Bulk Cooking

Bulk cooking or once a week cooking is a great way to save yourself money and time. When my daughter was a newborn my mom and I would cook about 10 meals together in one day and then split them up between our families. I loved that since I didn't have much time to run to the store and figure out dinner back then.

Last week I made a large batch of turkey sausage, egg and cheese breakfast burritos and put them in the freezer. They are easy to reheat and I can control the portions. To reheat I just put them on defrost for 2 minutes and cook for one minute.

Today I made granola bars from scratch for Violet. I wish I had taken a picture because they look prettier than the ones from the store. The taste is delicious as well. I made 16 bars and I have enough ingredients to make them several more times. Here is the recipe, Playgroup Granola Bars.

For dinner I made burritos. A serving size was a large flour tortilla with a heaping half cup of filling. I made 16 burritos. They are huge! Perfect for a quick lunch or dinner.

Jill's Burritos-

• 2 cups uncooked brown rice
• 4 cups water
• 1(15 ounce) cans black beans
• 1(15.5 ounce) cans pinto beans
• 1 cup of frozen corn kernels
  
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
• 16 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• 8 oz shredded taco blend cheddar cheese
• 1 can of chunk chicken

1.Combine rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, and cool.

2.Place black beans and pinto beans into a colander or strainer, and rinse. Add corn and diced tomatoes with green chilies, and toss to mix. Drain the canned chicken. Warm up all ingredients in a large skillet. Mix in the cheese last.
Optional- Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cumin.

3.Then start rolling up the burritos by placing a heaping half cup of filling into each tortilla. Get a large cookie sheet covered in foil or wax paper. Place the burritos seam side down on the pan. When your done, put the pan of burritos in the freezer to flash freeze them. When they get set and hard you can put them in a ziploc bag to store. To reheat defrost in the microwave for 2-3 minutes then cook on normal heat for a few minutes until hot.

I tried 2 different brands of tortillas so I have a different calorie count for each kind. The 160 calorie tortilla makes a 376 cal burrito. The 210 cal tortilla makes a 426 cal burrito. I think the lower calorie brand was called Don Pancho and the taste was better. Wish I didn't buy the other kind! Now we have 14 large (we ate 2 last night) burritos in the freezer that are healthy and preservative free. The total cost of ingredients was 12.oo so the burritos are 75 cents each!

I hope I can keep this up and try to make something in bulk at least once a week.