November is when we all start anticipating the holidays. Many of you want to make lavish appetizers, trays of cookies, pies, fudge and truffles. Now, the question becomes, how do you serve tasty, everyday meals and make all those goodies too? There’s so much to do around the holidays, and your schedule is tighter than usual. The secret to getting all this accomplished lies in employing the proactive strategy (also used by chefs), both for those quick meal recipes for daily fare, plus the extra treats for holiday parties, in virtually the same amount of time. Let’s see how this can work for you.
Most of us have some weekly family favorites, such as fried chicken, meat loaf and spaghetti. Begin by making a menu calendar that takes you through the New Year. Leave those ‘special event’ days blank and fill in the rest. If you’ve got just four dishes you serve on a regular basis and pencil those in for dinner to be served every ten days, you’ve got forty days spoken for, which will pretty much carry you through New Year’s. When you buy your ingredients in bulk and prepare several dinners at once, you save both time and money. For example, it takes very little extra time to make four or five family-sized batches of spaghetti sauce than it does to make one. Use a large stockpot and freeze the excess in one quart containers. For every do-ahead, ready-to-eat meal you prepare at once, you’ve got that much ‘free’ time to start baking up a storm, or making a big batch of freezable appetizers, during the time that you’d ordinarily devote to quick meal recipes for dinner.
Cooking big batches of rice, again freezing in family-sized portions, can be the backbone of many a quick meal recipe. You can have a quick and tasty meal on the table in minutes with the addition of mixed veggies and some meat.
Ground beef, cooked in 5-pound portions, all at once and then frozen in 1-pound containers, easily provides several quick meal recipes: spaghetti sauce, tacos, enchiladas or pasta dishes. Slice up a few fresh veggies and you’ve got dinner ready!
Another trick to quick, easy recipes is to prepare quantities of fresh, diced, chopped or julienned veggies that you can bag up in freezer bags, covered in water with a teaspoon of lemon juice added. Partner with a portion of rice and steam it all at once. Toss in a portion of pre-cooked ground beef and dinner’s ready!
You can see how the proactive method can free up many an hour, to concentrate on the real holiday goodies. While you’re chopping mushrooms for spaghetti sauce, reserve a few mushrooms for a party-fare stuffed mushroom appetizer. Mix some herbs with finely diced mushroom stems, pile the duxelles into the reserved caps and sprinkle with your favorite cheese. Flash freeze on a cookie sheet, then box up those fancy appetizers in a freezer safe container. You won’t be caught unprepared for impromptu guests!
Once you implement the proactive method, you’ll find that this time-saving tool is appropriate year round. Meanwhile, this holiday season, your family and friends will marvel at your ability to serve any number of special treats on a moment’s notice! The virtues of such quick meal recipes will become a regular part of your cooking routines!
