Getting the family involved in cooking is easier to do on a weekend afternoon than on a weeknight between martial arts class, spending time outdoors after the long day in the classroom, and forgotten “I need 50 things for the 50th day of kindergarten tomorrow!” Bulk cooking is an efficient way to use this quality family time for week-long benefits.
When I just have to pull pre-made meat and veggies out of the freezer and then make a side dish, we’re more likely to eat a good variety of veggies and protein all week long. Because we’re not on GAPS, I often serve rice, potatoes, or occasionally gluten free muffins with these. If you’re on GAPS, these recipes are still GAPS legal, you’ll just eat more of them.
I’ve reduced to just bulk cooking meat and veggies on Sunday afternoons once or twice a month, and I make a gallon of yogurt some other time during the week most weeks. Stocking the freezer with coconut flour waffles, grain free scones, and the fridge with lactoferments is helpful when we’re especially busy (see my Grain Free Freezer Cooking Guide for a whole setup like this including detailed prep instructions, reheating instructions, and tips to save dishes), but right now I don’t mind making breakfasts and lunches, it’s just the dinners I appreciate a little help with.
This is what we cooked in 3 hours:
(dishes listed below serve approx 4)
3 lbs of veggie-packed meatballs to use on their own, in spaghetti squash bakes, and in soup (3-4 meals)
4.5 lbs of crockpot pulled pork I used a boneless cut, and divided this into thirds to put in the freezer before cooking. I have a small crockpot that is perfect for not having a ton of leftovers. (4-5 meals)
2 lbs bacon, baked (find additive free bacon here). The drippings for this are used as the fat in a lot of the meat and veggie recipes. (1 meal or added as bacon bits to many meals)
4 lbs baked skin-on chicken thighs, seasoned with sea salt and lemon pepper and then sliced. I add this to the kids’ lunches often, with mustard to dip. We usually eat this with kale on cooking day, don’t substitute skinless chicken, the skin prevents the chicken from drying out. (3-4 meals)
1 gallon (4 quarts) whole milk yogurt
4 lbs roasted carrots with cumin and cinnamon. Carrots are inexpensive, sweet, and a family favorite. (4 meals)
1 pound kale, cooked with bacon drippings, lemon, and coconut milk. We all need more greens in our diet, and having them pre-cooked helps. (4 meals)
1 bunch celery with 1 package mushrooms, sliced, and cooked in stock. (2 meals)
1 recipe Superhero Gummies for sleep and immunity (servings to last all week)
If there was more time (my max is 3 hours, with a generous hour allowed for after the 3 for cleanup):
- 4 lbs roasted beets. Beets are so good for you. If you’re peeling and turning your hands purple for one meal, you may as well do a bunch.
- 4 lbs of just the chicken and sauce from this recipe for Toasted Sesame Chicken Stir Fry. It’s easy to heat up the chicken and add veggies. I cheat with organic frozen veggies – whatever looks good- from Costco.
Having the freezer stocked not only keeps you from hitting takout or patching together something last minute, but it also keeps produce from rotting in the back of the fridge because you forgot to use it.
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This is a really inspiring post. Your particular recipes probably won’t work for me in my situation, but I used to cook on Sunday for the week, and have gotten out of the habit. You may have inspired me to take it up again. I would be so nice to have that in the frig all ready to go. Thanks.
Do you peel your carrots if hey are organic? Thanks for this post.
I do, but you could scrub them instead if you wanted to.
Could you give some kind of recipe for the kale, please? I’m wondering how much lemon juice and coconut milk.
Thanks for this great post. I am really struggling with meals right now, and I think this approach may help.
Thank you for sharing this! I’m curious about how exactly you cooked the kale. We can definitely use more greens. :)
I fill my big stock pot up, add about 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 cup coconut milk and then simmer it down, with the lid on. It will wilt.
Do you reuse your ziplock baggies? I have not been and I feel terrible for throwing them out. But I am not sure if I can get them washed clean enough since we are keeping food in them for a long time, albeit in the freezer.
I don’t – I have friends that do, they wash them with dish soap and hot water. I’m big on focusing on what’s realistic for us – right now it’s ziplocks mostly because they freeze so flat and take up little space in the freezer. If we had a chest freezer I could just use re-usable snap-lidded containers (our costco has them right now, as well as Target).
This has given me some good ideas. Although I will say that it would never make the amount of meals for our family of 3 that consists of 2 adults and a 9 year old. My husband easily eats 1/2 a pound of meat per meal. And even my 9 year old can really pack it away. For just the 3 of us, we’d probably get only about 1/2 the meals each dish is listed for getting for a family of 4.
Hi, I just found your site and was hoping for instructions on freezing/reheating the carrots? Do they get mushy? Thanks.
This is great! Is there a grocery list associated for the recipes?
Thanks!