Let's talk cook-ups

[Guest]

So, I set out on my current Whole30 to become more efficient in the kitchen.  Doing the math, I see that I need to prep a lot more on cook-up days if I have hopes of having a clean kitchen on other days.

 

I'd love to hear about your cook-ups.  How much do you generally prep and for how many people?  What kinds of things do you include in your cook-ups?

[jent103]

Oh man - I could not eat Whole30/paleo style without a weekly cookup. I'm just cooking for myself, but have a full-time office job and often don't go straight home after work. So sometimes I pack dinner as well as lunch, and even if I don't I often get home around 7 or 7:30 or even later. So most of my meals really just involve reheating, except for some occasional quick things (cooking zucchini noodles I've already prepped, for example).

 

One recent cookup looked something like this:

- make Cincinnati chili from Well Fed 2 (make it pretty much through, then it simmers for two hours on the stove while I do other things)

- make a quiche for breakfasts (8 eggs, two Aidell's chicken apple sausages diced and browned, 2oz or so of kale or spinach, wilted; bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so - makes 4 servings for me)

- make dressing for kale salad for breakfasts (I buy the pre-cut kale)

- make crispy smashed chicken from Nom Nom Paleo's Food for Humans

- roast butternut squash slices, then drizzle with balsamic

- julienne peel, salt, rinse, dry and store zucchini noodles

- make mayo

- make remoulade from mayo to have with crispy chicken

- make ghee if I'm close to out

- make sure I have raw veggies to have with chili (slice peppers or something)

 

So I had quiche + kale salad for breakfasts, chili, avocado and raw veggies dunked in mayo for lunch, and crispy smashed chicken with squash and zucchini noodles (Well Fed recipe) for dinner. I do sautee the zucchini right before I eat usually, though I've made a double serving and heated them up for lunch the next day too. Not bad.

 

Other things I do at other times - make a batch of mashed cauliflower, roast and pick a chicken, make a pound of burger patties, make Well Fed 2 sunrise scramble and broccoli salad, you get the idea. I try to find a balance between convenience (precut broccoli florets) and frugality.

 

I usually spend 3-4 hours or so doing all of that, plus time flipping through cookbooks to plan and grocery shopping. BUT I am notoriously slow in general, and I'm horrible about stopping to check Twitter or whatever. If I could get myself to focus (working on it) I could do it quicker! I have to have a plan, though.

[runninglawyer88]

I do meal prep whenever I'm low on something...so, for me that's ~10 hard boiled eggs, at least one one dish meal, and a protein source. My protein source right now is shredded chicken, my one dish meal is fajita stew or aloo gobi. I only cook these things for myself... I cook daily for my husband since he eats normally.

I usually make enough for ~3 days of meals and then cook more once I've run out. This doesn't bother me any and it allows me to have variety.

I also roast 4-5 sweet potatoes for 1 meal a day (I roast at least 1 extra in case I need more carbs).

I also made an avocado dressing for my salads topped with shredded chicken.

I buy frozen veggies so that I can just stir fry them or pop them in the microwave and then roast them.

The one meal + shredded chicken + eggs + dressing + potatoes might have taken an hour of hands on time.

[JGiggly]

I also don't think I could manage my family of 5 without the weekly cook-up. There's the couple mornings a week that we are rushing out the door and then there's lunches for school and work. If I wasn't prepared we would not be eating well.

 

Meatballs of some sort are crucial: We like plain old meatballs, fireballs (Well Fed), Scotch eggs (Well fed) 

One week we made all 3 to serve as a quick lunch and breakfast and as an easy dinner. Another great thing to make is frittata muffins. You can put whatever you want in them and they make a lovely quick breakfast.

 

Maybe I should just give you a cook-up preview:

 

Ground beef (2lb)

Hamburgers (3lb)

Fireballs (2lb pork)

Chicken baked (not sure of the pounds)

Best chicken (well fed)

Acorn squash (2)

Spaghetti squash (2) Or one spaghetti squash and 10 zucchini/summer squash for noodles (well fed)

Cut onions

cut peppers

Cut mushrooms (If I have them)

Mayo (well fed)

 

This is a lot of food. It usually takes the whole afternoon to prepare. If there are any leftovers we eat them before the next cook up... a leftover buffet. We usually don't have leftovers, but the choices are slim at the end of the week. OH! I almost forgot. I throw a roast into the slow cooker or make some other slow cooker meal to be ready for my family when I get home from work (2x a week I have a late night)

[ktsimons]

Same here...I cook mostly for myself...the 17 year old makes a stab at staying paleo, but she doesn't eat enough at home to count.  Hubs eats whatever the heck he wants and just gains more weight every year (sigh).

 

Thursday and Friday after work I spend a half an hour or so searching the Paleo web sites for new things to cook - print the recipes and then on Saturday I make a grocery list and hit the stores. I always have 3 or 4 new things to choose from so that if this or that is on sale I can decide at the store which I am going to actually make...the other recipes go into the front pocket of the binder that I file all the "made" recipes in...I will make notes about any changes and rate the recipe before I file it.

 

I make 3 full on recipes with different proteins - some of my faves -  

 

beef vindaloo

chicken cacciatore

meatball stew

lettuce wrap filling with lots of veg

homemade sausage and sweet potato hash (usually breakfast)

Plain grilled chicken strips (for salad topping)

Hot Italian sausage in marinara sauce

 

I make any sauces or spice mixes I am running low on -  

 

salad dressing

mayo

catsup & BBQ

 

I fix at least FOUR choices of veggies -

spaghetti squash

greens with bacon

smashed cauliflower

roasted broccoli

"worlds best braised cabbage" from NomNom or OMG...cant remember which, but you HAVE to try this!

baked acorn or butternut squash

sweet potato wedges roasted with cinnamon and chili powder

 

Then on Tuesday night, I set up a meal in the crock pot for the Hubs to cook on Wednesday afternoon (he works from home the lucky duck). I find that Wednesday night fresh cooked meal tends to really keep me on track...by then I am a little tired of the warm ups and salads so this fresh cooked meal is lovely mid week and gives me yet another choice for lunch!

 

I really takes commitment to make the cook up work, but the time it saves during the week is so worth it!

[AllyB]

The cookups are important.  My husband and I both work full time, so there is very little time during the week for cooking a good meal from scratch (if we want to get to bed on time.)

 

We make several dishes on the weekend.  This past weekend, I made two soups.  I love soups during the winter.  They are hearty and easy.  This week I made the Mexican Chowder (from Against All Grains) and the butternut squash soup from WF2.  (Although, I did chicken breast instead of sausage.)  I've been eating lunch off it all week, plus my husband had soup for dinner as well.

 

I always do a dozen deviled eggs (24 pieces) for breakfasts in the morning.  They also make great snacks if you need a little something before dinner. 

 

My husband usually makes mayo during the cookup cuz we go through a batch every week.  He also made a pot roast (3.5 pounds) that was big enough for several meals...pot roast with veggies, shredded pot roast over salad, pot roast hash with sweet potato and egg on top, pot roast tacos rolled up in a lettuce leaf.

 

I will say that the cookup takes longer than I would like and my house cleaning (which was pretty poor to begin with) is absolutely dismal now.  I used to clean mostly on the weekend, but that time is taken up  by cooking.  Soooo...we need to work on that!

 

PS on cookup days, we usually run the dishwasher twice if not three times!!

[Guest]

Same here...I cook mostly for myself...the 17 year old makes a stab at staying paleo, but she doesn't eat enough at home to count.  Hubs eats whatever the heck he wants and just gains more weight every year (sigh).

 

Thursday and Friday after work I spend a half an hour or so searching the Paleo web sites for new things to cook - print the recipes and then on Saturday I make a grocery list and hit the stores. I always have 3 or 4 new things to choose from so that if this or that is on sale I can decide at the store which I am going to actually make...the other recipes go into the front pocket of the binder that I file all the "made" recipes in...I will make notes about any changes and rate the recipe before I file it.

 

I make 3 full on recipes with different proteins - some of my faves -  

 

beef vindaloo

chicken cacciatore

meatball stew

lettuce wrap filling with lots of veg

homemade sausage and sweet potato hash (usually breakfast)

Plain grilled chicken strips (for salad topping)

Hot Italian sausage in marinara sauce

 

I make any sauces or spice mixes I am running low on -  

 

salad dressing

mayo

catsup & BBQ

 

I fix at least FOUR choices of veggies -

spaghetti squash

greens with bacon

smashed cauliflower

roasted broccoli

"worlds best braised cabbage" from NomNom or OMG...cant remember which, but you HAVE to try this!

baked acorn or butternut squash

sweet potato wedges roasted with cinnamon and chili powder

 

Then on Tuesday night, I set up a meal in the crock pot for the Hubs to cook on Wednesday afternoon (he works from home the lucky duck). I find that Wednesday night fresh cooked meal tends to really keep me on track...by then I am a little tired of the warm ups and salads so this fresh cooked meal is lovely mid week and gives me yet another choice for lunch!

 

I really takes commitment to make the cook up work, but the time it saves during the week is so worth it!

 

Same here...I cook mostly for myself...the 17 year old makes a stab at staying paleo, but she doesn't eat enough at home to count.  Hubs eats whatever the heck he wants and just gains more weight every year (sigh).

 

Thursday and Friday after work I spend a half an hour or so searching the Paleo web sites for new things to cook - print the recipes and then on Saturday I make a grocery list and hit the stores. I always have 3 or 4 new things to choose from so that if this or that is on sale I can decide at the store which I am going to actually make...the other recipes go into the front pocket of the binder that I file all the "made" recipes in...I will make notes about any changes and rate the recipe before I file it.

 

I make 3 full on recipes with different proteins - some of my faves -  

 

 

meatball stew

lettuce wrap filling with lots of veg

homemade sausage and sweet potato hash (usually breakfast)

 

I make any sauces or spice mixes I am running low on -  

 

 

catsup & BBQ

 

 

 

Then on Tuesday night, I set up a meal in the crock pot for the Hubs to cook on Wednesday afternoon (he works from home the lucky duck). I find that Wednesday night fresh cooked meal tends to really keep me on track...by then I am a little tired of the warm ups and salads so this fresh cooked meal is lovely mid week and gives me yet another choice for lunch!

 

 

 

I would love these recipes!  Also, the fresh meal mid-week sounds awesome.

 

(if we want to get to bed on time.)

 

 

PS on cookup days, we usually run the dishwasher twice if not three times!!

 

This!  Getting to bed on time is hard when there are always dishes to wash.  As for the dishwasher, I am eating off of a lot more glass and love using the dishwasher, but my new dishwasher has really oddly shaped racks.  I'm adjusting and I sort of decide what to use based on what will fit.

 

So, I get really excited when I have two or three crock-pots running, grill a couple of kinds of meat (-5 outside right now, so maybe not until the weekend), and cook a hash or something else on the stove.  I didn't do the math until now, but we need a lot more protein than I had anticipated to get through more than a few days.

 

Someone mentioned leaving the shopping list open to availability and sales.  I think this is sort of a new problem I have.  I already have all of my meats purchased for Winter.  I have chicken from a Summer share, beef from a big buy at a ranch, elk from a cousin's hunt, and half of a pig on the way.  I am just learning how to prepare grassfed beef and elk and I have all kinds of cuts.  I have sort of done some mental math that shows that I need to cook things other than ground meat and stews in order to use all of the meat.  Just when I prepped my brain to cook bigger batches of ground meat, taco meat, meatballs, and stews, I realize that I need to plan to use flank steaks, skirts steaks, etc.

 

Seeing the quantities and mixes that others are prepping is useful.  I hope others will share and I hope it will help more than just me.

[AllyB]

I would love these recipes!  Also, the fresh meal mid-week sounds awesome.

 

Someone mentioned leaving the shopping list open to availability and sales.  I think this is sort of a new problem I have.  I already have all of my meats purchased for Winter.  I have chicken from a Summer share, beef from a big buy at a ranch, elk from a cousin's hunt, and half of a pig on the way.  I am just learning how to prepare grassfed beef and elk and I have all kinds of cuts.  I have sort of done some mental math that shows that I need to cook things other than ground meat and stews in order to use all of the meat.  Just when I prepped my brain to cook bigger batches of ground meat, taco meat, meatballs, and stews, I realize that I need to plan to use flank steaks, skirts steaks, etc.

 

 

Soooo...I'm getting pretty good at using all the parts of the cow.  We have our own cattle and sell grass fed meat (That's the good news).  The bad news is that we are often left with the cuts that are less popular or harder to cook.  I just recently did braised short ribs.  They were awesome.  I also do a lot of skirt steaks and flank steaks.  I usually don't bother to sell these cuts because with grass fed cows, these cuts are often like shoe leather.  So instead of hearing complaints, I just save them for us.  Plus they are good if cooked properly:)

 

BUT, you might want to invest in a sous vide.  It's does a fabulous job of 'slow cooking' grass fed steaks (especially flank and skirt).  It's like a crock pot's fancy cousin.  we use ours at least once a week.  Google it to learn more.  Does great pork chops also.

 

Another cut that I get left with is london broil / top round.  Usually with a cornfed cow, they are done as steaks.  But with grass fed, they are so lean, they get tough and dry.  So we usually do beef jerky out of this cut.  It's so lean, it makes great jerky.  Kids love it as snacks.

 

Then there are all the roasts.  You end up with a bunch of them.  But the nice thing is roasts are great for a cookup or to start in the morning and finish at night.  Then you can eat off them for a couple of days (unless you have a bunch of diners!)

 

I currently have a bunch of beef shanks.  No one seems to want those.  So I'm going to make something out of them.  I saw a recipe in Mark Sisson's book and will give it a try.  I also have some beef hearts and tongues.  Not quite brave enough for those though.  People who know how to cook heart swear it's like filet.  And I've heard tongue tacos are amazing.

 

I'll do the shanks this weekend and post a pic

[Guest]

AllyB, I would love all of the tips and recipes you my have for grassfed beef.  With all of the meat we have bought, new house, new freezer to store meat, pig share, and Summer chicken share due, I can't really fit a sous vide in my budget.  I do have a vacuum sealer and have read that a crock-pot can sort of do the job of a sous vide.  I wonder.

 

Cooking for this week is almost complete.  Day 30 is this week and I am thrilled about the food choices in our house this week.  Going to end with Nom Nom's crispy chicken thighs so that we will have left-overs calling us right back.