Double Duty

Another one of my favorite tricks is that I try never to cook just one meal. If I'm making lasagne, I'll make a double batch: one for eating, and another to put in the freezer for a future meal.

It's really no extra work to double a recipe and freeze it for later. The mess is already there, so why not make use of it? I tend not to attempt to triple recipes (unless I'm really familiar with them) as tripling skews the ingredient/spice ratio and can throw off the flavor and/or texture.

Another example of cooking for more than one meal is roasting a turkey (or whole chickens) for multiple meals. We can have a turkey dinner one night, and then use the leftover meat for the next few days for sandwiches, the carcass for soup, and some other left over meat for turkey enchiladas, turkey divine, stir-fry, etc.

Lesson for the day: Try to cook more than one meal at a time. Think ahead as to what you can use left overs for. To many people, the term 'left over' has negative connotations.' Maybe I should use the term "pre-cooked," "recipe ready," or "ready made," instead. Isn't that what you're paying the big bucks for at the grocery store for the convenience of "ready made" food? Think about it -- you're paying a premium price for somebody else's leftovers. Wouldn't you rather use your own? It's a lot like underwear.....

Getting it Together

Now that your kitchen is (somewhat) organized and you know where everything is, you need to pick a day each week where you will sit down with a calendar and think about what you will serve for dinner for the next week. Your calendar will prove to be your savior. Keep close eye on sports practice schedules, dentist appointments, work meetings, or any thing else that will disrupt your schedule. I know, I know, there's something going on every night. Fine. Plan your meals around your chaotic life by using a crock pot or other extremely simple dinners. Crock pot (or slow cooker) meals are very forgiving. They're ready when YOU are. You'll be amazed at how a few ingredients can come together into a meal.

Take a little time thinking about your family's food tastes, and your real-life schedule. Jot your thoughts down on the back of your calendar or any notebook. Your weekly meals will be based off of this. Pretty soon you'll have a routine of easy go-to recipies that you can toss together in your sleep. That's the whole point. You want to put all of this on automatic pilot. However, you will have to invest a little mental energy up front.