Meal Prepping- The Freezer is your Friend!

I thought I would take a break from writing about cancer to share some of my favorite things to meal prep. I love cooking and baking, it brings me joy and if there is one thing I have tried to incorporate into my life more, its hobbies and things that bring me joy. If you love cooking or if you are just trying to feed yourself and others, I hope you will enjoy this weeks blog.

Now just to get this out of the way, let me say that I am in no means a chef or great cook. I am still learning and thanks to Pintrest and Google, there are a plethora of recipes at my fingertips. I like trying out new recipes and figuring out how I can make meals on a larger scale. I also am very frugal so I try to cook with whats in season if possible and I try to make food from scratch.

If you are new to meal prepping let me offer a few tips:

• Give yourself plenty of time, prepping multiple meals in one session can take time, don't rush, give yourself a few hours to cook.
• Bring in help if possible, ask a friend, family member or partner to help. Its fun cooking together!
• Remember to feed yourself and take breaks. I often get caught up in cooking that I forget to feed myself!
• Have plenty of tupperware, jars, ziplock bags, plastic wrap and foil to store all that great food you just made.

So lets talk about breakfast, I love it. I rarely miss a breakfast, my husband on the other hand often misses breakfast and will not eat until halfway through the day. I did a little research and found some easy breakfast burritos that I could make a huge batch of, freeze them and in the morning he just has to throw one in the microwave to heat it up. He can eat the burrito on the way to work and it is very filling so it will hold him over till lunch.

Here's my recipe:
1 lb of bacon (or whatever breakfast meat you like)
1 bag of tater tots
1 dozen eggs
8-10 tortillas (depends on how big you make the burritos)
Shredded Mexican Cheese
Salsa
Salt
Pepper

Makes 8-10 burritos

Cook the bacon in a large  pan over medium/ high heat and then put it on a plate, leaving the leftover bacon grease in the pan, then add the frozen tater tots and lower the heat to medium. If you don't want to add meat you can skip that part and just start cooking the tater tots in the pan. (But the bacon sure does make it delicious.) Once the tater tots are thawed and starting to get crispy, crack all the eggs into a bowl and scramble them with a fork or whisk. Pour the eggs over the tater tots and season to taste. Once the eggs are cooked through, take your egg/tater tot mixture off the heat. Start warming up the tortillas, either in the microwave or on the stove top. Now its assembly time. Get a tortilla put a few scoops of the egg/tater tot mixture, then add cheese, salsa and chunks of bacon. Then wrap up the burrito and cover with plastic wrap.

You can add veggies like onion, bell pepper, spinach or whatever else you like. The burritos are a hearty breakfast and can last in the freezer up to a month, not that they will last that long. I used to cut up potatoes and cook my own breakfast potatoes for this meal but I realized that tater tots are a lot easier, and they taste really good.

I also like to make waffles in bulk. My grandma gave me a recipe for oat waffles, not sure if they are healthy but the oats in the recipe makes me think they are healthy....? I double or triple the recipe and once the waffles are cooked and cooled down I put two together, wrap them in plastic wrap or foil and put them in the freezer. When I want waffles I take them out of the freezer and put them straight into the toaster. They taste way better then store bought and are a great breakfast. I like to top my waffles with Greek yogurt, honey, cinnamon and fresh fruit.

Yum!

I will give that recipe out at another time. Another way I like to prep meals or make cooking easier is by making homemade salsa. A friend showed me how to make this salsa years ago and it has become a staple in my kitchen. I make a salsa verde that I use in so many different ways! One of them, I have already mentioned, is in my the breakfast burritos! I also use it for enchiladas, chilaquiles, chicken tacos and even just with chips. I don't really have a recipe set in stone, I just kind of wing it with the ratio of ingredients. I just made about a gallon of the salsa verde (before writing this post), here are the approximate ingredients that I used. 

5lbs of tomatillos

2 large avocados

1 large yellow onion

4-6 garlic cloves

4 serrano chiles (feel free to add more)

salt 

Cook the tomatillos and chiles in pan over a medium/high heat in batches. Once the tomatillos are slightly charred and juicy, add them and the chiles into the blender with the rest of the ingredients. This makes a lot of salsa so you might have to do a few batches. Pour each batch into a large mixing bowl. You can always add more avocado if you want a creamier and less acidic salsa. 

From here you have to decide how you want to store the salsa. I like to store some of it in a jar in the fridge and then divide up the rest to put into the freezer. I put 2-3 cups of salsa into a ziplock bag and freeze. When I want to make chicken tacos I take out the frozen salsa, let it thaw, put it in the instant pot or crock pot with chicken and let it cook till tender. The chicken is so flavorful, just shred it with a fork and serve it with tortillas, rice and beans. 

I also like to make a large amount of my own marinara sauce that I then divide into bags, freeze and bring out when I have had a long day and don't feel like cooking. Fresh sauce with pasta and broccoli is so easy to throw together, people will think that you slaved over a stove all day long making that sauce. Meal prepping should be about making cooking easier! That's why I like to have sauces, proteins, and veggies portioned out and frozen in my freezer. I can then grab a few bags from my freezer, cook them together and serve over rice, pasta, potatoes or some kind of carb. 

I know that some people don't like meal prepping because it can be a lot of work. I will not deny that claim. It can be very tiring to do so much cooking in one day. But if you can put in the work to meal prep a few dishes, the rest of your week will be so easy and efficient. Find a friend to meal prep with, try out a new recipe and be proud of yourself for cooking something yummy. 

Let me know if you have any questions about the recipes I posted above.