Being a Stay At Home Mom who runs a daycare it is vital that I find ways to make things easier in our day to day lives. Being able to be home is a dream come true for me and it is important to me that my husband and son have hot meals most days/meals of the week. I have taught school the past five years and being home is something I never saw myself doing-- until I had a baby.
I have many outlets to making life simple in our house and they include LISTS, no TV until baby is asleep, gardening, routines, oh and did I say LISTS? I have lived by lists the past few months as they are the only way I can even keep up it seems. But today I wanted to talk about something that is a bit newer in my house and something I am loving!!
Batch Cooking!
Somedays finding the time to ensure that all of my kids in daycare have a healthy, home cooked meal can be difficult. Though I plan our meals each weekend for the next week... there are some days that life takes over and I am not able to make our meals the way I do on all days! Also, with the schedule my husband works I am able to cook him a hot breakfast, but I have to pack his lunch and dinner... and to be honest, there are some days I am lacking a meal to pack if not two. What better answer to this than batch cooking? It did take a little bit of preparation and time on my part... but after the initial day of doing the batch cooking... I have had lots of quick meals that are frozen. So what did I do?
I spent one day preparing pizza muffins (similar to pizza bagels), pizza hot pockets, ham and cheese pockets, and burritos. After I cooked and prepped each of these meals, I packed them up individually and froze them. It is awesome because if I am in need of a quick meal for anyone in my family all I have to do is walk to the freezer and pull out one of these meals... pop in the microwave and BOOM! We have a meal.
It seems about once a month I will spend a day batch cooking. I usually do it during Daycare so the kids can help.. they have a lot of fun. It is one of the best things I have ever done.... and I am quite addicted to it! I always try and make an extra 'whatever' to freeze... it is great for daycare, my family, AND for when I need to cook for someone in need... I like to cook for the families in my church who are sick, have had babies, or just need the extra help.
If you have any other questions about this- please ASK! So far I have batched cooked:
-Pizza Muffins
-Pizza Pockets
-Ham and Cheese Pockets
-Pie Crust
-Pigs in a Blanket
-Salsa
-Lasagna
-Bread
-PotPie: My FAVORITE
-Cheesecake
-Muffins
-Enchiladas (I will let you know how that turns out, I have read mixed reviews online)
Happy Batch Cooking!
-Big Sis
