Making the Soup

I am making a huge pot of beef stew.  I have cooked the stew meat until it is so tender you could eat it with a cheap plastic fork.  I also add every single vegetable that I have on hand both canned, fresh, and frozen.  It will be done later tonight but we won’t eat it until tomorrow.  I usually freeze the left overs into small freezer bags and take them for my lunches during the semester.  I make so much that after ten or more quart bags and about twenty pint bags, I put it in gallon bags.  I do the same for beans and chicken soup and chili.  While everyone else is eating unhealthy fast food, I dig into my healthy homemade foods.  Do any of you do bulk cooking and divide it up for later eating?  If so, what are you favorites? 

Jeannie, I do the same with soups. I also cook large quantities of ground beef, taco meat, just about anything and then divide it and freeze it. I have tomatoes in the freezer. I also freeze, carrots, celery, green peppers, and onions from summertime.  With the meat already cooked it is easy to throw together a taco salad, or soup when I'm out.  The other day I used one of the "Crock pot" recipes that Joyce posted on line.  It was 1 lb of chicken breasts, a package taco seasoning, and I believe 1 cup of water. Cook on slow in crockpot all day then take two forks and shred it like for pulled pork. We had chicken fajitas that night and used the rest up the next day. It was very tender. I think I'll try doing the same thing with a beef roast and barbecue sauce. Come tothink of it I think I still have some little Thanksgiving dinners in the freezer. A bit of potatoes, gravy, dressing, yams and turkey in little containers. Some days I just need that comfort food!

I also dice up carrots and bellpeppers and freeze them.  I have forzen the cooked meat and use it when I need it.  My favorite thing to freeze is ham and turkery from the holidays and after a few weeks, it is great for a little treat.  I use the ham in beans and peas. 

Nothing quite like a ham bone in a pot of beans! Still one of my favorite things. I've been making bean soups and I find if I put some chicken broth in the water it gives it a really great flavor.

I buy those chicken broth boxes instead of milk and make all my sauces with them.  They are delicious.

Your soup sounds delicious.  Does it freeze well in freezer bags?  How long before they get freezer burn.  That's one reason I hesitate to bulk cook for myself. It stays in the freezer too long.  When I make spagetti sauce I make a huge pot of it and freeze small and medium containers, same with chili but that's about it for me.

I fill the bag almost full and squeeze the excess air out and lay them flat on a tray in my freezer and when they are frozen they stack.  I've had them stay good for a year.  But, I don't put pasta in them, only vegetables and meat.  When my children were small, I canned the soup and always had a quart jar ready to heat up, but it is inconvient for me to store all those jars, so now I just cook and freeze.  I also have frozen speggetti sauce and it is great to have on hand.  My friends always tease me about throwing stuff together so quickly.  The truth, most of it is frozen or cooked in advance.  LOL

Oh yes Jeannie, I make food for me in bulk and freeze it all the time now.  I just have a very small freezer that my parents used in Fla, it fit into their motor home while they traveled.  I like to take ground chuck and make veggie soup out of that, also make chili and tonight I made a pork roast stir fry with carrot, celery, green onions, green pepper, cherry tomatos, portabella mushrooms, and a zuchini.  Of course the chunks of pork roast and then I put in a small goat cheese and 2 handfulls of cashew halves and pieces.  It was pretty tasty!  Oh yeah, I fogot, I added some cooked barley to it too.  Got plenty of protein and some whole grain fiber too!  I made some turkey noodle soup last week, I bought some special no carb noodles and they were pretty yummy actually.  Pricy, but yummy.  I eat a lot of soups in the winter, heck I eat em in the summer too!  Last year I froze a lot of soup, still have some, eating it up now whilst making new.  I like the Bear Creek potato soup mix too, mix in alot of ham (easy to eat!) and cheese,  YUMMY! 

I swear the freezing for us so much easier than trying to cook every single day.  On the weekends, I do all my major shopping and cooking so that I slice and dice the vegetables all at once and then cook away.  By Sunday evening, all my food for the next few weeks is cooked.  I also dice up my carrots and bell peppers and freeze in baggies for use.  My sister freezers her round beef flattened out in baggies so that they stack and are quick to thaw.  I do that to and wash the baggies by soaking them in bleach and reuse them until they are not resealable.  Your port roast sounds yummy.  I love stir fry and do it about twice a month. 

That sounds liek a good idea, think I may have to start doing that too. I get in a rut eating the same things, and then end up with the slider foods,,you know,,cottage cheese and stuff thats easy.
I did freeze a bunch of turkey from Thanksgiving. What do you make with yours? I need some ideas there,,,
I froze tomatoes and peppers from summer and they do come in handy, and I have made stuffed peppers a few times with em, delicious. Soups have become my favorite foods since the surgery, especially chili and taco soup. Think Ill do like you and make a big batch to freeze. I usually just cook enough for me and Mike, but that sure would save some time!
Thanks for the ideas!