Make-Ahead Cooking

The Lord blessed us with a lot of meat this past week.  Our local market store had ground beef for $2.99 per pound, Pork Shoulder Roast for $1.69 per pound, and I was given ten pounds of turkey thighs. (Thanks, sis.)  Aldi had chicken breasts on sale for about $1.60, so I picked up six pounds.  My fridge was full!  What to do?  Time to divide the meat out into different meals to freeze. It has taken me some convincing to try this by my full-time night nurse sisters who cook a whole month's meals in advance and then freeze them (Once-A-Month-Cooking).  But after being blessed by Freezer Meals from K the month before we moved last year, I got hooked.  In addition to the abundance of meat, I had a LOT of mashed potatoes and some Vidalia Dressing from Ruby's Pantry, a food-share program that I participate in.  This program is not based on financial need, but rather is an economical way to distribute food that is being thrown out by companies or overstocked.  Each person pays $20 for a share of food.  It is always such a blessing.  Every month, the food distributed is different, so it is an adventure in what recipes to make out of the abundance.

So, I looked at what I had, and I prayed for God to give me wisdom about what to make and how to spend my time.  After two days of cooking, I made about thirty Potato Buns, two loaves of Potato Bread, four meals of Meatballs, two meals of mexican bean & veggie Hamburgers, one beef/salami Penne meal, three meals of Vidalia marinated Chicken, one mashed potato Shepherd's Pie, one Curry Chicken & Broccoli Rice meal from leftover roasted chicken, two meals of Turkey Tetrazzini, and one BBQ turkey thighs Crock-Pot Meal.  Fifteen meals!   Tomorrow I hope to tackle the Pork and make some Hungarian Goulash and Pork and Veggies.  My sisters can make 28 meals in about 10 hours.  With what I have on hand, it is taking me about three days to make about 18 meals!  I have a long way to go to catch up to their speed, but I am thankful for this technique and its creative process while making good use of our time and resources.