Bulk Cooking Club

[PixieVal]

Easily 6 months or so, cooked or raw for me. I'm a bit paranoid about wrapping it though, I usually wrap each piece in pork chops, then a plastic baggie, then into a big gallon ziplock bag.

Hmmmm....wrapping meat in pork chops......that is a different way to keep it 

Kind of like wrapping food in bacon.

[MareMare]

OMG I wish I could blame that on my phone's autocorrect, but I was on my laptop. For the record, I wrap in plastic wrap, the a baggie, then put in a bigger bag. But I had just been told that my brother had left grilled pork chops in my fridge for me lol!

[meowari]

Wow, I didn't know food can last that long! Thanks for the info!
Does anyone use anything to wrap their food in besides plastic? I know it's cheap and I do use it now, but I eventually want to try to get away from using plastic at all- economy wins out at the moment, though...

[MareMare]

Freezer paper, foil, glass freezer containers (although they usually have a plastic lid? Unless it's rubber?)

[hayleylujah]

This thread is so awesome! I wish I could currently do bulk cooking, but I live in the dorms and am restricted to a mini fridge with a freezer about the size of a shoe box.

When I was back at home though over the summer I made several batches of seitan (wheat "meat"), marinated tofu, chili, and homemade pasta sauce all for the freezer. 

[PixieVal]

I had seitan in a restaurant in Philly this summer, it is so yummy

[edelC]

Wow, I didn't know food can last that long! Thanks for the info!
Does anyone use anything to wrap their food in besides plastic? I know it's cheap and I do use it now, but I eventually want to try to get away from using plastic at all- economy wins out at the moment, though...

i am with you on the trying not to use plastic, but in this case, if you are storing meat it is advisable. for a number of reasons, the plastic will prevent bacterial contamination and it will also exclude oxygen, so the food will keep better and for longer. Inefficently wrapped meat, suffers from freezer burn.

In general you will use less plastic if you use slightly sturdier bags rather than two thinner ones.

freezer paper is wax (or plastic) coated and so you are still using up hydrocarbons (plus trees) Aluminium foil, does not biodegrade and is hugely energy intensive to manufacture, if you recycle it, it is OK, but still not as effective as a well sealed plastic bag..

reusable plastic or glass containers are the most environmentally friendly, as long as you do reuse them....a lot!

[eiyela]

Oh, sweet! I have an on-again off-again relationship with bulk cooking. Right now my freezer is stuffed with berries and mushrooms, but there's still space for a meal here and there.

My tip is to store meat in marinade in the freezer. Whenever I buy meat it tends to be way too much for two people at once, so I slice it all up and put my steaks in separate freezer bags along with marinade. Then when I want some I pull out as many as I like before I go to work, come home, fry for a few minutes on each side and it's delicious... O.o

[TroubleT]

We do the pre-marinade and freeze thing too, eiyela, only we also do whole chickens this way. You can mix up a huge batch of your marinade(s) and add it to the freezer bag after adding in your meats. You do need to make sure that the marinade gets in between the steaks/chops if you are doing several at at time.  We will set the meal bag down into the fridge usually the night before so that it's completely thawed and ready for the grill/stove when we get home.

[myloveasdeep]

When I am really on my game, I make the following on a weekend:

1. 5 servings of fruit and greek yogurt for my breakfast in small containers

2. Boiled eggs

3. A roast chicken or a roast beef

4. cookies or muffins

5. A big batch of vegetable soup in 5 glass containers for my lunches

6. 4 sandwiches with the spreads inside the the toppings for my husband's lunches

I've managed all of that maybe once. I usually get at least two or three on any given weekend. My freezer is SO tiny and full of meat and vegetables that I can't put any thing in there.