My Bulk Cooking Plan
- Whole Chicken DONE
- Chicken Broth DONE
- Pizza Crust DONE
- Shepherd’s Pie DONE
- Chicken and Rice Casserole DONE
- Salisbury Steak DONE
- Taco Meat DONE
- Refried Beans DONE
- Wet Burritos DONE
- Rolls
- Bagels DONE
- Two loaves of bread
- Cinnamon Rolls DONE
- Waffles DONE
- Pretzels
- Granola DONE
- Banana Muffins DONE
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins made pumpkin instead DONE
What I made that wasn’t on the plan.
- Pancakes
- Baked ziti
- BBQ pork in a crock pot
I ended up spreading my bulk cooking out over 2 1/2 days. This was due to my family’s schedule, not a personal preference. I really like doing it all in one day. I spent about 6 hours total cooking, which isn’t bad considering how many meals I put in the freezer.
A few bulk cooking tips I have learned over the years:
Clean out and organize your freezer before you start cooking. Use your kitchen servants appliances. Many times I would have something in the bread machine, crock pot, oven and mixer all the same time. Let your mixer, blender, food processor, or crock pot do the work for you. Make sure you have enough containers to hold everything once you are finished. It is depressing to run out of foil, bags or pans in the middle of your day. If you are freezing your food let it cool before you put it in the freezer. Hot food put directly in the freezer can get an icy coating from the steam. Keep a sharpie in your kitchen, I write on every container I put in the freezer, cooking times, lengths, and special instructions. If you don’t think you are up to a big bulk cooking day, watch the last vlog in the post, I have some advice for you.
Speaking of vlogs, I vlogged my cooking day(s). It made the cooking a little bit longer, but it was a fun experiment. I broke the cooking into smaller segments since I don’t think many of you have time to watch my entire cooking day! Please remember I am not a professional chef, I am a professional mom, with seven kids who occasionally I have to talk over in the video. I hope you enjoy them!
Ground Beef
Granola
Update
Baked Ziti
Freezing Cinnamon Rolls
Cut up your cinnamon rolls the night before and let them rise overnight in the fridge. Let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes in the morning before baking.
Whole Chicken in the Crockpot
(You can find a picture tutorial and detailed instructions on my cooking a whole chicken in a crock pot article.)
If you are wondering why you should save your chicken stock, read the ingredients on the label of this chicken stock from the store.
Tortillas
Refried Beans
Brown Rice
Bulk Cooking Tips
You can read about my technique for freezing pancakes, it works well as long as you don’t make them huge!
This post is linking to Tasty Tuesday and Money Saving Mom.
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{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m tired just reading everything that you did.
Oh, nice hair cut!
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I love your vlog tutorials!!
I can tell we are alot alike in the kitchen too! (Your recipes made me hungry too! Lol) Have you ever tried cooking with deer/venison meat in place of beef? We have used it so long now that I can’t stand the “fatty” smell of regular beef. I also use Turkey if I absolutely have to buy something from the store! (My dad, hubs, and son are all hunters! Keeps the deer well stocked in the freezer.)
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TheHappyHousewife Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:48 am
I do use venison instead of beef, but my husband prefers the venison in steak form, so we don’t grind most of it.
Toni
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Stephanie Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 am
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Love it, Toni….love the hair cut…SO CUTE!
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thanks for all of your hard work. I am going to try most of your recipes. What are Wet Burritos and how do you make them.
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I hate that your granola burned. Having a dish fail is one thing that really upsets me more than anything.
I enjoyed your videos. I like getting to hear what people sound like, makes it all seem a little more real. And your hair cut is lovely.
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Nice hair cut! It’s really cute! Looking forward to watching the videos when I can, thanks! I just had to hop over when I saw the change and let you know it’s great
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Awesome job. I have never done cinnamon rolls for the freezer. I will try these when I do my March oamc.
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LOVE THE NEW HAIRCUT!!!!! It’s the first thing that I noticed!!! You look, how do I say this, more refreshed with the new do!
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Love your tutorials! You are so great on them! I did my first one and kids went wild
Joys of motherhood. I look forward to making the tortillas next month.
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Love the new haircut
I have never tried bulk cooking before but I am totally inspired now! Thanks!
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Those were great videos Toni. I love the new haircut and the apron is so pretty. Your so funny and like me you just cook with all the kids and caios around you. Great tutorials and I learned alot. Have fun at Blissdom.
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Wow! All those meals in 6 hours of hands on cooking time. You are a machine!
This is why I love to read your blog. You show how it can be done despite all the interuptions of real life.
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how very inspiring!!!! can’t wait to try some of this!!! Question about the pizza crust…. how do you freeze it, as dough or rolled out on the pan or par-baked or what? We LOVE your crust!!! & I owuld love to know how you make it in advance! Thanks!
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I do the same things! I love that you do bulk cooking in much the same way. I need to get on the ball and plan another cooking day. It’s so worth the extra work on one day to have so many nights “off.”
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Thank you for putting so much effort into your blog
I get so many tips from you . I am a fan for sure and it didn’t take long to become one !! Kepp up the great work and your hair looks fantastic .
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You’re amazing. Simply amazing.
I can’t wait to get to come hang out at your house in March and figure out how on earth you pull off this SuperWoman stuff you do. I’m in awe!
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I love your new do you look great, the videos are fantastic and I enjoy that your kiddos are around I like how you just keep it “real” so to speak.
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Thank you for all the hard work!!
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Toni, I’m loving the haircut and I think it has convinced me to get mine cut I’ve been pondering it the past 2 weeks.
Now being married to a plumber “I have to let you know that putting even the leanest grease down the drain isn’t good” so I’ve done my duty to spread the word.
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Cherrill Hartsfield Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Oh, and where is the cinnamon roll recipe?
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TheHappyHousewife Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I’ll post it after we eat it, it is a new recipe and I want to make sure it passes the Happy Family test.
Toni
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TheHappyHousewife Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Thanks for the tip Cherrill. Do you any suggestions for how to clean off the meat and not put grease down the drain? That is a serious question, I have never liked putting grease down the drain, but couldn’t figure out how to rinse meat another way.
Toni
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April Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Drain it on paper towels and put the grease by spoonfuls in an old vegetable can.
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Cherrill Hartsfield Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
I drain it into a double boiler insert that I bought at the goodwill then when it has cooled it goes into an empty can or jar. I rinse the meat with with hot water just as you did.
Okay trying to wait patiently on the results
~grins~ oh, and I went to Sams and got my chickens.
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Justine Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I have never rinsed my meat (never thought about it), so I don’t know if this will help, but I always pour my grease into an old spaghetti sauce jar that I keep in the freezer. When it’s full, I toss the whole jar in the trash.
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Great videos. Like everyone before me….cute new haircut.
I have the same breadmachine (a gift from my parents for Christmas). Do you use it to actually bake or just mostly dough? My husband doesn’t like the crust when baking with it.
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You are THE lady!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been hoping the other Freezer Cooking moms would video blog their cooking journeys but you are the only one up to the challenge so far! You rock!
I love these! Thank you!
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I love the video! I think they are worth the extra effort.
Sometimes it just good to see the process. And I love your apron!
I’ll be trying your ziti soon
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Wow! great video. I can’t believe how much you got done and a haircut too! Love your kitchen…..I have always made my own chicken/turkey broth. Never thought to do it in the crock pot. I will have to try that next time. Have a great time a Blissdom !
Blessings-
Rachelle
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Love the videos and the new do! I too would like to know how you freeze your pizza crust.
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Thank you for posting your videos. I really enjoyed watching them and your daughter (I imagine) did a great job filming them. I just made a double batch of your Chicken Tetrazzini for dinner tonight – it’s become one of my husband’s favorite meals.
Samantha
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Thanks for the videos! You look much less frazzled than I do when I venture out on a freezer cooking spree and you have more kids than I do to boot!
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Great videos. I like that you did several short ones. It’s much better than one long video. I’m still trying to figure out how you do it all, Toni.
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I enjoyed watching the videos. Question, are you Tortillas flour or corn? I would have loved to see more info on that video as mine ALWAYS fail.
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TheHappyHousewife Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 am
white flour, but the ones I made where half white/ half whole wheat
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Terri Neighbors Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I’vc never made homemade tortillas before this video. When I make mine, I use all whole wheat flour. My husband doesn’t care for the whole wheat ones so I use white for his. I may try half and half next time.
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I was just wondering what kind of bread machine you use . I have been researching them because I want to purchase one and it seems like Zojirushi wins but it is very expensive . Some reviews have said WestBend are just as good . Any input on either ?
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Thanks so much for the tip on freezing the cinnamon rolls! I make home made cinnamon rolls about once a month and have tried freezing them a couple of different ways, but have not been happy with the results.
Going to try your technique later this week.
Also great idea to rinse ground beef to reduce even more fat!
Thanks so much for the blogs.
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Thanks for the videos! I have been wanting to cook in bulk but was a little intimidated. I’m now inspired! Love the haircut.
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Thank you SOOO much for this post, I love all the videos and am feeling a little less intimidated to do some bulk cooking!
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I have one child and look/feel like a mess. You have seven happy kids, look wonderful, blog, homeschool, cook in bulk, etc. I’m really not sure how you do it. But thank you.
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Wow, I am impressed that you can get so much done with 7 children. And your kitchen is so clean – even when you are cooking. I love your apron, too!
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When you do your ground beef bulk cooking, do you divide the portions out and freeze it? How long can ground beef freeze?
Thanks
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I can’t believe you videoed all the cooking you just did. I have to remember to take photos when I do things around the house more often.
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Okay, I’m going to sound like a broken record after having skimmed the other comments, but the haircut looks great, thanks a bunch, and you’re amazing.
Now, a question: was that a Krispy Kreme box in the trash can when you were dumping out the fat from the chicken stock? i don’t know if it was or not, but it made me laugh just thinking about the irony of it. would certainly be a reflection of my life – “save” here to “splurge” there
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Hi Toni!
I am new to your blog – just hit your link on Money Saving Mom.
LOVE your vlogs!!! Thanks so much for doing these – they are very helpful!
I will definately read and watch your blogs going forward.
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Thank you so much for the videos. I have a questions regarding the chicken stock that you made. I tried to do the same thing, but it did not turn out. I strained the broth and placed in in the fridge. After a day I took it out and scooped off the fat that was on top. BUT I was not left with a broth…it is GEL! Any idea what I did wrong????
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As a long time bulk cooker, I just thought I would add a tip. Cook up to 10# of ground beef in my largest roasting pan in the oven! Sometimes, I roast the onions and peppers in there first, then add the meat. I cook it at about 450 and stir every 5-10 minutes until thoroughly brown. I hate to cook it on the stove top, so messy!
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Kathy Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
That should read that “I cook up to 10# of ground beef…”
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Thank you so much for sharing the technique of using your crockpot for cooking a whole chicken! I just tried it myself today and LOVED the results!!! The chicken was so incredibly moist and tender! I’ve heard of this being done, but for some reason didn’t have the nerve to try it myself until I saw your video so many thanks! God bless!
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I loved your video posts! Very helpful and I am going to try some freezer meals soon. I am pregnant and think it will be helpful for right after the baby comes. I do have a question though. I can never find the answer, so maybe you can help. After you have frozen the meals, is there a certain way to thaw them, or do they go right into the oven? And do they just get reheated for the same amount of time as the original recipe? For example, if I freeze an allready cooked meatloaf, how do I thaw and recook it? It may seem like a really naive question but I don’t know! Thanks for tips! Stephanie
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I just recently found your blog and it’s great! I love the videos. I tried the chicken in the crockpot and wow! So good! It was the first time I had tried a whole chicken. Even my pickest eater ate it and asked for seconds! A major compliment in my book! I also found the courage to try bagels. I didn’t have the gluten on hand, but tried another recipe. So much easier than I thought it would be and a hit! I look forward to reading more of your blog.
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