Freezer (Bulk) Cooking Round 2



My oldest asked yesterday if I might make lasagne today.  I love lasgane, but really hate the work that goes with it, so I make them 3 at a time.  Sounds crazy, doesn't it?  Truth is, it takes about the same amount of time to make 3 as it does to make 1.
I started with about 3.5 lbs of ground beef and 2 diced onions which I browned (maybe even a little too much)! 









I added 6 jars of sauce and about 3 T of sugar.  I needed 27 noodles, but cooked a few extra in case some ripped beyond repair, which always seems to happen.

My family does really care for ricotta, but I think it is a necessary ingredient for lasagne, so we compromise.  I take one small container add some pepper, parmesan and thin it out with 4 eggs.  This one container batch is all I use for all 3 lasagnes total.

 I spray my pans with pam and start layering like so:

 

sauce, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella

sauce, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella

sauce, noodles, ricotta

sauce again, mozzarella

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the lasagne was baking, I made potato soup for tomorrow night.

5 lbs +/- peeled diced potatoes

3 -4 carrots

3 stalks celery

1 large box chicken stock

2 cans evaporated milk

pepper

chicken bouillon

1 diced onion

 

Cook until potatoes are slightly tender, you don't want them to turn to mush!  You can start it on a high temperature, but then turn it way down so the milk doesn't scald and stick to the pan.  It will ruin the whole batch with a burnt taste if that happens!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of all of this I cut some chicken breast into bite sized pieces and cooked to put in the freezer.  It is always good to have cooked chicken on hand.

 

I also cooked a second big package of gorund beef with onions in case I under estimated what I needed for lasagne.  I didn't need it, so off to the freezer it went too!

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of what went into the freezer:

 

2 homemade lasagne

1 pkg of cooked chicken chunks (3 - 3.5 lbs)

1 pkg of cooked ground beef and onions (I don't remember if it was 3 or 4lbs)

 

This was done while cooking a 3rd lasagne for today and potato soup for tomorrow.

 

We spent January trying to use up what was in our freezer, so February is restocking time.