Have you ever found yourself staring into a refrigerator too tired to cook at the end of the day and then deciding to order take-out instead? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of cooking necessary to eat the smaller, more frequent meals that you know will help you reach your goals? Or have you ever had to rush out of the door unprepared for the day's meals? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be surprised to learn that I only cook two times a week, sometimes even less, and I always have my food ready to go? What is my secret? "Power Cooking!" Cooking in bulk allows me to keep my refrigerator and freezer stocked at all times with the foods I need to be lean, healthy and full of energy. Power cooking, however, doesn't necessarily mean 2 days of non-stop cooking. I never spend more than a few hours at a time in the kitchen. Here are some techniques I use to Power Cook:

Mini-Sessions: Take a few hours and triple a few recipes at the same time.
Make Multiples each night: Make 2-3 extra batches of whatever you are cooking for dinner each night then divide into portions and freeze the extras. If you did this nightly for a week, you could have up to 14-21 meals prepared depending on the size of portions. That's a lot of ready to go meals and you can see that if you did that a few times you would eventually have a freezer full of meals!

Type of Protein: When chicken breasts or turkey breasts are on sale, stock up and start cooking! Cook a lot of one type of meat and choose 3-4 recipes for variety.
Mega-Cooking: Cook tons of food! It may take the entire day, but in the end you could have an entire month's worth of meals prepared and ready to go.

In order to save time make multiples of recipes. Whether you are doing a "mini-session" or a full day of cooking, make more than one of each recipe. My suggestion for those wanting to cook a large amount of food in one day, choose 8-10 recipes and make 3 of each. Mini-sessions might mean only doing 3 recipes but building up a variety over time.

Convert your Recipes for larger quantities - To save time, it is helpful to set your favorite recipes into a format where the ingredients are multiplied out to the amounts needed for cooking multiple batches (i.e. x 2, x 3, x 4, x 5 etc.)
Start with low fat versions of your "Family Favorites" - Freeze what the family is used to eating. Sandwich fillings, baked chicken, meats in marinades, turkey meatloaf, and lasagna are good for starters.

Use your Crock Pot - A crock-pot can be your best friend on cooking day. Meat sauces, sandwich fillings, soups, stews, potatoes and chili are all good candidates for crock-pot cooking. Did you know that I like to wrap several potatoes in aluminum foil and place them in the crock pot on high for 5 hours and simply go to bed? I wake up with potatoes that taste a lot better than microwaved potatoes.

Choose "Building Block Recipes" - Choose a few recipes that begin as one simple idea but can turn into several different meals. For example, if you freeze boneless, skinless chicken breast in marinade, you can create a million great dinners from it. Of course, you can grill it. You could also broil it, coat it with crumbs and bake it, or cut it into strips or chunks and stir fry it. You could roll the stir-fried strips in a tortilla and call it a fajita or use them in a sandwich or salad. You get the idea! The "building block" starts out as one easy entrée but becomes a lot of different meals! Or you could choose to cook the marinated meat, divide into portions and freeze. You could also cook large amounts of plain chicken or turkey, divide into portions and flavor with different condiments to make several different tasting meals from one pot.

Be sure to plan how you want to store your food. Freezer bags or rigid containers both work fine. Just be sure that you are using containers suitable for the size of your freezer. There are a lot of options here. Your choice will depend on your freezer space and your cooking style. I like to plan ahead of time and freeze complete meals in plastic containers. I usually have 2-3 days of meals (for me that means 6 meals x 3) thawing in the refrigerator at the same time. In addition to containers of complete meals, I also freeze "building blocks" in individual baggies. I have large freezer bags filled with portion size baggies of the following cooked foods at all times: plain, shredded or cubed chicken breast and/or turkey breast, turkey taco meat, turkey meatloaf, plain steamed tilapia, rice, sweet potatoes, corn, and peas. From those basic building blocks, I can create an unlimited amount of meal options with different combinations and condiments. I just pick and choose what appeals to me at the moment, I then heat and eat!

Here are some basic tips:

If you make one meatloaf, you might as well make 2, 3 or 4 at the same time. The cooking time will be the same and mixing everything together won't take much extra time at all.

I have crock pots of chicken and turkey cooking while away during the day, while sleeping or while cooking my other foods.
Make double or triple batches of everything.

Use your slow cooker to make complete meals while you're away at work. I've included one of my favorites at the end to show you how simple it is to cook while you sleep.
Brown ground meats with seasonings (turkey taco meat is a favorite of mine!).
Make sauces or have condiments ready. I like to put Kraft Ranch Fat Free Dressing on a baked potato. Try using Kraft Fat Free Italian over steamed rice. I put plain grilled turkey breast over my baked potato and top with fat free BBQ sauce.
Make a large batch of rice in a rice cooker. But don't just use water, cook it in chicken broth for more flavor. After it's done add in a bag of frozen peas and frozen corn. Since one serving of each is equal, simply scoop out ¾ or 1 cup and now you have a serving of starch but with more flavor, texture and variety. Don't forget you could stir in a bag of frozen broccoli or mixed Chinese vegetables into the rice steamer after the rice is done. Get creative!

Frozen corn and frozen peas should always be on hand for easy starch choices. Scoop them out of the bag and place in your container uncooked along with your cooked protein and a frozen vegetable and you have a super-easy meal.
Make large batches of potatoes or yams in a slow cooker.
Use egg whites purchased from Smart Meals to make large batches of protein pancake/protein muffin batter. Remember that cooked muffins and pancakes freeze well.

Make a large pot of oatmeal on the stove or in a crock pot and place portions in freezer containers.
Be sure to label everything. It will all look the same after a day in the freezer!

That's it! It is very easy once you get the hang of it. Give it a try and see for yourself. Being prepared ahead of time frees up time for you to do other things and allows you to experience the true joy of turning your diet into a lifestyle! In addition, when life gets hectic, unexpected things pop up and you can't cook, you will have a back up system of frozen meals situated in your freezer that could last up to three or four weeks. As the old saying goes, "those that don't plan, plan to fail." Bon Appetite!

Crock Pot Chicken Stew

Always place the solid food in the crock pot first so that the liquid used during cooking doesn't flow over and out of the crock pot.

3 pounds of diced chicken breast

1 medium bag of baby carrots

6 stalks diced celery

1 diced white onion

4 cloves minced garlic

12-6 ounce potatoes cut in half

Fresh ground pepper

2 tsp. salt