Batch cooking methods and freezer meal recipes for busy families

WITH ANNIE ROSKELLEY

PHOTOS BY MELISSA SPELTS

There are so many methods of feeding your family in a short amount of time. I recommend experimenting and finding what works for you. Many blogs have rules on foods you shouldn’t freeze. My opinion is that there are no rules! If you don’t mind the texture changes that can occur to food after being frozen then go ahead and make meals using those ingredients and enjoy them!

DOUBLE BATCH OR BIG BATCH COOKING

My first method for batch cooking meals is double batch cooking. I’ll make a double batch of whatever I’m making and freeze half for another night. It’s a great tactic for soups and stews, burritos, sloppy joes, philly cheesesteaks, and lots of other easy meals.

Big batch cooking, in my opinion is the best way to stock up on family favorites if you have extra time to spare. I’ll cook 2-3 big pots of the same food and portion it into
meal sizes that meet my family’s needs. You can also experiment with making 2-3 pots of meals with overlapping ingredients, for example, chili, taco meat, and sloppy joes.

White Bean Chili

I make a double batch for my family, adjust as needed for your family size. This is my mom’s recipe, it’s very nostalgic dish for me since we have it at almost every family soup potluck.

2 lbs. ground pork or ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz. cans great northern or white beans, drained and rinsed
2 4-oz. cans diced green chilis
1 Tbsp. (3 cubes) chicken bouillon
1-2 tsp. ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: you can make a roux when the meat is cooked or use a cornstarch slurry to thicken when it’s almost done cooking.

In a large pot, add a splash of oil and sauté the onions for
2-3 minutes or until they start to soften. Add in the ground pork and brown it. Add the garlic, cumin, and other spices as desired and stir for an additional minute or two. Dump in the
rest of the ingredients and 1-2 cups of water depending on how brothy or thick you like your soup. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, being sure to taste the seasonings. Serve with any
toppings as desired. Portion into the freezer containers of your choice, put them in the fridge and freeze once cooled.

For serving, use green tomatillo salsa, avocado, cheese, tortilla
chips, avocado, sour cream, or whatever else your family likes.

CROCKPOT DUMP MEALS

A popular method of batch cooking is crockpot dump meals. You fill
however many freezer bags of the same meal, freeze, rinse and repeat
for as many other meals as desired, and then eventually dump into a slow
cooker or instapot on the day you want to cook. Assembly is much faster
when you add the same ingredient to each bag and then move along to
the next ingredient. This is also a great way to take advantage of meat sales
as they happen, especially when you’re buying a 40-pound box of chicken.

Honey Sesame Chicken

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 small onion, diced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
Sesame oil
Sesame seeds
Green onions
Rice for serving

Dump all liquid ingredients and spices into a freezer bag and squish until
mixed. Add chicken. Freeze. Dump into crockpot on low for 4-6 hours. Stir in 1
tsp. sesame oil and sliced green onions, serve over rice. Optional: add in a bag
of frozen broccoli or stir fry veggies for the last 30 minutes to an hour.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
20 oz. can pineapple chunks (recommend fresh if you have the patience for that)
1 green pepper, cut into chunks
1 small onion, cut into chunks
1 tsp. dried ginger
2-3 garlic cloves, minced (or replace with powder)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced (or
replace with powder)
1 cup BBQ sauce
Honey or sugar to taste (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper (1/2 tsp. each and add more as needed)

Drain around half of the pineapple juice if using canned, dump all ingredients into a freezer bag, and lay flat until frozen. On the day of cooking, add to slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours. If desired, shred or cut chicken and serve with rice.

Honey Rosemary Chicken

2 lbs. chicken thighs
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. dried rosemary (can use thyme)
Salt and pepper to taste

Minced garlic (optional) Mix all liquid ingredients in freezer
bag, add chicken, and squish it around to ensure it’s coated. Freeze. Cook
on low for 4-6 hours. Shred or cut chicken as desired. Serve with your
choice of rice, potatoes, pasta, or bread. Time permitting, you can cut
the chicken into 1–2-inch chunks before freezing for faster cooking.

For me, the key to filling your freezer is using a few different methods so you can spend as little as five minutes, or as much as all day getting meals prepped to make your life easier on any given day.

COMPONENT COOKING

Another of my go-to methods is component cooking. The best example of this is meatballs. If you have a bag of meatballs in the freezer, you can make spaghetti and meatballs, Swedish meatballs, etc., and not have to worry about mixing, rolling, and cooking the meatballs on a busy night. I do this with my favorite pasta sauces too. The sauce takes 45 minutes to an hour, and I’ll cook a larger batch of the meat portion all at once. Then all I have to do is warm it up while I’m cooking pasta, add in the last couple ingredients that don’t freeze well, and viola, dinner is served in 20 minutes.