Week-long food recipe's / cooking in bulk

McJohnstable · January 2013

Hello, first time I've posted in this section...

I've done some googling but thought why not ask here too: I'm wanting to get into the habit of cooking more healthy meals, and have heard that quite a few people like to spend half a day or so cooking meals to set aside for the entire week in advance, and am wondering if anyone has any tasty / healthy / both recipes they know of (or can link to) to get me started.

I'm on a budget that is going to get fairly tight over the coming weeks so anything extra cost effective would be great too.

Thanks in advance.

ceres · January 2013

Are you specifically looking for recipes you can make in bulk for the week, or just healthy things to cook in general?

McJohnstable · January 2013

Both, but mostly the former.

Thanks.

TychoCelchuuu · January 2013

McJohnstable · January 2013

*faints*

Well, that answers that then! Thanks haha.

Esh · January 2013

Where the hell do I find half the ingredients in those recipes?

ceres · January 2013

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/maindishentreerecipes/r/Jambalaya.htm looks amazing and not too expensive; I may try this next week.

I read one of TychoCelchuuu's links he posted a number of moons ago (I think it was lbveg), and the advice in there is how I keep myself in cardamom, my secret love, as well as ground ginger: Indian stores. If you see an Indian spice in one of those recipes and you're on any kind of budget, you can probably bankrupt yourself trying to cook a meal if you limit yourself to the supermarket. In my area at least, that's very true. Instead find an Indian market and buy from there; you just get so much more spice for so much less money. I think I pay about $3 for this huge bag of ground cardamom, where at my local supermarkets I can expect to find a few tenths of an ounce for $11. The same applies to any seasoning commonly found in foreign foods; the best, cheapest way to get it is often just to go to a store that caters to that ethnic group if you can find one around you, especially when that seasoning is a staple in that region's cooking.

For the most part I'm not a fan of Indian food, and I'd pretty much rather eat poison than any kind of anise, but thanks to keeping myself stocked in cardamom, coriander, and ginger I know it to be true. I have some stomach trouble so I think eating as much rice as that book says you should would be the end of me, but a lot of the healthy shopping/cooking advice in there is pretty sound.

Usagi · January 2013

Esh wrote: »

Where the hell do I find half the ingredients in those recipes?

Haven't read every recipe linked, but a decent spice shop will have amchoor powder, asafetida and other such specialty stuff. World Spice in Seattle does and they have a great online shop!

Esh · January 2013

Before I go digging through all of those, which might be good for me to make a batch of, tupperware into meal sized portions, and take to school cold? Preferably as nutritional as possible. I know next to nothing about cooking.

Blake T · January 2013

Between an Indian, a European and an Asian store you can pretty buy any spice on the cheap.

Additionally, Asian butchers are often the cheapest you can find.

In terms of cooking healthy and cheaply, you should look at you protein content. Meat is usually the most expensive portion of your meal and you could probably replace it with vegetables.

Speaking of vegetables. I don't like those lists that tycho posted as they aren't seasonal recipes. Seasonal recipes are written to use the vegetables and fruits which are currently in abundance and are consequently cheaper. Tomatoes for example are cheaper in summer

Cooking cheap cuts of meat with in season vegetables is the best way of saving money.

TychoCelchuuu · January 2013

@Blake T is right that my recipes do not use seasonal ingredients but anyone posting "I don't know how to cook" threads is not really ready to move to the "just buy what's on sale" part of cooking which is where you eventually want to go. If you want to get there, just read this cookbook that I have been suggesting on these forums for years even though nobody probably ever reads it. If you need more advice than Blake T's "hey bro just cook some shit with vegetables" but want to ignore the cookbook, these recipes are a good place to get started.

Esh wrote: »

Where the hell do I find half the ingredients in those recipes?

Your nearest Indian grocery store, or a fancy store like Whole Foods that sells spices in bulk (otherwise they will be too expensive), or the Internet.

Esh wrote: »

Before I go digging through all of those, which might be good for me to make a batch of, tupperware into meal sized portions, and take to school cold? Preferably as nutritional as possible. I know next to nothing about cooking.

Esh · January 2013

@TychoCelchuuu, do you know a good list of "essential" Indian spices that I should pick up?

McJohnstable · January 2013

Thanks for all the feedback people, and to you TychoCelchuuu for the barrage of awesome links.

I'll also definitely look into that book you said you've recommended for donkeys years.

Essee · January 2013

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

If you want to get there, just read this cookbook that I have been suggesting on these forums for years even though nobody probably ever reads it.

Hey now. Hey now. I totally downloaded that when you linked it a long time ago. And looked at it.

... Okay, I haven't made anything whatsoever that's in it yet, but that really says more about me than the cookbook. :P

Edit:

Esh wrote: »

@TychoCelchuuu, do you know a good list of "essential" Indian spices that I should pick up?

This is also a thing I would like to know!

Djeet · January 2013

Esh wrote: »

@TychoCelchuuu, do you know a good list of "essential" Indian spices that I should pick up?

I'll give it a shot (I've put the anglicized Indian names in parentheses when I know them, forgive any spelling mistakes):

[bulk dried] -
Cumin (jeera), Coriander, Clove, Cinnamon [Cassia is what I always use], Cardomom (elaichi), peppercorns [the previous 6 ingredients I use to make a garam masala sometimes], Fenugreek (methi) both the seed and the leaf, black mustard seed, Turmeric (huldi), fennel seed, bay leaf, sesame seeds, paprika and cayenne [this is not an exhaustive list, but if I only had these I'd make do].

Beans (in dal) are a staple, and often used in other capacities, types of beans I use: (urid) tiny white lentil, (masoor) small orange lentil, garbanzo beans (channa, there is a black variety as well), mung bean (moong), brown lentils (these look appreciably different in indian stores than western bulk section, mainly the indian stores have smaller beans and are tastier, though the taste aspect is likely very subjective).

Basmati rice (or a hybrid of basmati rice).

[fresh] -
You will want curry leaf (asafoetida) and chillies of whatever variety that gives you the heat you prefer, Cilantro (fresh leafy part of coriander) is often used to garnish, and limes or lemons. Onion, tomatoes, garlic and ginger also feature prominently.

In southern indian cooking we see a lot of things made from a fermented paste of rice and urid dal (you can buy this premade in bins at indian grocers if you don't want to make it yourself) as well as parboiled rice.

Edit: How did I forget yogurt? And cucumbers to make raita.

mts · January 2013

@esh
for all your spice needs

http://www.penzeys.com/

we have a store like 15 minutes from our house, dangerous

TychoCelchuuu · January 2013

Djeet more or less hit the nail on the head, but if you want to get by with basically nothing, whole cumin seeds (jeera), yellow mustard seeds, and turmeric/tumeric (plus salt and pepper) are enough to make pretty much anything taste good, and then if you want to branch out, coriander, paprika, and cayenne are probably my favorite three to get next, followed by amchoor, fenugreek seed, and bay leaf, then cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and fennel seed.

Don't buy any of this for the absurdly expensive prices normal grocery stores will charge. Find a place that sells spices in bulk, find an ethnic grocery store (doesn't have to be Indian, although a few things like turmeric and amchoor might be hard to find elsewhere), or buy online.

ceres · January 2013

I said in my post I read it and then mentioned a bunch of advice from it you poopiehead

Nova_C · January 2013

You may want to look into getting a slow cooker. It can make cheap cuts of meat tender and flavorful. Also, you can get one large enough to make, like, 10 portions, easy.

And it's easy to make tasty, healthy foods in a slow cooker and requires little work. Look into a slow cooker and you can find booklets of slow cooker recipes at the grocery store. Even if the recipe itself isn't that healthy, you have control over what you put in, so experiment with healthier alternatives.

Librarian · January 2013

For a lot of dishes you can just buy a curry paste instead of the whole bunch of spices.
I once got a delicious curry recipe from a Pakistani coworker and did the whole thing with the suggested ingredients(coriander, ginger root, cinnamon, pepper corns, etc.) and the next time I just did it with a curry paste, that basically had all those ingredients in it already.

The difference in taste was not that big that I think it is worth the hassle, if I just want to cook me up some curry. So now I just have different jars of indian and thai curry paste and will add the other fresh ingredients like tomatoes and whatever is needed on the fly.

McJohnstable · January 2013

Nova_C wrote: »

You may want to look into getting a slow cooker. It can make cheap cuts of meat tender and flavorful. Also, you can get one large enough to make, like, 10 portions, easy.

And it's easy to make tasty, healthy foods in a slow cooker and requires little work. Look into a slow cooker and you can find booklets of slow cooker recipes at the grocery store. Even if the recipe itself isn't that healthy, you have control over what you put in, so experiment with healthier alternatives.

Yeah, it seems like this is a good investment going from a number of recipe's I've been looking at. I've also been reading the booklet that TychoCelchuu linked to, and while I know nothing about food and some of the semantics go over my head a little bit; I'm really looking forward to trying out the recipe's in it, would recommend.

TychoCelchuuu · January 2013

ceres wrote: »

I said in my post I read it and then mentioned a bunch of advice from it you poopiehead

You're the exception to the rule

I'm also just generally pessimistic - maybe everyone reads it!

@McJohnstable which semantics are going over your head? We can explain them for you.

ceres · January 2013

Pastes are fine, but where that sort of thing trips me up is that there's always that ONE spice in it I really fucking hate. It's probably more versatile to learn what each spice tastes like and where it works, if you have the interest or that sort of time.

McJohnstable · January 2013

Thanks Tycho, it's fine... I'm getting to grips with it now and it's a great ebook.

Thanks again everyone for all the great feedback and discussion, it's very helpful!

TychoCelchuuu · January 2013

Another helpful resources is Something Awful's poor person food thread because one of the best things to do when poor is to buy in bulk and cook meals well in advance. There are lots of good tips and recipes in that thread.

Nosf · January 2013

My favorite bachelor freezes well / heats up well food was cannelloni; yeah yeah pasta etc boohoo wheat belly; aw shut up- they're ri-goddamn-diculously delicious and fairly healthy. Here's one - http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/healthy/recipe.html?dishID=10392

I always made the sauce a little runny so that when you reheated, it wasn't so dry. The beauty is you can just slap three of them in a container or 2 or 4; however many fills you up. Very easy to portion out.

Penny Arcade

Quick Links

Week-long food recipe's / cooking in bulk

Posts