One pan + One spatula + One-ish hour = 8 meals

 

One Pan + One spatuala + One-ish hour = 8 meals is a wonderful equation in the kitchen although it won't get you too far in math.  Do you have one-two hours in your week that you could devote to meal prep?  Although it's likely your first response is no, I believe you could carve the small chunk out of your week with the benefit of gaining them back and more each day at dinner time.

 

As I was preparing my ground turkey, which I've substitued ground beef in all my recipes, I thought back to our family kitchen growing up.  My mom usually bought a large amount of ground beef and then separated it into 1-pound groups and froze them in true Tupperware containers.  We always knew that those containers in the freezer contained raw ground beef.  I also remember the semi-frantic calls to take one out of the freezer for dinner.  Then there was the cooking of the frozen meat which took great patience to cook.  We would brown one side at a time, "slice" it off with a spatula and turn it over to brown the other side. and so the routine continued until all the meat was browned.  Then we could continue with the recipe.  However, it was a great first step towards the Once-a-month Cooking that I now do.

 

Part of my recent OAM (Once-a-Month) shopping list included purchasing 8 packages of ground turkey to be included in 2 lasagnas, 4 pasta dinners, 1 taco salad, and a batch of turkey chili.  On cooking day I found my favorite meat frying pan in the cupboard and chose a spatula from the drawer.  On the counter next to the stove were the 8 packages of turkey.  One at a time I browned each package of turkey.  When it was fully cooked I emptied the meat into a 3-cup freezer container and set it aside on stacking cookie racks to cool.  The fat went into a large can which I had emptied when making a batch of spaghetti sauce.  I repeated this for 4 packages of turkey.

The fifth package went into a slightly larger container to which I added 1/3 cup of taco seasoning and 1 cup of water and then labeled it "Taco Salad."

 

The sixth package went into a 9-cup container to become Turkey Chili.  I added the rest of the ingredients after finishing all of the cooking of the turkey.

 

As the seventh and eighth packages were cooking I added an Italian Sausage Seasoning to give it the flavor without the fat of real Italian Sausage.  After preparing the turkey chili I then put together 2 lasagnas.  One for our family and one to take to a family friend with a newborn. 



Now by the time I finished cooking 8 packages of ground turkey, my pan was pretty well used as was the spatula, but I only had to clean each one time instead of 8 times.  What a time-saver already!  And after a good soak, both cleaned up nicely.

Once the meat had cooled I put lids on everything an put them in the freezer. 

P.S.  For the curious, I will post the Chili, Lasagna and Taco Salad recipes later this week.