2 Busy Days for 28 Relaxed Ones...Good trade off!

So, here's how it started. I've done this crazy thing before. I've even gone to places that specialize in this kind of thing. I do it to make my life easier. But it's been a loooong time since I've had the motivation. But I was just one Taco Bell away from my limit. So I decided to muster up the motivation to do it again. The "thing" I'm referring to is MASS COOKING!!!

It takes a little planning, but in the end it's definitely worth it. I will post what I made, and you can comment if you would like a specific recipe. I make very simple meals. I just pre-make them and freeze them to cut down on cooking time every night. So here's what I did:

First I made a menu. I picked items we normally eat, and then some new recipes to try. I GOOGLED "Once a month cooking recipes" and searched for some that looked good. THIS is one of my favorite sites for recipes.

Next I took my shopping list to SAM'S & WAL-MART. At Sam's I bought a package of disposable pans (30 pack) and I also bought all of my meat. 3 big packs of ground beef, one big back of chicken breasts, a package of 2 roasts and a package of boneless ribs. It was $75.00 for all that. And then I bought the "other" ingred's at WAL-MART at spent about $45.00. So it's not that expensive considering the amount of food. I've gone to Supper Solutions before and made 12 very small dinners for about $150.00. So it's much more cost effective to do it on your own.

On the first day, I prepared all the beef dinners. I cut the roasts up into 4 small roasts. Then I browned the 2 packages of ground beef. And then I made the rest of the beef dinners.

The second day I prepared the chicken dinners. I baked the chicken breasts, and then chopped them up in the food processor ( I'll post the items I actually made below). But then I also froze a lot of ground beef and ground chicken to make in future recipes. Cuts the prep time in half.

These are the recipes I made. Let me know if you decide to try it. It really frees up a lot of my time. Good luck! :)

MY MENU

Spaghetti sauce x 4

lasagna

cheeseburgers 'n' fries casserole x 2

meatloaf x 2

roast x 4

Poppy Seed chicken

Chicken & Rice burritos ( I made 15)

BBQ Chicken (just put some breasts in a baggie w/ BBQ sauce)

BBQ Ribs (same thing as the chicken)

Chicken Pot Pie x 2

Plus I have 5 or 6 packages of pre-cooked ground beef, and 2 of cooked chicken for quick dinners like tacos, etc.

Then, in the morning you just take out what you want to have for dinner and let it defrost in the fridge all day. Then throw in the oven that night. VOILA