Bulk Meal Prep

Chicken Tongs

I told a close friend that I was going to write a post about freezer meals. Since she's been involved in a couple of my bulk meal preps, I asked her, "What do you think would be useful to share?"

She replied, "Things you think are obvious. Like chicken tongs."

So there you go. They're called "pom tongs" and we own a metric ton of them because we give a shedload of dinner parties (at least DH thinks we do, but he's excessively introverted, so one party a decade is ONE TOO MANY, JAYE, CAN A MAN NOT JUST SIT IN PEACE ON A SATURDAY NIGHT?! )

I bought my "chicken tongs" in bulk from a restaurant supply store in Austin over a decade ago - along with massive mixing bowls, giant baking sheets, and 2 x 24 cupcake tins because what kind of psychopath makes 12 cupcakes at a time? What kind of restraint do they have?! - but here are some on Amazon.

Supper in the Suburbs

A lot of my drive for organization and efficiency balances on the fact that I would prefer to front-load effort to make subsequent actions easier. Inherently, I am a very lazy person, I want to be doing NOTHING but reading a novel, lolling about languorously.

Nowhere does this apply more than in making meals for my family. I used to work three days a week and then every other Friday, I would plant myself in the kitchen and churn out massive meals for the freezer that we could eat during the week.

(Tangentially related, during this era, I was also part of a Supper Club where I could make four family-sized servings of a meal and then swap with other club members, so one day's effort turned into four different meals until one of the moms got a bit lackadaisical and prepped a macaroni and cheese that make a 3yo cry, and not in a "this pasta is transcendental" way in a "why are you punishing me this is ash in my mouth" way and supper club whimpered to a polite halt. I was not that mom. Not this time.)

I was so f*cking smug back then. I had one angel child and a work schedule dreamed up by those couples in House Hunters where you're like, "HOW DO YOU EVEN EXIST IN THE REAL WORLD?!" except my job was as a Software Developer and not as a Crayola Crayon Color Namer. If I was the Ghost of Jaye Future I would go back and slap that Jaye and say, "You know nothing and most people are busy and stressed and you should really rethink your choice of garden furniture and by the way if someone says 'We should go surfing' you should tell them to sod off BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE PART OF YOUR FINGER."

Now I have one more child and a lot more work (and 1/3 fewer fingers), and I can only dedicate a day in the kitchen every couple of months (if that), so when I set out to do a bulk meal, I end up quadrupling or quintupling the recipe and doing a couple of recipes if I can.

Besides actively participating in the cooking, DH helps by braving Costco because I get the heebie jeebies with all that sensory input and inefficient queue forming, by lifting heavy pots, and by going around washing dishes behind me like the advanced AI robot that he is. He's my sous chef with benefits. (Please note, DH is a very accomplished cook, his strength is not bulk meals, though.)

Welp, this has already gotten longer than I intended, so let me bullet point out some of the things I do when prepping large multi-meals and then we can wrap up with some pictures of our last meal prep weekend where we made Delia's La Potee (15 meals' worth) and The Barefoot Contessa's Meatballs (10 meals' worth).

The Points

If you're using a slow cooker, meat can go straight from the freezer to the crockpot. It will just take a few hours longer (on low) to cook.
Vegetables that can be prepped ahead and freeze well: any root vegetable (potatoes, butternut squash, beets, turnips, parsnips)
If you're scaling a recipe up (doubling, tripling, etc), and you're supposed to brown chopped onion, A) use your food processor to get a quick and easy mince on the onion and B) place a non-terry dishcloth or cheesecloth over a sieve, and let the onion juice drain out, squeezing out the moisture if you're short of time. With the liquid gone, browning will take a fraction of the time. If you're making a soup or stew or sauce, you can add the juice back later to intensify the flavor.
When you are scaling way up, use your food processor for chopping other vegetables and herbs, especially in foods that don't require uniformity for cooking or beauty for serving. Things like: carrots for soup, peppers for tacos, cilantro for salsa, things like that. And try to plan so that you don't need to worry about washing the processor before using it again for the same recipe. For instance, for the meatballs, it's not going to make an iota of difference if the breadcrumbs are "contaminated" by the parsley or if the onions have a bit of breadcrumb in them.
Don't bother browning chunks of meat that you will be braising or slow cooking. It adds a nice color to the dish, but not enough flavor to be worth the hassle. You still should brown minced meat.
Foil casserole tins can go straight from the freezer to the oven. Place on a baking tray before putting in the oven.
When freezing "mushy" food (soup, chili, curries, rice, taco meat) in gallon or quart bags, squeeze all the air out and then flatten the bags on the counter, making sure the food is spread out evenly. Freeze multiple bags in this position on baking sheets with wax paper between each bag. This will create "leaves" of food that will make storage and sorting easier. I have these bag stands, they come in handy. (Yes, I know that I need to switch from ziploc bags to reusable plastic, I'm trying to find a viable alternative that isn't tupperware which I use for day to day.)
Rice can be made in ENORMOUS batches and stored in quart bags. This is especially good for brown rice which takes for-fricking-ever to cook. It's generally healthier, so worth the pain once a month. Also, pre-cooked rice means that whipping up healthy "fried" rice is a cinch.
Tortillas can be frozen by stacking them with wax paper in between, wrapped in cling film, then wrapped in aluminium foil.
Food that can be frozen in ice-cube trays and then moved to a freezer bag: homemade pesto or pasta sauce, stock, leftover wine (to use in gravies), chutneys, coconut milk.
LABEL EVERYTHING!! Include the date.