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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Once A Month Cooking - Ponderables

And so I just dropped a ton of money at Costco. Should I have shopped the sales and got a great deal on all the meat, absolutely. But, at this junction in my life/pregnancy/week, I opted for convenience and I'm sure I paid a little more for it. Am I okay with it this go round? Absolutely. Will I do it like this always? Of course not. I'm cheap, remember?

In one of the books, I recall reading that it is okay to refreeze meat as long as it's in a marinade or something. Not too sure about that but it's got me to thinking..... because here's my thought:

Say you have your monthly plan of what you want to make for 30 days. You've spent the previous 30 days shopping for this menu. If you find a great deal on meat, you should definitely take advantage of it. However, chances are, you'll be buying it fresh, freezing it, then thawing it to prepare the menu, then cooking it, then freezing it again. Just makes me wonder how is the best way to stay EFFICIENT with your time/cooking/shopping/freezer space when having to do that.

However, I do see now how it is important to take advantage of the weekly sales and plan your menu accordingly. This may mean that you alter your 30 day menu some... or a lot. So, would it be more advantageous to then take the Wednesday sale fliers and plan a week's menu based on that, purchase, prepare and freeze. ???

I don't know. I'm starting to wonder, however... the best way to attack the plan. Pearls anyone?

2 comments:

Alexis AKA MOM said...

I need a freezer, I'm not that good with the 30 days. I try to do a week out but even then I'm flying by the seat of my pants!

Mary C. said...

I think it is best to shop the sales fliers for stock ups. It's too hard to do it to plan meals. That only works for seasonal produce. A lot of the meat is cooked before you freeze it anyway, like chicken and ground beef dishes. If you make a few things with pork chops and find them on sale, buy some to freeze or make a couple of dishes, eat one that week and freeze the other. JMO.