Making food in bulk allows you to save time and money on cooking.
Cooking in bulk saves money and time. Cooking food in large batches enables you to use ingredients before they spoil, so you can purchase large amounts of on-sale items. Cooking in bulk also allows you to make several batches of a dish at once, so there is only one prepping and cleaning session. Instead of washing pots and pans after each preparation, you wash it once following a bulk-cooking session. Anything that can be frozen or stored for a long time can be cooked in bulk. Cooking in bulk also requires that you have adequate storage space. Prepare a shelf and place in your freezer for bulk dishes. When making bulk servings of food and storing for future use, date the items with a waterproof marker. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Tomatoes and Vegetables
Foods that can be canned are easy to cook in bulk because storage is easy and keeps ingredients fresh. You can use fresh tomatoes when they are in season and make sauce to have ready for pasta and other dishes for another time. You can also freeze tomato paste in one ounce servings in an ice cube tray and store in freezer bags for up to three months. When needed, the cubes of paste can be placed into the pot frozen and melted by the heat of cooking. Canning vegetables fresh from your garden or farmers' market enables you to have seasonal vegetables year-round for a reasonable cost.
Baked Goods
Bread can be frozen as dough or as a fully baked loaf. Store-bought bread can be frozen in its original bag. Freshly baked bread can be made in bulk and frozen in moisture-proof plastic wrap and aluminum foil or a plastic freezer bag. The bread needs to cool after baking before freezing. You can slice it before freezing, which enables you to use just a few slices at a time. Dough for bread, biscuits and cookies can be prepared in bulk and stored for up to three months in the freezer.
Soups, Stews and Chili
Soups, stews and chili are great for bulk cooking because they can be prepared in large batches in one pot and frozen in smaller servings. This enables you to create four or five meals at one time and save hours of time in the future. All three dishes can be poured into freezer bags and stored up to three months. When cooking, remove the servings you intend to freeze before they have finished cooking. Vegetables and rice soften when frozen and reheated, so under cooking them before cooling and freezing prevents mushy ingredients in your final product. Pasta gets mushy after freezing and reheating, so add freshly prepared pasta during the reheating state.
Casseroles and Meat
Casseroles and meats can be made in bulk and frozen for convenient dinners in the future. When ground beef or ground turkey are on sale at the supermarket, buy enough to make several batches of taco meat. Pour the cooked taco meat into a freezer safe bag and store for up to three months. Lasagna and other pasta dishes freeze well as long as they are slightly under-baked. You can remove the dishes from the oven a few minutes early or assemble several batches of uncooked ingredients, so baking is the only thing left to do before serving.
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