Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day: Make-Ahead Meals that Transform Your Suppertime Circus into Relaxing Family Time

258 Pages·2005·1.19 MB·English

by  Theresa Albert-Ratchford

THERESA ALBERT-RATCHFORD
Cook Once a Week
And Eat Well Every Day
Dedicated to Guy and Jameson. From my first disaster, Jerk Tofu, through breast milk, baby food
and Red River Cereal, all the way to Sushi for fireside supper–both of you have tried every bite,
gave honest opinions and gave me the courage to go on.
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Introduction
WEEK 1
WEEK 2
WEEK 3
WEEK 4
WEEK 5
WEEK 6
WEEK 7
WEEK 8
WEEK 9
WEEK 10
WEEK 11
WEEK 12
WEEK 13
WEEK 14
Desserts and Snacks
Index
Acknowledgements
Why We Love to Cook Once a Week
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
Here’s the secret to a meal planning system that will save you hours
thinking about meals, grocery shopping and the kitchen. Cook Once a
Week simplifies things by providing you with a weekly meal plan of
surefire family pleasers. Most recipes are designed to be successfully
doubled and the balance frozen for future use. Suggestions for making
leftovers into brand-new meals (these are the Grab and Go part of the
recipes) are included to stretch three cooked meals into five–one for
every night of the workweek. The best part of the process is that each
weekly plan is designed to be cooked all in one afternoon. Using no
more than three hours on a Sunday, you can prepare not only that
night’s dinner but also the meals for the rest of the week. The economy
of motion never looked so good. The idea is to get as much done as
possible. If you have to be in the kitchen anyway, why not let it be the
only time you lift or clean a pot all week!
All of your nutritional wishes have been considered. Cook Once a Week
has few trans fats, has lower starch and carbs (we use whole grains) and
keeps healthy fats in healthy proportions.
Cook Once a Week is designed not only to simplify and make meals
healthful but also to reduce the cost of doing so. Buying only what you
need reduces the feeling-guilty cycle of buying with the best of
intentions, letting things rot then throwing them away. Our shopping
lists include everything you need to get the job done (deliciously!) and
nothing more. This is a much smarter way to shop.
We know that today’s busy schedules have you at home for supper
about three nights per workweek and the rest are grab as you can, so we
have planned for exactly that with a little for leftovers. A quick,
nourishing lunch or two is just one of the bonuses of our system.
Everything is based on a family of four, which is a round number, so you
can scale up or down as needed. Kids under eight usually eat half
portions, kids between the ages of eight and 12 can count as about three-
quarter portions, and kids over 12 are anybody’s guess from zero to two
portions. You’ll have to figure out the adolescent stomach as you go
along–just like their clothes and music.
We have included an entire chapter of recipes for kids to make with
you (see Bonus Kids Week). If you’ve got little ones, we suggest that this
meal plan be your first foray into your new system for two reasons: the
meals are utterly kid friendly and the recipes are the easiest of them all!
Some families will use the Bonus Kids Week over and over again,
venturing only into the other chapters when they have company or host
a big family dinner. For fussy eaters, perhaps your best bet is to make
these kids’ meals and freeze everything in single-serving sizes. Kids can
microwave them only after they have tried the rest of what is put on the
table. No hassling or arguing; simply suggest that they get one of the
meals that they made and microwave it. As long as your microwave oven
is within reach, any child over three can do this—with supervision.
Our experience with kids tells us that they are much more likely to eat
something that they have invested in, and we do suggest that the Sunday
cook-a-thon include them as soon as they can hold a knife—whether
you’re making the Bonus Week meals or any others. You can start them
around age two with a plastic “lettuce knife” and let them cut up salad
greens, then graduate to a serrated bread knife, which is easier to handle
and harder to cut oneself with. By age three, they can handle a small
paring knife if watched and guided well. I have taught many six-, seven-
and eight-year-olds to use a ten-inch chef’s knife safely as long as they
are the kind of kid who can keep their eye on the job.
How to use this book
Each week has a work schedule that outlines how you are going to
accomplish a week’s worth of healthy cooking in three or so hours.
Getting everything prepared on Sunday so that cooking the evening meal
on any day later in the week is a simple, one-step process is the
foundation of this book. The work schedule will help you plan the
preparations, and the end result on a busy week night will be almost like
stopping for take-out on the way home and warming it up in your own
oven. Except cheaper, healthier and yummier!
Here’s how to get going:
When starting a meal plan, set out all recipe ingredients in
groups around the kitchen. You don’t need any special
equipment or a large space by any means. The idea is that
you use your space well: one side of the sink for veggies,
one side for raw meat; one side of your stove for cooking
one dish and the other for cooking the second dish or
prepping something else.
The recipes are in order of what you start first so you can
read each week’s recipes from beginning to end and just
keep moving until all of your ingredients are off the
counter and in the pots. Once you get going, it will become
clear what needs to happen next. For instance, when you
hit a point in the first recipe that says “simmer for 20
minutes” you can move on to the next recipe and get it
started. By having “stations” around the stove, you can see
what goes where and you won’t have to keep checking the
recipe and running to the fridge. Your first attempt will be
the clumsiest but don’t give up! Like anything, the routine
will become, well, routine. Each week is designed to ease
you further into the process, starting with the simplest and
moving to the more complex.
A note about garbage: always keep a large bowl for
discards at the back of your counter space when working.
This eliminates the unnecessary steps to your waste or
compost bin over and over again. Emptying one container
at the end of the cooking session is much more hygienic
and efficient than making several dozen trips to the trash.
Place one bowl next to your stove and one next to your
sink directly in front of you.
Assess your storage needs. If you want to store your soups
in single-serving sizes because your family eats at different
times, then please do so. If you are the set-the-casserole-on-
the-table kind of household then be sure to freeze it all in
one container. The reheating instructions are intended to
be flexible and you can adjust the reheating times up or
down depending on your needs. It is always better to freeze
in shallow containers because the freezing process happens
more quickly, keeping food fresher, and the reheating
process is faster.
As you go along, you will find that you always have one or two dishes
in the freezer for quick meals. When you find that a dish is a hit with the
whole family, be sure to double it next time you make it and freeze for
future use.
We have provided you with grocery lists for each week. Each list has
all of the ingredients that you need for that week, including the Grab
and Go options (usually for four servings). Once you are sure which
meals will go over with everyone (and we have plenty of variation ideas
for the fussiest members) you can photocopy the list to increase the
amount of each ingredient as needed to double or triple a recipe. Or visit
www.cookonceaweek.ca. You will find all the shopping lists there for
you in downloadable form.
When you have a complete list of all that you need for the weekly plan
(including your up-sizing, if necessary), you can photocopy this plan
multiple times so you can use it over again throughout the season. Try
keeping a binder with these shopping lists and tracking your grocery
bills. Family life being the circus that it is, we are sure the other copies
will get misplaced, splattered upon or chewed by the dog. Do yourself a
favour and keep this copy. Don’t lose sight of this page of crucial
information!
At the end of each week there is a blank page, ready to be filled with
your notes. What did your kids like best? Did you change up some
spicing, increase serving sizes? Write it down so you won’t forget.
All weeks are designed to cost approximately $75 for the foundation
of the meals, assuming that you have a few of the staples on hand. If you
choose to use the Grab and Go recipes to help you with quick solutions
for leftovers, then you can assume the groceries will cost another $25.
Storage containers and sealable freezer bags will cost extra but can be
reused often.
Good luck and enjoy all the free time that Cook Once a Week will give
you.
Getting organized
One of the things I do in the coaching role of my job is to show people
how to get through that planning, shopping and cooking process more
efficiently. I am amazed at how many people try to skip that step of
planning. Then they are, in turn, amazed at how much food rots in their
fridge. The process is detailed, but here are my best tips.
Shopping
Find out which day your market gets produce deliveries
and shop on those days. The best idea is to shop and cook
on the same day so you can skip the step of putting things
away!
Always shop at the same store because you will get to
know what they carry and where to find it quickly.
Try to shop early in the day or later in the evening, when
stores are quieter.
Take your list with you. Do not try to “remember” at the
store.
When shopping, be sure to gather all items from the
perimeter of the store first. All fresh items will be found
there, and you’ll need only a very few minutes in specific
aisles to gather canned or packaged goods.
Take extra produce bags and use them for meat but skip
them for most veggies because they are another
unnecessary step.
Using a bin or a box instead of grocery bags saves time at
the store and at home, not to mention the environmental
bonus. Just pack your own bins and put similar things in
one bin—pantry items, fresh meat with dairy and
vegetables, canned goods. When you get home, it will be
easy to assign one person to the cupboard and one to the
fridge for unpacking duties.
Store ingredients when possible in their recipe grouping.
Keeping all of the vegetables for a certain soup in one bag