Cooking in Bulk

I have always loved to have things in my freezer ready to eat, but I am not big on frozen dinners from the grocery store because they just don't taste near as good as homemade food...unless it is Pizza and I LOVE Digiorno's Pizza.  Anyway...school is getting ready to begin for me.  I have to be back on August 10 and while I am so ready to be back to school, I am not looking forward to coming in at 3:30 and then my family wanting a meal at 5:30 or 6:00.  It can be a bit hectic and I only have one child!  I can't imagine working mom's with 2 or 3 young ones and coming home and getting dinner ready!  My mom has always been a great example of cooking meals and freezing them.  When I go to her house she always has an assortment of dinners ready to be thawed and cooked.  When I lived in Bastrop, she would often just tell me to come over and get what I wanted (I SO miss this!).  Since I am now living 12 hours from her I decided that I would just cook in bulk myself.  Clancy and I went to the grocery store today and bought all the ingredients.  I think we spent about 25 or 30 dollars.  Both of my recipes include Shrimp, so it was a bit more expensive than some dinners you could cook in bulk.  I made Shrimp Etoufee and Shrimp Casserole.  These are 2 of mine and Clint's favorites and with just one recipe of each I have enough for 4 meals.  Of course you can double the recipe and if you have a larger family would certainly want to do this.  I don't make more than 2 or 3 servings of one recipe at one time because I don't want it in the freezer for more than a couple of months.

 Notice the Ipad in the corner...music is a MUST when I am cooking!

 Both recipes call for sauteed vegetables in butter.

 I buy Medium shrimp, but you may want to buy Large.  I also always get tail off-cooked-deveined-peeled. They were out of the tail -off ones so I had to take the tails off, but that did not take too long.

Ready to be frozen!!  

Shrimp Etoufee - Given to me by my mother

3 cans Golden Mushroom Soup

1 can diced Rotel Tomatoes

1/2 package frozen Seasoning Blend

1/2 stick of butter

1 lb boiled shrimp

Saute Seasoning Blend in butter and add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.  Never cook above a simmer or it will stick to the pan and burn (disclaimer: I have Calphalon and have to put it on a higher heat to get it going because Calphalon is so thick it takes longer to heat up.  Once it heats up I turn it to low.  Be sure to stir frequently so it won't burn on bottom.)  Can easily be doubled or tripled for a crowd and served over rice with French Bread and a salad.  Freezes well.

Shrimp Casserole - Cotton Country Cookbook

2 to 3 lbs of shrimp, cooked, peeled, and cleaned

1 cup of rice,cooked

1 cup of grated sharp cheese

1 can of mushroom soup

1 package of frozen Seasoning Blend

1 stick of butter

Mix first 4 ingredients together.  Saute Seasoning Blend in butter.  Add to Shrimp mixture.  Put in a long flat casserole dish or a few small ones if you want more than one meal out of it.  Cook covered about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.  May be frozen.  Delicious served with French Bread and Salad.

Both of these recipes need to be thawed completely before cooking.

So, my question for you is...do you ever cook in bulk? and if you do, what recipes do you have that freeze well?  I am always looking for things to cook to go in my freezer for later.  Tomorrow I think I will make chicken enchiladas! YUM!  Happy cooking everyone!