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October 04, 2005
Roast to soup cooking system
Recipe: Roast to soup cooking system - From Georgia
As a busy person I found it helpful to shop for the week and make a
roast on Sat or Sunday. I then use the meat as a base ingredient for
the rest of the week. I also keep plenty of canned soups and sauces
in my pantry.
Sat or Sunday - Day 1: Shop for the week’s meat, non-perishables and frozen vegetables or meal kits. Bake a big beef, chicken, turkey or pork roast. Buy what is on sale that week. Cook the meat rare in the center and use the most done sections for a traditional weekend supper.
Day 2: Serve sliced roasted meat with pasta, vegetables and sauce, or make a toasted sandwich with a quality canned soup.
Day 3: A huge salad (get salad ingredients on the way home) with lots of meat slivers, avocados and croutons or toast.
Day 4: Make a stew or casserole with roast chunks and pre-cut frozen vegetables/ potatoes in a mushroom or tomato soup base.
Day 5: Stir-fry vegetables (wonderful "kits" are available in the frozen section) just follow the directions and add the most rare meat (choose the most rare meat so it won't be overcooked). Suggestion: If you drain tofu and leave it covered overnight in the fridge with paper towel under it you can cube it and stir-fry it separately in a tad of flavored oil and soy sauce for a nice flavorful add-in. Save some tofu for Day 6.
Day 6: Soup made from a quality soup base and plus the remaining meat, refrigerator leftovers and salad with stir-fried tofu.
Over time you will build and expand your meal ideas with both experience and help from the frozen food section at the store. There is no reason to take a lot of time to cook or dirty many dishes. Most of my meals are one or two cooking pot/pans. Cooking at home with this system costs only about $2-$3 a person and is very healthy and tasty. We also eat the leftovers for lunch, saving hundreds of dollars a year. In my humble opinion, frozen pre-cut vegetables have more nutrition than many non-organic foods sold in the stores and save SO much time. Most of my meals take around 30 minutes to cook. My husband says they are restaurant quality. In fact my system has backfired on me as my husband prefers my cooking to going out to eat.
You can cook two weeks worth of roasts in the same day, cooking them at the same time (saves PG&E) and cutting the roasts into slices, chunks, slivers and small soup bits on the cooking day. Package each in a marked plastic bag and freeze them. Pull out complementary foods from the fridge/pantry. Adding vegetables and meat to any soup base creates a casserole, stew, stir-fry or soup for dinner, just vary the
water contents to make a thick or thin sauce. Use a different type of meat every other day for variety.
Credit for the system goes to Campbell’s soups. I started cooking 30 years ago with their original soup cookbook. They now have a great recipe site: http://www.campbellsoup.co.uk/. This site has a recipe wizard to help you create a meal on the spot based on the foods you have on hand.
Happy eating! Georgia W.
Posted by robin at October 4, 2005 01:05 PM