I mentioned in my Menu Planning On A Budget video that I like to use the “cook once, eat twice” method. Planning ahead by cooking parts (or in this case, all) of one meal while working on another one saves time and helps me to execute my weekly menu plan. Here’s an example of how this works for me.
Last week I had these two recipes on the menu:
- Pizza Casserole
- Seafood Alfredo Pasta
I decided to use the same type of pasta for both dishes, allowing me to assemble both at the same time. I made the alfredo for our meal and prepped the pizza casserole for another night. Here are the ingredients I pulled out to make the dishes:
I also had some cooked ground turkey left over from another meal – it’s not pictured. I cooked the whole box of pasta and then divided it in half. While the pasta was cooking, I chopped the pepperoni as well as the crab meat. Once the pasta was drained, I mixed half of it in a large casserole dish with the pepperoni, spaghetti sauce and ground turkey. Pizza casserole – done. On the night I served it, I topped the pasta with cheese and baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
For the alfredo pasta, I simmered the sauce with the chopped crab meat until heated through. Before serving, I threw in a little parsley to give it some color. We also had french green beans and garlic toast with this meal. Here’s everything all done – the pizza casserole is ready to go into the fridge, everything else is ready to serve!
I didn’t have any extra cleanup from my double-duty cooking, since I mixed the pizza casserole right in the dish. It was so nice to have supper all ready to go later on in the week!
These may not be recipes your family would enjoy, but I hope I’ve at least given you inspiration for some meals you could prepare using the “cook once, eat twice” method!
Come Home For Comfort 
Hi Whitney, This is such a great idea for busy weeks. What a great idea to be one’s own prep cook to help save time! Also, I know this was not the focus of the article at all but I think pizza casserole is SUCH a great idea! Food allergies are a big deal in my family so we can’t order a pizza like everyone else does, but this dish is a GREAT short cut for when we’ve got pizza cravings! Do you have any tips on what kinds of meals/ingredients do NOT serve well the next day? Possibly as a heads up about which ingredients to make sure get added in the day-of while the rest of the meal is prepped ahead of time. This is such a great kitchen-hack! Thanks for all the great ideas and advice 🙂
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Thanks, Seema! My hubby LOVES pizza and would eat it every week if he could. He loves pizza casserole and it reheats SO much better than regular pizza. One ingredient that doesn’t reheat well is flour tortillas. I also don’t like to reheat thin cuts of meat like pork chops or chicken breasts, as they get overcooked in the reheating process. Thanks for the question!
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Yes, maybe things like enchiladas and other southern dishes with tortillas should be my dish for the day-of when I do your ‘cook once, eat twice’ method. Thanks for all the advice Whitney 🙂
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That’s awesome! You know I don’t cook, but I take the same approach with my takeout food!!!haha
BTW, can our duo be Fash and Dash? Fash for fashion and dash because grocery deals make me think of dashing on one of those Supermaket Sweeps shows. . .
Tif
http://www.brightonabudget.com
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You don’t cook? As in you don’t like to or you actually do not cook? I’m curious. 🙂
Oh my gosh, I love Fash and Dash! Or we could do Fash and Slash, for looking fashionable while slashing both your clothing AND grocery budgets!
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I love the idea of cooking once and eating twice. I think I could definitely improve my meal planning with this idea. I think it would cut my prep time down and be great. I might start with my mexican dishes and see what my cook once options would be. You’ve got me thinking 🙂
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Mexican is a great way to use this method! Sometimes I just double the amount of taco meat and freeze half for whenever I need it. The possibilities are endless. 🙂
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Great tip Whitney…some of my MOPs moms are into the make ahead meals. I think that is much better than relying on fast food.
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Oh definitely. Better tasting and more affordable!
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