Surviving September (aka. Make-Ahead Meals)

There are many ways to make meals ahead of time and you just need to find the way (or ways) that work for you.  Some of the ones I have heard of:

• Once a month cooking - where you try to do all of the prep for your meals for the month.  I did this once.  It was a lot of work, but my freezer was full and I was pretty pleased.  The fact that I have not done it again probably says a lot!
• Doubling recipes:  simply put, when you are making one meal for your family, double it, putting the extra one in the freezer.
• Work with a friend to make meals together or to make meals separately and then share.  You need to find someone who cooks food that you and your family will enjoy.  You can even get together and choose recipes together.
• Join or start a cooking club or soup exchange.  One of my friends has started a very successful soup exchange where people bring 10 medium servings of soup.  The great thing is that everyone leaves with 10 different soups, ready to go into the freezer for lunches, etc.  

I have tried most of the above and found it works to a degree, depending on how much time I have.  I think the key is to find what works.  About a week ago I made a huge batch of Maple Apple Baked Beans, but it took a lot of time and work, not to mention the mess it made.  A good friend of mine taught me to think about the time and energy involved in the preparation of something and in the completion of something.  I often fail to do this when I am cooking and the result is I am in way over my head.

One strategy I am trying is to make meals ahead of time using my slow cooker.  This can be done during the day or at night, letting the meal cook while you are sleeping.  Then the meal can be put into freezer friendly containers and frozen for later use.  Another thing I am trying to do is to cook simply.  I love a good recipe and I love to eat, but I certainly do not eat gourmet meals every day of the week.  We are all in different seasons, whether it be a time with young children (and/or newborn), busy jobs, managing a large family, or caring for elderly parents, and at times a simple meal is just what we need (and it is better than take out, any day of the week:  better for you and far less expensive).  Here is one I adapted from the Fix - It and Forget - It Cookbook Collection by Phyllis Pellman Good and Dawn J. Ranck.

Black Bean Soup

You can see that the ingredients are really simple:  2 cans black beans, drained; 2 cans diced tomatoes; 1 litre chicken stock; one onion, chopped; two cloves garlic, minced; 1 can or 1 cup corn (optional); 1 tsp. cumin; 2 tsp. chili powder.

After rinsing and draining the beans, everything goes into the slow cooker.  It can be cooked on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.  The first time I made this, I started at 2pm, turning the slow cooker on to high.  It was great to see it ready for supper at 6!

As mentioned above, I have made this soup at night, before I go to bed.  It cooks all night and then in the morning, it is ready to be cooled and packaged up for future use, including lunches and dinner.

You can taste and adjust seasonings

Depending on what your preference is, you can use a hand blender to puree some or all of the soup.  How chunky do you want it?  If you don't have a hand blender, you can even you a potato masher to mash the tomatoes and beans.  Or you can just leave it - whatever you like.

I like to serve this soup with crushed taco chips, cheese, and green onions, but it is fine on its own too.  Again, if you want it to be a bit fancier, then add some toppings.  You could even try adding in some fresh lime juice.

Another thing I have done is to make vegetarian quiche ahead of time.  You may have seen this on my blog:  it is a quiche made with a sweet potato crust.  I had a fairly large sweet potato, so had enough to make 3 quiches.  The recipe is included above, but I did adapt it.  I used 4 eggs, not 4 eggs and 2 egg whites.  I didn't have spinach, so used what I had:  zucchini, which I grated.  And you can see that I used a ton of peppers.  I also did not saute onions.

I had no idea if these would freeze well, but I figured I would try.  I have frozen regular quiche before, the kind with a pastry crust.  I cut the quiches into eighths, wrapped them individually using plastic wrap, and put into freezer containers.

I have since tried them two ways:  one - taken out and heated in the microwave (worked fine; there was some excess liquid on the bottom, but did not bother me); two - thawed in the fridge, then re-heated in the toaster oven for about 10-15 minutes (This was by far the best, but takes more time).
 

Of course you make this simple or complex, depending on your time.  If you want to, you can "jazz it up" by adding a bed of salad, for example.  Or you can cook up some hash browns to go along with it.

Planning ahead can make a huge difference, even if it means you just have leftovers for lunches or an extra meal in the freezer.  This week is a busy one for me and it was so great to be able to pull out two separate meals from the freezer (spaghetti sauce and spaghetti squash - cooked ahead of time and frozen; and maple apple beans, partially cooked and ready for the slow cooker).

As you prepare for what September brings, I wish you all the best!