July 2009 Chewin’ the News with Nanci

 2009, Chewin' the News  1 Response »
Jul 082009
 

FREEZER COOKING NEWS FROM NANCI

Nanci 2009

Is your summer flying by like mine? Don’t they always? Ours has been great so far. I have graduated 2 kids, spent a fantastic week in the Outer Banks, moved our daughter Becky to DC, attended a week long “camp” for AP English teachers, and cleaned my pantry and refrigerator. It doesn’t get any better than that, right? I always think of the 4th of July as the halfway mark since my first day of school is August 11th. Since it poured rain here the whole day, I decided to have a quick cooking day instead.

“Shop the Sales” and Bag It Cooking Day

Grocery stores always run great deals the week of a major holiday. It’s too late for you to grab the 4th of July specials but the same low prices will come around again on Labor Day. Plan now to take advantage of that.

I spent $160 and “bagged” the meat for 31 entrees with about 156 servings. That’s $1 per entrée!!

And I did it all in about 5 hours. I basically just followed the steps that are outlined in the Freezer Cooking Manual (go figure).

STEP 1 – PLAN IT!

*Gather Grocery Store Ads (you can usually view them online as well)

Our local Kroger store had great sales on ground beef, chicken and steak.

Our local Kroger store had great sales on ground beef, chicken and steak.

I based my choices solely on the grocery store ads and the season. Meats in marinade are great for summertime. We love to put the meat on the grill and round out the meal with some fresh sweet corn or homemade mashed potatoes. I take a quick look through the ads and jot down the big sales.

chicken breast (boneless, skinless) – $1.87 lb. – Kroger
pork ribs – $1.69 lb. – Kroger
round steak – $3.49 lb. – Kroger
ground beef – $1.28 lb. – Marsh
pork tenderloin – $2.99 lb. – Marsh
spare ribs – $1.68 lb. – Marsh

*Choose Recipes

When choosing recipes, I generally go to the RECIPES section of our website, choose a category (poultry, for example) and then scroll through the list to see what sounds good. It’s best to make at least 2 of each recipe to save time. Looking at the recipes on the website also saves time because I can quickly see the ingredient list and the cooking method and make a decision. Once I have my list of recipes, I have a huge 3 ring binder full of 30 Day Gourmet recipes sorted by the same categories as our RECIPES section of the website. I pull the recipes out so that I can create my shopping list. Here’s a list of the recipes that I decided on:

1 – Chicken breasts in Caesar Marinade – 1 recipe – 6 servings
2 – Elegant Chicken in Marinade – 3 recipes – 18 servings
3 – Oriental Sesame Chicken Strips – 2 recipes – 8 servings
4 – Boneless BBQ Chicken Bites – 1 recipe – 6 servings
5 – Chicken Quesadilla meat – 1 recipe – 6 servings (I don’t use a recipe for this. I just boil 1 chicken breast for every 1 C. of shredded meat that I want. Once the meat is boiled, I shred it and cook it in a frying pan on medium with some taco seasoning mix and water.)
6 – Pork in Marinade – 4 recipes – 24 servings
7 – Polynesian BBQ Pork Marinade – 3 recipes – 18 servings
8 – Beef Teriyaki – 2 recipes – 8 servings
9 – Steaks in Marinade – 4 recipes – 18 servings
10- Swiss Steak – 1 recipe – 6 servings (these came in a sale pkg. – I coated them with flour, flash froze them to keep the flour on and then bagged them with the sauce)
11 – Burger patties – 1 recipe – 6 servings (these came in a sale pkg. – I just bagged them)
12 – Cooked ground beef – 8 recipes – 32 servings (cooked the beef in 2 batches and bagged in 1 lb./3 C. portions)

*Make Shopping List
100_3852
*Take a quick inventory of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer. I do this with the printed recipes in hand. Since I would be planning, shopping and cooking in a space of 5 hours, I just pulled the usable inventory out and set it on my counter. If you are doing a big cooking day or cooking with a friend, use Worksheet A from the manual.

*Make a list of the recipes you will be making either using Worksheet C from the manual or on a separate piece of paper. Later on, you’ll need to remember how many of each recipe you planned for. At the least, write down the recipe title and how many of each you plan to assemble.

*Create a shopping list from your recipes.  I use Worksheet D from the manual. Many of you use our software. Some of you have other nifty gadgets to make your list with. Whichever you use, be specific about how much of each ingredient you need to buy. No need to purchase a gallon of Dijon mustard if you only need a tablespoonJ

STEP 2 – GO SHOPPING

My “quick run” to the  local Kroger, Marsh and Walmart ended up taking almost 2 hours. Why??? Because I chose to try a few new recipes that called for 2 ingredients I had never purchased before. Who knew that combing through the aisles of 3 stores looking for Anchovy paste and Chinese 5 spice powder would take so long.

A few shopping tips:

*Take a cooler if you’re going to be leaving perishables in the car for very long.

*Don’t use those crazy U-scans when you buy meat. Sheesh! The bar codes wouldn’t scan and the “helper guy” had to do it all by hand keying in each number. Learned my lesson.

*Have the butcher slice your pork tenderloins.

*Don’t forget your little “discount” card. I saved 31% at one store and %15 at another by using my member discount.

Here’s a picture of all of the meat I bought:

100_3845

 

Since I chose mostly marinade recipes, I didn’t have to buy much else.
Here are the rest of the groceries:

100_3849

 

 

 

 

STEP 3 – GET READY

Since I planned, shopped and cooked in one day I didn’t really do any prep work this time. On second thought, cleaning my pantry and refrigerator out the day before counts I think. (Not that I’m going to be storing my entrees there!)

STEPS 4 & 5 – ASSEMBLE ENTREES & STOCK THE FREEZER

I didn’t really start “cooking” until 9 pm (I’m a nightowl, can you tell?) and I finished about 12:30 a.m. Here’s how the 3.5 hours went:

*Put the pork & steak in the refrigerator.
*Cook up the ground beef in 2 batches.
*Boil 3 chicken breasts for Chicken Quesadillas.
*Divide the chicken for Chicken breasts in Caesar Marinade  & Elegant Chicken in Marinade into freezer bags & label them. Make the 2 marinade recipes & pour. Seal and freeze.
*Shred chicken, cook with taco seasoning mix & water. Cool. Label qt. bag, fill, seal and freeze.
*Cut 2.5 lbs. chicken into strips for Oriental Sesame Chicken Strips. Divide into freezer bags & label them. Make marinade and pour. Seal and freeze.
*Cut chicken for BBQ Boneless Chicken Bites. Put into labeled freezer bag. Make marinade & pour. Seal and freeze.
*Divide pork for Pork in Marinade & Polynesian BBQ Pork Marinade into freezer bags & label them. Make the 2 marinade recipes & pour it. Seal and freeze.
*Label bags for cooked and cooled ground beef. Fill, seal and freeze.
*Put burger patties into individual flip top baggies. Put all 6 burgers into labeled freezer bag. Seal & freeze.
*Label bag for  Swiss Steak. Coat steaks with flour mixed with some salt and pepper. Flash freeze steaks so flour stays on. Combine sauce ingredients. Put steaks in gallon freezer bag. Put sauce in quart size freezer bag. Put sauce bag inside gallon bag. Seal and freeze.
*Divide steaks for Steaks in Marinade recipe into labeled freezer bags. Make marinade & pour. Seal and freeze.
*Cut strips for Beef Teriyaki recipe and divide into labeled freezer bags. Make marinade & pour. Seal and freeze.
All done!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a picture of several of the bagged meats in marinade lined up on the counter.
baggedmeats
This picture is of most of my entrees.
35 entrees

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrapping It Up
I hope this was informative and helpful for you. A lot of people have the wrong idea that freezer cooking means 50 casseroles in your freezer OR a 24 hour day of freezing tons of food. WRONG! Make it work for you. And by the way, having this food in my freezer doesn’t mean:

A. I won’t be going out to eat in the next 35 days. Are you kidding me?
B. I will eat meat every day for the next 35 days. No way. It will probably take us 2-3 months to eat all of these entrees.
C. I will throw half of this away because no one actually eats the stuff from their freezer. NO! It will taste great! The only thing I pre-cooked is the ground beef for tacos, sloppy joes, etc. and the chicken for quesadillas. Everything else is FRESH!

Next time, I’ll be sharing some of the emails I got from you about how you have been or are currently teaching your kids to cook. Thanks for all of the great insights!

We’re all about helping you succeed in your own freezer cooking. Be sure to become a fan of our new facebook page. As always, www.30daygourmet.com  has tons of info and recipes available to you for free. If you like what you see, consider purchasing our books and/or software.

Here’s a quick list of our items. Free shipping on orders over $50. Gift wrap only $1.

Nanci 

 

March 2007 Chewin’ the News with Shelley

 2007, Chewin' the News  Comments Off on March 2007 Chewin’ the News with Shelley
Mar 012007
 

Cookin’ at the Keyboard with Shelley

Farewell to Chemistry

ShelleyOur oldest daughter, Sarah, graduates from high school this spring and hopes to be accepted into a nursing program next year. As part of the prerequisites, she completed two quarters of sophomore-level chemistry at the community college. For those of you who home school like we do, you really can make it through the twelfth grade!

Her excellent performance was applauded most by her grandfather, pictured below, who taught her high school chemistry class. It really wasn’t that long ago when I was the one sitting in my dad’s science classes, and now he’s teaching my daughters.

On the day of her last exam, I was looking for a simple, but meaningful way to celebrate her success; one that would include the entire family. My husband remembered that we had a set of laboratory flasks in the garage, left over from science experiments years ago. After removing any chemical residues inside, we mixed Italian Creme Sodas (recipe below), slipped in a decorative straw, and voila…we had ourselves a “Farewell to Chemistry” celebration that everyone will remember.

One of the greatest treasures of family life are the celebrations and traditions we share, and some of the easiest and least expensive traditions revolve around food and books. We have certain books or stories that we read over and over again, or once a year at Christmas or Easter. When my husband and I celebrate our anniversary, the girls get to share in the event by making a Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie, commemorating a certain event that helped to bring us together. It doesn’t have to be fancy or impressive, just create a tradition or find something to celebrate and tie the heart-strings of your children to their family.

Recipe Section

SarahGpaItalian Crème Sodas
Although not usually served in a laboratory flask, Italian Crème Sodas are an Easter tradition in our home. While the girls and I finish the dinner preparations, my husband, Gaylen, makes the sodas. They look lovely on a table decorated with spring colors. We typically use raspberry syrup, as pictured here. Experiment with other flavors to find your favorite.

 

 

 

Carmel-CornMicrowave Caramel Corn
Here’s a fun recipe to share. Be prepared; everyone will ask for it! I was delighted to find that freezing and thawing didn’t effect its crunchiness. Carmel corn in the kitchen quickly disappears, but caramel corn in the freezer actually stays there until I’m ready to serve it.

 

 

Software Suggestions

Conversion Questions

 

A few weeks ago, I received this email from a software user who was working to make sense of packaging and conversions so that her Grocery Report would show meaningful quantities. She did an excellent job of describing the problems she was having; maybe you’ve had some of the same questions.

“Hi! I purchased the software and I am getting ready to cook tomorrow. I have been working on trying to get the software set up and am having trouble with some of the packaging and conversions.

For example, ‘sweet potatoes, canned’. On the grocery list it has ‘total needed 80 ounce’…BUT it has another listing for sweet potatoes, canned with ‘384 teaspoons’ needed. Packaging is ‘Can (40 oz)’, no conversions.

‘Potatoes, diced’, has ‘216 teaspoons’ needed. Packaging is ‘Bag (5 pound)’; no conversions.

‘Vegetables, cooked’ has two lines: one listing is ‘1 each’ needed, a second listing is ‘144 teaspoons’. Packaging is ‘Bag (1/2 pound / 8 oz)’; no conversions.

Milk, has two lines: one listing is ‘1 1/2 quart’ needed, a second listing says ‘1 each’. Packaging is ‘1 gallon’ and ‘1 quart’; no conversions.

There are a few others like this, but these are some that hopefully, with your help, can get me going in the right direction.”

For an explanation of how to diagnose conversion issues, read my article:
Cleaning Up Your Grocery Report

If you need to grocery shop before you can remedy all the items on the Grocery Report, I suggest that you print an Ingredients Report and take it along. When you get to a confusing item on the Grocery Report, check the Ingredients Report for the same ingredient. It will tell you the recipes that use each ingredient, and the measures that are required. You’ll be able to make some quick calculations in your head and purchase the right amounts.

  Download a trial version of the software! It’s free!

Closing Comments from Shelley

Blessed are those for whom Easter is…
not a hunt, but a find;
not a greeting, but a proclamation;
not outward fashions, but inward grace;
not a day, but an eternity.

May God bless your Easter celebration. He is risen!

Until next time, 

March 2005 Chewin’ the News with Shelley

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Mar 012005
 

Cookin’ at the Keyboard with Shelley

ShelleyThe entire month of January, it seems, was consumed with all the things I abandoned weeks ago, in the midst of the holiday frenzy. I was busy tackling those incomplete projects, such as, the last few Christmas cards, the boxes accumulating in the garage, the next page in the scrapbook album, and my intriguing discussion of ingredient conversions. If that last item doesn’t sound familiar, or intriguing, read the article in the December newsletter; it will bring you up to speed.

December’s discussion focused on conversions as related to weight and volume measures of ingredients. Conversions are also important when it comes to ingredients that aren’t easily purchased at the grocery store. Many of my recipes call for crumbled bacon or cooked and chopped chicken, neither of which I can buy off the shelf. I would prefer that the grocery report would tell me how many pounds of bacon or chicken to buy, instead of how many cups. These conversions take two steps to complete. Let’s start with the bacon.

Locate “Bacon” in the ingredient list.

 

Under the Packaging tab enter “Pound Package”.

 

Locate “Bacon, crumbled” in the ingredient list.

 

Under the Conversion tab, enter the following:

 

From Amount 

From Measure

To Amount

To Measure  

To Ingredient

2

Cup

 1

Pound

Bacon

16

Slices

 1

Pound

Bacon

1

Pound

 1

Pound

Bacon

These entries tell the software that if the recipe calls for 1 cup of crumbled bacon, add ½ pound of bacon to my grocery list. If the recipe calls for 8 slices of crumbled bacon, I want to see ½ pound of bacon on my grocery list. If the recipe calls for 1 pound of crumbled bacon, put 1 pound of bacon on my grocery list. No matter how the ingredient appears on my recipe, the software will do all the calculating, and tell me how many pounds of bacon to buy.

 

When it comes to cooked and chopped chicken, I prefer to buy chicken breasts.

Here are the entries to make for the conversion:

Locate “Chicken Breasts” in the ingredient list.

Under the Packaging tab enter “Pound Package”.

Locate “Chicken, cooked and chopped” in the ingredient list.

Under the Conversion tab, enter the following:

 

From Amount 

From Measure

To Amount

To Measure  

To Ingredient

2

Cup

1.5

Pound

Chicken Breast

1

Pound

1

Pound

Chicken Breast

 

If a recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked, chopped chicken, then the grocery report will tell me to buy 1½  pounds of chicken breasts. Otherwise, a pound of cooked chicken will equal a pound of raw chicken.

 

Locate “Onion” in the ingredient list.

 

Under the Packaging tab enter “Each”.

 

Locate “Onion, chopped” in the ingredient list.

 

Under the Conversion tab, enter the following:

 

From Amount 

From Measure

To Amount

To Measure  

To Ingredient

1

Cup

1

Each

Onion

1

Each

1

Each

Onion

 

You can adjust the conversions based on the size of onions that you usually buy. Larger onions might yield more than a cup of chopped onion, while smaller onions might yield less.

 

When it comes to shredded cheese, I prefer to buy the cheese and shred it myself. If you buy cheese already shredded, the following conversion is not necessary.

Locate “Cheddar Cheese” in the ingredient list.

Under the Packaging tab enter as many varieties of packaging as desired,

e.g. “Pound Package”, “2 Pound Package”, “5 Pound Package”

Locate “Cheddar Cheese, shredded” in the ingredient list.

Under the Conversion tab, enter the following:

From Amount 

From Measure

To Amount

To Measure  

To Ingredient

1

Cup

4

Ounce

Cheddar Cheese

1

Pound

1

Pound

Cheddar Cheese

 

Again, you can adjust the conversion based on your preference (e.g. 1 cup of shredded cheese = 3 oz. cheese).

Whenever I find something on my grocery list that makes me stop and think about how much of that ingredient I need to purchase, I take the time to add a conversion. A little bit of “brain work” at the computer saves me the frustration of “guessing” at the grocery store.

Well, I think that’s all I can say about ingredient conversions. It must be time to fix the hem that’s coming out of my black skirt.

If you haven’t tried our Advantage Cooking software, click here for a 30 day free trial or to order your own copy.