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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Cooking in Bulk

 Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't like to clean up dishes and I like to be able to cook a meal fast and for a lot of people if I need to.
 I have done this for years.  I will cook a lot of hamburger (about 20 lbs today) at one time.
 I try and do this when I have a little extra time so that when I am short on time (which is often it seems) I have part of my meal already cooked.  I let it drain completely so that it will not have any extra grease in it.  
 Sometimes I cook it with the onion and garlic so it will already have it in for the recipe.  I also like the fact that I clean the dishes only once for all this hambuger and not 20 times. (deep down I'm lazy)
 I then put them in freezer bags and label them, those of you who follow me know I love to label.
 Put them in a container.
 That way they store great in my freezer for later.

I do this with sausage and bacon as well.  For sausage I just do it the same as for the beef, but for bacon I cook it and then just layer it between paper towels and then freeze.  When I need the bacon I just take out what I want and crisp it up a minute in the microwave...easy and fast.

Let me know if you do this, or am I the only one? 
 I have had friends say they have never heard of this before...who knew?

Thanks for visiting my bulky part of the country,
Jana

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11 comments:

  1. TexWisGirlAugust 16, 2012 at 7:01 PM

    nope. don't cook ahead on anything. :)

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  2. cobwebbcornerAugust 16, 2012 at 7:10 PM

    I do the hamburger but never have with bacon...guess who will be cooking up some bacon this weekend!

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    Replies
    1. JanaAugust 16, 2012 at 7:35 PM

      Hope it works out for you, I like having it on hand...maybe a little too much LOL

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  3. Rose ~ from OzAugust 16, 2012 at 9:23 PM

    Oh Jana, do tell me that the meat in the packets is from YOUR farm! Packaged for you from your beast. YUM. We always ate our own beef. And Yes I did used to do similar 'cook ahead' meat dishes, it saves such a lot of time. Time is something I had so little of when we were farming.
    It's so intriguing see that 'our' Mince is called 'ground beef' over there. It's packaged here and is called anything from Lean Beef Mince 5% fat, to Medium Beef Mince 10% fat or Budget Beef Mince (with lots of fat!)
    Great post and lovin' those LABELS!

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    Replies
    1. JanaAugust 17, 2012 at 5:28 AM

      LOL Rose I always enjoy your visits. Who knew you called it Mince, I love to learn new things and the label comment was left just for you LOL

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    2. JanaAugust 17, 2012 at 5:32 AM

      Yes it is our beef

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    3. Rose ~ from OzAugust 17, 2012 at 9:57 PM

      Of course the label comment was for "moi" - who else I say. Ooooh that's wonderful that it's your beef. OK next question in the quest to learn things from opposite sides of the world. I'll tell you how it went from this side and you tell me yours. We could do one of two things - either, transport the said "chosen one" to the abbatoirs, they'd do the kill and send it to a local butcher of our choosing who would do the cutting up according to our instructions and then we'd pick it up. OR, we could get the mobile home butcher in, who would slaughter the beast on farm, hang it for the prescribed no of days in this on-site fridge trailer which would stay on the property until he returned in several days at which time I would be stocked up on plastic bags because he would then do the cutting up on tables provided by us and I would be racing to do the packaging as he was doing the cutting up and mincing. The home butcher was a much more expensive way of doing it but it was my prefered way as I could say which cuts of meat went into the mince and be very demanding how I wanted things. Over to you! :))))

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    4. JanaAugust 18, 2012 at 6:02 AM

      We are the ones who just take it to our local butcher who does all the packing the way we specify we want it. My husband said they have had someone come out to the farm and kill, skin and gut the cow, but then they would still haul the cow to a local butcher who did all the processing. He said that that was probably 35 years ago, so not a practice done any more, or at least we don't know of anyone who does it on site or like your mobile butcher. That is interesting, we have never heard of that before.

      Delete
  4. CheriAugust 17, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    Who are you???

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  5. WEAugust 17, 2012 at 9:15 PM

    Its interesting :)

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  6. MontanagirlAugust 19, 2012 at 6:01 AM

    That's actually a great idea! And very handy I'm sure if you cook a lot, or for a lot of people. I don't do much cooking anymore. I like how you do that however, and stacks nicely for the freezer too!

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