Hellobee Boards

I cook batches on Sunday for lunches for the week. Stuff like chili and soup are easy to cook in batches, but I’ll also do things like cook up several chicken breasts for protein for lunches during the week and then match a big quinoa or grain salad to go along with.

I think it gets easier the more comfortable you get doing it, but other tips would be to prep in advance (i.e., it doesn't take much more time to chop up 2 peppers instead of 1 or 4 onions instead of 2), and use shortcuts where you can: use a food processor to chop up veggies, garlic, etc. Make batches of salsas and sauces and freeze individual servings in bags that can be easily thawed for dinners.

I usually make a couple things. I try to double and freeze when I can. It only takes a couple hours, typically. So...a pasta dish, maybe. Soup, chili....i'll also do meats in pans and stuff like that. Or even prep everything for a crockpot--meat, veggies, etc for pot roast.

Last Sunday, I made an egg frittata for breakfasts this week, plus a pasta thing, plus a batch of potato-cauliflower soup.

We do two nights worth at once, and we do it the night before we need it. So, Sunday we will cook dinner for Mon/Tues, and Tues night we cook for Wed/Th. We tend to make things like chilis, stews, and casseroles, since they stay and reheat well. We have to do it this way because LO is always ravenous as soon as we get home from daycare, and even the 3 minutes it takes to reheat something in the microwave is too long for her, so we can't really cook anything fresh except on weekends. On weekday nights when we need to cook for the next few days, we do it after she is in bed.

@Cherrybee: No, I just put them in raw. I don't freeze potatoes because I read somewhere they can sometimes get funky. I wouldn't freeze veggies I wanted to serve raw or sauteed, but for soups, stews, and pot roast it's fine.

I also do bags of frozen veggies. So I'll freeze chicken with teriyaki sauce in a freezer bag and tape it to a bag of frozen broccoli in the freezer. Then I thaw the chicken 24 hours and throw the thawed chicken and the frozen broccoli in the crock pot.

I do a lot of what others have suggested. But I have pre-made and frozen mashed potatoes (but not just chopped potatoes). I typically make them and then flash freeze in 1.5 cup puck-shapes (if that makes sense?) and then reheat individually in the micro and stir and add butter/milk as necessary. I also usually use waxy potatoes because I'm too lazy to peel. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

I also sometimes freeze veggies separately (especially greens) and add them to the crock pot like 10 minutes before serving.

My favorite thing is buying beef on sale and making/freezing three or four meatloaves. And prepping a bunch of ingredients for salad so I can make a salad in like 2 minutes.

Oh! And cooked beans and quinoa freeze really well. I make a lot of beans from scratch and then freeze them for soups and salads and chilis.

And lastly I like to make a big batch of those paleo egg muffins and freeze them for breakfast. I usually use 10 eggs and can get six breakfasts out of it.