Back to School Big Cook

I always like to have a few favorites socked away for back to school time. This past Saturday turned into an impromptu back to school big cook. What is a big cook? Simply a deliberate attempt to make several batches of family-favorite recipes and freeze them for future meals. It sorta went like this…

Because Middle Girl had requested black-eyed peas, I thought I’d go ahead and cook the whole 2 lb. bag. I did the quick soak in the pot on the stove, rinsed, then put them all in the slow cooker for the day. That’s a whole big crock pot full of black-eyed peas. Plenty to compliment several future veggie nights. Plus that’s what we were having Saturday night. Veggies and cornbread. So supper was taken care of by the big cook. More details and recipe in Batch Cooking Black-Eyed Peas in the Slow Cooker.

Then I remembered that I had planned to have pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch. So I got out the cheese grater attachment for my stand mixer and took care of that. Remembering that this time I was going to make an allergy-free version so that Lil’ Buddy could enjoy it too. Big hit! More details and recipe in Pimento Cheese: Allergy-Friendly Living.

Then we went to the pool. When we got back, I pulled weeds in the front and back yard while Hodgepodgedad and Eldest boy mowed. Got everybody cleaned up. Then, I remembered I had planned for Italian Stuffed Shells for Sunday lunch. I was looking forward to more family joining us – five extras. So, I enlisted the stuffing help of Middle Girl and we got it all taken care of and in the casserole dishes for the next day. Normally I would flash freeze the extras on a baking sheet in the freezer for future meals. Details and recipe in Italian Stuffed Shells.

The Results:

• Black-eyed peas. Enough for our family of seven for six meals.
• Pimento cheese. Enough for Hodgepodgedad to take to work in his lunch box and to feed us a few lunches.
• Italian Stuffed Shells (two boxes). Enough to feed 12 plus have leftovers for supper Monday night!

All fit and folded into a regular Saturday. Maybe an hour and a half total labor actually invested. For many a future meal.

 How about you? What favorite recipes would you fix for a back to school big cook?