Batch Cooking: The Work in Advance

On Tuesday, HB and I plan to make our third batch cooking day (see the first here and the second here.)  We both homeschool and have little people in our house so cooking big on one day is definitely a life-time-saver.  Batch cooking is one way to keep real food manageable with a busy lifestyle.

The work on cooking day isn't the only work.  The work in advance is just as important, if not more.

Since HB did the grocery run the last two times we've cooked, I volunteered to get the goods (and begged her to just tell me what to get.)

Before I show you the grocery list, I should tell you what we're making:

2 (or double recipe) Boeuf Bourguignon - A La Julia Child
4 Chicken Pot Pie - a la Pioneer Woman
2 Beef Tips & Rice - a la HB's Momma, recipe coming soon
4 Mulligatawny Soup
3 Chicken Pesto Quesadillas

Here's the grocery list she sent me:


meat needed:
6 pounds stew meat for beef tips (you)
6 pounds stew meat for bourginon (me)
12 ounces unsmoked bacon (Whole Foods?)
8 cups ckn. for pot pies
6 cups ckn. for mulligatawny
5 cups diced ckn. for dillas

broth needed:
5-6 cups beef broth for bourg.
4-5 cups beef broth for beef tips
8 cups ckn. broth for pot pies
15 cups ckn. broth for mulligitawny

3 pounds butter
onions (between the two of us, I think we have plenty)
carrots (10 pounds should be good, we need 8 cups sliced carrots)
celery (two or three bunches, we need 8 cups sliced celery)
mushrooms (1 pound for beef tips, 2 pounds for bourguignonne, pre-sliced would be good here)
6 cups full bodied red wine (chianti is recommended)
tomato paste (small can)
white wine (for pot pie)
6 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups pesto (Julie makes)
3 cups shredded mozzarella
3 cups shredded monterey jack
5 cups cooked rice for mulligatawny
tortillas (I have 20, we need two more packs, small fajita size, medium would be fine too if you can't find small)
ziploc bags

HB's notes on prep pre-cooking day:
I can do beef broth. Between the two of us, I think we will have plenty of chicken broth. We will each need to have 8 1/2 cups cooked chicken ready to go. Is that two or three chickens each? I would think that'd be two large chickens or three small chickens. 


All the mushrooms need to be sauteed in copious amounts of butter the day before cooking day. I can do this. 4 whole onions need to be sliced in large chunks and sauteed in lots of butter as well. I can do that, too. 

And last, but certainly not least - the babysitters!!  We are still in the midst of nailing these down.  We intend to cram all this in about 4 hours on Tuesday before the WAPF meeting at the library.

Hoping for the best,

Julie