am not used to being still, but I am grateful none the less.  I’m relying quite heavily on the crockpot for my meals.  I’m aiming for cooking supper and eating leftovers midday on the next day.  It is a cycle I prefer anyway.  It also works well because I wake up feeling refreshed and at my strongest.  My daughter, who still declines to be on camera, helped me film this one.  It was actually good enough that we will keep sauce hidden in the pantry just for this.  (I’m sure you could easily use homemade sauce and perhaps I’ll test it in the future.)

Freezer Cooking

I found ground beef on mark down this week at almost half off.  I decided to prep it for freezer meals.  Not bad for about 30 to 40 minutes work.  Plus I’m ahead of the game for some future meals.

Freezer Inventory

We finally managed to inventory the two freezers.  I'll continue to work on these items this month, but I am also thinking we will have enough to go into next month with me just supplementing.  I really want to do a complete rotation on this food.  With that said I may not plan February totally in advance, but instead rely on this list and pick meals that use these ingredients as I go along.  I may do my menu for a week at a time as a result of this.  I also know I have one week that we will be gone.  I'll need quick stuff for my daughter to prepare for herself that week.  This freezer inventory does include the stuff we purchased this month.

So this is what I have in addition to my canned and dried items:  (I realize the term box and bag doesn't mean much to you, but that is how I determine my serving sizes, so it means something for my planning.)

Fruit	Blueberries	1 bag
Fruit	Mixed Fruit	4 bags
Meat	BLSL chicken breast	11 pounds
Meat	Turkey burgers	24 patties
Meat	Hamburger	5 lbs.
Meat	Pork loin	1 medium sized
Meat	BLSL chicken thighs	6 pounds
Meat	BBQ Chicken	3 meals
Meat	Beef patties	20 patties
Meat	Turkey Mignon	4 patties
Meat	Turkey sausage patties	1 bag
Meat	Ground turkey	4 lbs
Meat	Italian links	5 links
Meat	Sausage (loose)	3 pounds
Meat	Popcorn chicken	2 bags
Meat	Sausage coil	1 large
Meat	Veggie burgers	4 patties
Meat	Kansas City Steaks	4 steaks
Meat	Chicken, whole	1 large
Meat	Pork loin, cubes	1 bag
Meat	Pork sausage patties	1 bag
Meat	Chicken tenders, GF	1 bag
Meat	Chicken tenders, Italian	1 pan
Meat	Beef sausage	7 links
Meat	Pork sausage links	13 links
Misc.	Pizza rolls	1.5 bags
Misc.	Hamburger buns, GF	2 bags
Misc.	Lasagna	1 pan
Misc.	Hot dog buns, GF	1 bag
Misc.	Fried Rice	1 meal
Misc.	BBQ Pork (pulled)	1 meal
Misc.	Italian bread	2 loaves
Misc.	Cool Whip	2 tubs
Misc.	Buns (sesame seed)	1 bag
Veg	Mixed Veggies	6 bags
veg	Green beans	3 bags
Veg	Veggie Tots	1 bag
Veg	Sweet potato tubs	2 tubs
Veg	Broccoli Blend	1 bag
Veg	Kidney beans	2 cups
Veg	Corn	2 bags
Veg	Asparagus	3 bags
Veg	Kale	1 bag
Veg	Spinach	1 bag
veg	Hash browns	6 pounds
Veg	Tater Tots	2 gallon bags
Veg	Sliced bell pepper	1 gallon bag
Veg	Chopped broccoli	1 box
Veg	Baby Lima	1 bag
Veg	Cauliflower, riced	1 bag
Veg	Broccoli	1 bag
Veg	Okra	3 bags
Veg	Chick peas	2 cups

Gifts of Food

My sister and my soon to be brother in law brought me a bag of sweet potatoes.  

They know the way to my heart, because I always love gifts of food.

I washed them good, popped them in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes, and let the pressure drop naturally.

The results was perfectly cooked sweet potatoes.

I mashed them and kept out two cups full to eat.

The rest went into the freezer.

7 cups of sweet potato for the freezer!

Pumpkin Cheesecake (Recipe Link included)

A week or so ago, Mama brought me two small pumpkins that she was not going to use.  They had been given to her, but she does not eat pumpkin and she thought I might like to have them.  I put them both in the XL presssure cooker — still whole.  I cooked them and then saved the flesh.  I ended up with between 5 and 6 cups of pumpkin from them.  

 I love pumpkin cheesecake and since Thanksgiving was coming up it seemed a good way to use up some of the pumpkin.

 I made this recipe — RECIPE — with a few changes. 

 I wanted a deep dish pie with a gluten free crust, so I started by making 1 1/2 times the filling.  I used reduced fat cream cheese, turbinado sugar, fresh eggs, and my home cooked pumpkin.  I added pumpkin pie spice blend instead of worrying about separates.  For the crust, I used gluten free graham crackers that I pulverized in the food processor along.  (I added a bit of melted butter.). I did not take the crust all the way up the pie because I wasn’t sure how it would handle the baking time.  I ended up baking for 45 minutes, turning the oven off, and then letting sit in a hot oven for about 10 more minutes.

I ordered the “graham” crackers from Vitacost.

While this wasn’t the most beautiful cheesecake in the world, it was delicious.

We served it with whipped cream.

Despite the cost of the crust, which is higher for gluten free products...I consider this to be a pretty frugal make this time.

Cream cheese was on sale for the holidays.

The eggs and pumpkin were free.

The spices were on hand.

If I had gone crustless it would have all but been a free dessert.

Weeks Flying By and Menu Plan

Two of the three of us have been sick all week.  I'm surprisingly the well one.  I've been slack in my online reading, but I'm hoping to catch up this upcoming week.  School starts back and I am expecting to get on a more even schedule.

I've decided to do a two week self imposed no grocery shopping plan.  I am allowing for eggs, milk, and cheese as needed.  We have plenty of everything else. 

In preparation for school and the upcoming eat from stock plan, I've been working in the ktichen.

I took 10 pounds of extra lean ground beef and made up items.

2 1/2 pounds of taco meat

2 1/2 pounds of meatballs

8 stuffed peppers

2 1/2 pound of meat made into hamburger steak patties

I kept out three tacos worth of taco meat, and I cooked the hamburger steaks in the slow cooker.

(The hamburger steak was for supper on Saturday night, leftovers for Sunday supper, and then some for my husband to take with him for the week.  This is his favorite meal so he wanted extra.)

Everything else went into the freezer.

This added beef to our Zaycon supplied ground turkey, pork and chicken.

Since my daughter will be on a new schedule, I decided to get a jump on breakfasts, too.

I cooked a double batch of waffles -- 20 in all.

I ended up with 15 for the freezer....some will go with my husband and some for my daughter.

Our menu plan for the week for evening meals is:

Beanless chili with quinoa

Stuffed pepper for me and a burger for my daughter

Cajun beans and rice

Mac and cheese

White Lasagna, garlic bread, peach crisp

Pork chop casserole, mashed sweet potato casserole, cauliflower

BBQ meatballs, rice, green peas

I also intend to bake some snacks, but I haven't decided if we are having brownies, cookies, or cupcakes.

   

Boneless Pork Chops

I was all set to have to package up my order of boneless pork chops from Zaycon.  However, I was absolutely delighted to find they are already individually sealed.  This works so well for us, because we never seem to have the same amount of people eating each day.

The freezer is slowly filling up.  I have one more order to pick up in a few weeks and other than beef I will consider it stocked.

Chicken, Chicken, and More Chicken

Yesterday morning, I  put away 40 lbs of chicken and completely cleaned the entire kitchen after with Clorox in 2 hours and 35 minutes.  The trash was even out.  However, to be fair the pressure cooker was still going and had about 30 more minutes.   So what did I make?

2 pans of Italian Ranch chicken strips

 8 pans of barbecue chicken chunks (I froze these in round pans because I can either bake them this way, or they will fit perfectly in my round crockpot.)

 4 pans of chicken pot pie (I freeze the filling and add my bread topping when I bake them.  I either add a biscuit crust, cornbread crust, or a pie crust depending on my mood.)

 4 pans of chicken tetrazzini (I put cheese on all four, but snapped the photo to show the veggies, too.)

 5 bags with the double the amount we need for a meal.  This is for grilling.  If we have company I'll have enough, but if not I'll grill extra to use during the week.

 Almost 2 quarts of chicken broth.

 7 pints of chicken for chicken salad or quick meals.  (This was my first time raw packing meat to can, so I've learned something new this month.)

At $68.95 the chicken for these meals works out to be $2.30 per meal.  Not bad at all.  

Baking for the Freezer (and Recipes)

My husband brought back three apples with him from last week's packed supplies and when I was cleaning out the refrigerator I found three zucchini that needed using up.  Even though both items were fine, I knew they were fast approaching "having" to be used.  Since my menu didn't include anything that would use either of them I decided to bake up some sweet breads. 

 

Betty Crocker Recipe for Zucchini Bread

 

Grandma Barb's Apple Bread

 

 

 

 

To conserve energy, I filled the oven with both breads.

 

 

I used fresh ground whole wheat flour and on hand baking supplies to make 2 large loaves of zucchini and raisin bread (glass pans) and then I made an 8"x4" pan of apple date bread and 3 small loaves of apple date bread.

 

I'll save out one small loaf to go with afternoon tea and the rest will go in the freezer.

At least one loaf will be earmarked for some traveling we will be doing soon.

Honey "Baked" Chicken

One of the "you tubers" I like to watch, Kimmy of She's in Her 

Apron, issued a cookbook challenge encouraging her viewers to pull out some of their cookbooks they don't use a lot and pick a recipe or two to try each week. The goal is to fall in love with them all over again.

 

I love to use my slow cooker and I don't know why I don't branch out more from the same old recipes.

I guess I just fall back into the familiar. 

 

This week I decided to slow cook a whole chicken and I pulled out my "big cookbook" of slow cooker recipes.

This recipe is my adaptation of Honey Baked Chicken.

 

I had a partial bottle -- a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard I wanted to use up.

I added a teaspoon of paprika.

There was just a touch over 2 tablespoons of honey in my bottle I wanted to use up, too.

I added a bit of salt and pepper and brushed it over my cleaned chicken.

 

 

 

I let it cook on high until the chicken was fall apart tender.

 

The results:

 

 

I picked all the meat off the bones.

I'm dividing it into three meals' portions.

1 portion for risotto with peas

1 portion for chicken tacos

1 portion for a stir fry

 

I know that is chicken three meals in a row, but the seasonings will give it totally different tastes each time and I think we will be fine with it.

 

Independent Grocers

I stopped at one of our local independent grocers when I was on my way home from my sister's house.  To the best of my knowledge Piggly Wiggly is the only one in our area, but that is fine with me because they usually run great sales that are far better than most of the chain stores. 

I stopped in for some "cherry picking" of the sales items for this week.

 

 

6 -- 2 liter sodas  99 cents each (Company is coming this weekend so they're reserved.)

Star Wars cake decorations (Cake for my grandson this weekend.  :-) )

5 dozen eggs -- Amusingly this is the cheapest way for me to buy them. The 5 dozen box is more expensive than two of the 2 1/2 dozen boxes. 

2 bags of frozen stir fry -- on sale for $1.99 each

1 box of frozen chopped broccoli -- only place I can find this and it is for cornbread

6 cans of peas for 39 cents each

7 cans of corn for 39 cents each

5 cans of mixed veggies for 68 cents each

bone in pork butt -- $1.29 a pound -- for pulled pork sandwiches

 

All total I spent $35.03.

 

 

Au Gratin Potato and Ham Casserole -- Ham Dish #2

 

I forgot to get a photo before we started.

 

This is what I refer to as a "cheater" casserole because it begins with a mix.

The original recipe is a Betty Crocker recipe, but I am sharing exactly what I did.

 

Preheat your oven to 450F.

Put on water to boil (you'll need 2 1/2 cups)

 

In a greased casserole dish put:

1 family sized box of au gratin potatoes

2 1/2 cups of boiling water

3/4 cup of milk

2 tbsp. of margarine

Add 1 cup of diced ham

Add 1 cup of drained green peas.

Stir well.

 

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

Top with 1 1/2 cups of crushed herb stuffing.

Reduce heat to 375 and cover casserole.

Bake for 10 more minutes.

Let set an additional 10 minutes before serving.

 

My best estimate is that this came in under $5 for the entire casserole.

My cost breakdown was something like this:

au gratin potatoes from Dollar Tree $1

reconstituted powdered milk

margarine (Aldi brand)

ham was 83 cents

1/2 of a can of peas 39 cents

1/2 box of Aldi's stuffing 60 cents

 

We had 4 large servings and there will be enough for lunch.

 

Pork for the Freezer (Divide and Conquer)

My daughter really likes pork, but she is picky about how it is prepared.

We bought a "half" pork loin that was almost 6.5 lbs.

At $1.69 a pound, which is a pretty good price for my area.

 

 

Of course with just three people, I don't need to cook 6+ pounds of pork at once.

I looked at my calendar, my upcoming menu ideas and what I had on hand to try to help me determine the best way to divide this up.

 

I decided to go with this arrangement.

1 largish roast -- I can use for a guest night or I can cook it and then shred the leftovers.

4 thick boneless "pork chops"

enough pork cubes for a stir fry recipe I want to try

 

 

Of course since none of these are on this week's menu, I wanted to go ahead and freeze the meat.

 

 

I used my food saver to seal them.  Ziplock bags would work, too.

(My food saver is as old as the hills.  I tried to remember exactly what year I bought it and can't.  I do know I've had it for 10+ years though.)

 

 

Ham -- Stretching Your Dollar and Menu Planning

Last week I picked up a "half" turkey ham that was 4.5 lbs. I like the turkey ham because they are lean and a little less salty than a traditional ham.  Neither my daughter or I like to eat overly fatty meats and this works well for us.   I spent $4.98 on it and I've divided it into 6 meals worth.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sliced off 3 -- 1/2" slices.  These will be for a "fried breakfast" meal.  That is the only meal of the ham that will just serve the three of us.

The rest of the ham I sliced in slices and cubed.

 

Then I portioned it into 1 cup measurements.

I find that one cup is the perfect amount for using in dishes.

 

I sealed all but one cup up to go in freezer.

I put one cup in a mason jar to use this weekend.

 

I'm going to share my plans for the ham and I'll post back each recipe as I make them so that you can see how I used the ham up.  I'm generous with my portion sizes and the meals that serve 6 will give us leftovers for the next days lunch with on exception that I'll explain below.

 

1  breakfast type meal with fried ham will serve 3

1 macaroni and cheese meal with peas and ham will serve 6

1 beans and rice dish with ham will serve 6

1 au gratin potato and ham casserole will serve 6

1 hash brown casserole will serve 6 to 8

1 ham quiche will serve 6

 

That means I'll plan to have one ham "seasoned" dish per week.

However, this upcoming week I will actually be making two ham based meals.

Sunday morning we are going to my sister's house for brunch and I am bringing a hash brown casserole as my contribution.  The number of people in attendance will kind of determine whether there is any left or not.  Then Wednesday we are having people over for supper.  I'm making the au gratin potato and ham casserole that night. 

 

This will work out to a cost of 83 cents per meal for dishes that include ham.

Even though only one is actually sitting down to eat a piece of meat, the other dishes will be taken to that extra level by the addition of ham.  Sometimes that little bit can take a frugal meal, like beans and rice, to a whole new level of wow, and I don't have to break the bank to do it.

 

 

Girls' Day In

I managed to get a lot of the items on my list accomplished yesterday.  I didn't get the voting done, but I have scheduled for Saturday morning.   I also didn't get the dog bathed.  Not too bad.

Mama and my sister are spending the day with me and we will be doing a girls' day in.  Lunch is going to be  simple meal of pancakes and fruit.  For supper my daughter has requested beef and broccoli over rice.  Since both of them are meat eaters as well this will work out.  I will either make myself a baked potato with broccoli or perhaps a salad or maybe both.

For simplicities sake I am baking vegan chocolate cupcakes and I have a variety of crackers and things like that for snacking on.  Lunch will use things I have on hand.  Supper will be using freezer assets cooked in the crockpot and rice from the pantry, which I will cook in the pressure cooker.  Aiming for ease and maximum time visiting.  The plus for me -- I am only using items on hand so I do not have to do any mad dashes or expensive shopping.

Planned overs

Earlier in the week I baked two loaves of French bread even though I knew I'd only need one for that meal.  I love French toast made with homemade bread that has sat for a day or two.  This was my first time trying this vegan recipe for French toast and I loved it!  

I cooked the entire loaf's worth so that I could store some in the freezer.

Stocking Up

Yesterday I had to pick up a few perishables and as always I am on the lookout for good items for our pantry storage and freezer storage.  In addition to fresh fruits and veggies I came home with several items.

From Fresh Market I brought home the following:
3 bags of ground beef substitute for the freezer
2 bags of vegan cheddar shreds
2 bags of vegan mozzarella shreds
1 package of vegan sandwich cheese

These items are things that my husband really likes.  They've helped us transition to a vegan diet.
From this I will get 6 meals from the ground "beef" and many add ons to meals from the cheese.

From Aldi I bought these things for our storage:
12 cans organic garbanzos
12 cans organic fire roasted tomatoes
12 cans organic tomato sauce
12 cans of black beans
8 cans of organic diced tomatoes

Each of those was on sale from .49 to .79.

I also added a few other things to our pantry storage.
2 cans of chipotle peppers
3 jars of marinated artichoke hearts
2 boxes of golden raisins
2 boxes of wheat crackers
4 packages of gnocchi (8 meals worth)
1 jar of organic salsa
1 container of chili powder
2 jars of Kalamata olives

Each of the things added to the pantry are easy to work into quick meals.  I find that having things on hand keeps me out of the store.  I've also found that eating a vegan diet has actually simplified my shopping.

For the perishables we bought:
2 bags of bagels (time wise I just don't have time to make my own right now)
Ciabatta rolls (a splurge)
2 bags of honeycrisp apples
6 kiwi
1 container of blueberries
2 containers of strawberries (from here on out frozen will have to do)
Cilantro
Asparagus
6 bell pepper
4 zucchini
1 container of organic spinach
1 container of organic grape tomatoes
A bag of yellow onions
A bag of red onions
2 containers of soy milk
4 lbs of shredded cheese for my daughter

I think we are set for the next few weeks and my pantry is beginning to fill back up.

Cauliflower Storage

Cauliflower is at an excellent price in my area right now.  The store literally had B1G1 on large heads.  I knew I didn't have room for much, but thought I would at least bring home 2 heads of cauliflower.  Being down to cooking for two people most of the week and only three on weekends means that a head makes two good side dishes. 

Cauliflower is easy to prep to freeze.  Wash, check for bugs, and cut into pieces.  I go about 1 inch or so in size.  At this point some people do soak it briefly in a salt water bath.  I do not want the extra salt and do not do this.

Blanch for 3 minutes and cool immediately in iced water.

Seal and freeze.

My bags are pretty large and I will be able to either serve this as a side dish, base for a casserole,  or as a mashed topping for a shepherdess pie.

Freezer Assets -- Dump and Go

A quick browse through of the cabinet where I keep bits and pieces of things reminded me I had some opened lentils I wanted to use up.  I did a quick online search and found a lentil chili that called for butternut squash so that I could also use the butternut squash I had in the refrigerator.

I quickly assembled the ingredients for three batches.  One went straight into the crockpot while the other two went into freezer bags.  I was able to use all on hand ingredients so that was nice.  The double bonus was I'll have to dump and go meals available for busy days. I'll serve it over cooked rice from my food storage for a complete meal and possibly for the second batch I will make cornbread.  The third is anyone's guess.