I HATE COOKING. I find it stressful and annoying and it takes much too much of my precious time. Unfortunately, I happen to be pretty good at it. And my fiance is very, very, very bad at it. Try running out of milk so substituting tequila BAD. ( Yes, he was drunk when he made this decision but there have been many times when he has proven over and over again that he should never be allowed to create subsistence for himself or others.) He is an awful, can not make tuna helper without help cook.
This creates a problem because I like to eat. I really like to eat. And I seriously dislike eating boring cold foods such as sandwiches or cereal or really, anything that is convenient. I crave some sort of meat, potato, veggie and bread for every meal. Now this obviously creates a problem when you can't afford to eat out every meal and you also hate to cook. Not to mention not wanting to weight five hundred pounds.
My solution? Batch/Freezer cooking! I have two plans of attack for this. I either set aside an entire weekend and make three months of food to hide in the freezer or I make a huge amount of one meal and stick the rest in the freezer. (Both meant I had to buy a chest freezer but trust me, it more than made up for it's cost in only a few months. I love my chest freezer and even named him Nelson. I have problems but that is neither here nor now.)
While I was still in college, I would do the three month plan. I would get my financial aid check and spend about three or four hundred at the local Walmart, three or so days cooking six or seven hours a day and BAM, we had food through finals. It was awesome!! All I would have to do is come home from class, grab something, throw it in the oven and an hour later we would be eating. No prep, no standing over the stove and no mess. Genius!!!!!! I will say it again, GENIUS!!
This method started to fail me once I entered the real world of full time, Monday through Friday employment. And then I added a second job. Once I began working 6am to 8pm Monday through Friday, the absolute LAST thing I wanted to do was spend my entire weekend cooking! (Remember, I completely hate the process of cooking!) So what happened? My second job ended up paying for us to eat out everyday. My entire paycheck was spent on restaurants and fast food. So NOT why I got a second job in the first place.
This was not going to work long term.
So I started my second batch cooking method. Each weekend, my goal was to make one meal that I could triple and put in the freezer. For example, I would prepare one dish on Sunday, put two quarters of it in the freezer, in two separate containers. We would eat it Sunday and probably Monday evening as we both love leftovers. But then a month later, I could throw another container of it in the oven and we would have a ready made meal. Then a month later, I could do it again.
The next week, I would make a different meal and rinse and repeat.
Even somebody who hates to cook can fulfill a goal of cooking only once a week!
It is not as convenient as the three month plan because it takes a while to stock up on enough meals to not be bored with the food choices. It also is a little more expensive as you can not buy in bulk quite as well nor get all the chopping of say ten onions done all at once. But it is indefinitely better than cooking a new meal each night.
This week, I am making spaghetti.
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