Cooking in Bulk

Last week we touched on meal prepping and buying stuff in bulk. This week we are going to look at cooking in bulk. I am taking something simply today and I am going to highlight how easy it is to make a number of different options with it. So today we are going to look at Spaghetti Sauce. This can be any recipe you like, one passed down in your family, or one you find on the internet or even one from the jar. The pasta sauce I made usually feeds about 6 to 8 people, so I double mine. You may want to also double or triple your recipe depending on how many meals you want to get out of this.

The first dish is obvious, spaghetti (or pasta) and sauce. This is obvious and is great to make the same day as the fresh sauce. But what do you do with the rest of the sauce!

Lasagna this one should also be somewhat obvious. You can add ricotta and other cheeses if you like, or you can be as basic as shredded cheese between the layers. Either way it is a great way to use up some sauce. (Remember our tip last week. If you have glass bakeware, make your lasagna in there and freeze it!)

Meatballs / Meatball Sub is another one that can use your bakeware. Once you have the meatballs made, fry them making sure to brown them on all sides (they do not have to be completely cooked at this point). Once browned they can be placed in glass bakeware that already has a layer of sauce in it. Top the meatballs with sauce (and cheese if you want). You can freeze this now and bake when you are ready for it.

Italian Poutine may be new to some but it is basically a regular poutine but with Spaghetti Sauce instead of gravy. You can also try adding deep-fried curds to it! There is no prep really for this, but if you have the sauce in the fridge this is a great way to use it.

Chicken or Veal Parm is a nice alternative. And the way we make ours works well even with the frozen sauce. I batter my chicken (using mayo first and then bread crumbs, adding some parmesan cheese to the breadcrumbs) and I cook that until it is crunchy (also stuffing the chicken breast with cheese is a nice addition). I place the chicken on the sauce to avoid making it gooey, and serve. You can always add a small bowl of sauce on the side should you need more.