Once-a-week cooking -- My yesterday afternoon

I know what we’re eating all week! A fridge full of clearance meat this weekend turned into a cooking extravaganza, and now I have a fridge full of leftovers and peace of mind. On Saturday, I threw one of my $3.00 Target clearance hams in the Crock Pot with a little brown sugar, so we still have much leftover ham. On Sunday…

Part of that leftover ham became low carb cauliflower au gratin with ham.
One of the little clearance chickens I picked up at Jewel for under $2.00 on Saturday is now Awesomely Fantastic Homemade Chicken Soup, while
The other little clearance chicken got roasted up with some jerk seasoning MashupDad brought back from his business trip to the Caribbean, along with some Yukon Gold potatoes, the baby bella mushrooms from ALDI last week, and onions (with some minced garlic, olive oil, and homemade seasoned salt).
The clearance chicken wings from Jewel are now low carb spicy baked hot wings — I changed the proportions a little, but used her basic recipe.

For additional sides I also have the $.99 Earthbound Farm spinach & salad from Jewel this past weekend, plus some broccoli for another quick green veggie, and some large potatoes which will be easy to throw in the toaster oven to bake. The jerk chicken will be easy to shred for chicken quesadillas and more, if we get tired of plain old chicken. (And for lunch, grilled ham and cheese was quite tasty today. 🙂 )

That was not a bad investment of time on a Sunday when I was home puttering around the house anyway, and very worth it for a fridge full of weeknight dinners I now don’t have to think about. Do any of you do once-a-week cooking? What tips do you have?

christine

Monday 25th of April 2016

Our weekends are so busy, but I may try this another day during the week. With all of use going in different directions it would be nice to grab what you want for dinner/lunch. This past week we had rice with salmon, 3 ingredient chicken and something else that I can't remember right now. I cut up all the salad and veggies so you could grab a salad too. I also bought 4 of the 3# strawberries from Jewel and pared them, quartered avocados from Aldi and froze them. for smoothies this week. Trying to have healthy alternatives when we need to eat fast or on the go. Thanks Rachel. This is a great idea and the wings look great. I have never made wings. I think I should give it a shot.

Fran

I do this every week and have been for years. I love it! It does save time during busy weekdays (and honestly, what weekdays aren't busy?). The time saver is not only in the cooking time every day, but also in the clean up because the cooking pans are only washed on Sunday, and in the time spent trying to decide what to have each night. As the kids get older and start to cook themselves outside of normal meal times, things I would buy as an ingredient for a future meal would be gone when I would go to use it. Cooking once a week eliminates that, too. The only downfall is that not all recipes hold well for the entire week so planning what can last is essential. It tends to work better for cold weather, comfort type meals rather than light summery meals. But in the summer I tend to make things like sandwiches, or things that marinate and are ready for my husband to grill ;-)

Mandy

If I could take the salt, I would be all over that cauliflower au gratin. What a great place to toss in leftover veggies and meats.

During bbq season, I cook all the meat I can find when we light the charcoal bbq grill. We usually start with steak because it's best to eat right away, then we cook chicken, sausage, hot dogs, burgers, and corn until the coals are used up. We reheat them any way we like and they have the great bbq taste. It's nice to have the main dishes ready to go. I even freeze the bbq'd items if we won't be using them in a few days. The rest of the year, I make sure I cook the whole package of noodles, bacon, hamburger, etc., then freeze the leftovers, which reheat nicely, which makes for fast dinners on busy days. I think chicken is the best because it's easy to get many meals out of it. I usually bake it for dinner. Debone it and make broth with the bones. Skim the fat and cook it down to make shmaltz. Freeze the meat for sandwiches, soup and casseroles. Our house is not the place for people that don't like leftovers!

sophie

My mouth is watering!!! I have to learn to eat before I look at your site. Looks yummy