anyone ever do rachael ray's 1 month of make ahead meals?

groovygrl

i bought the magazine w/ this in it awhile ago, you make 5 'building blocks' ahead of time- rice pilaf, pulled pork, pulled chicken, tomato sauce, roasted veggies and then freeze in portions & use thme all to make 20 weeknight meals... except when I look at the meals, it seems there is still quite a bit of work involved in them so I'm not sure how much time it would save me at 6pm. anyone ever try these? they mostly look pretty good, I just don't know if it is a time saver.

MommyAtty

I haven't done that one, but I'm a big fan of Robin Miller's cookbooks, which have meals where you cook once for 2-3 different meals.  Lots of variety, which is nice, and it's generally healthy stuff.  She seems to have a good idea of what it is to be a working mom with very little time to get dinner actually on the table, so many of her follow-on meals take about 15 minutes to complete.

groovygrl

Thanks! Any particular favorite? Looks like she has quite a few (though I'd prefer it as an e-book and that limits it to the 'takes 5 cookbook for busy families' or what looks like the original 'takes 5: 500 recipes, 5 ingredients, 500 cal or less, 5 days a week, pm' one...) I wonder if there is much difference other than the # of recipes. (family one only has 200)... at a glance it looks like the family one has much shorter cook times. Makes me a little skeptical if they're any good though . It also includes b'fast and the other doesn't, which is appealing. Hmmm

NicoleWI

I looked at RR, but I thought it was insane for me. The prep looked intense. I felt like I had no time to work the prep in, and I would spend MORE time on the prep plus cooking than I usually would on just throwing something together at night. I'm sure the meals would be way better the Ray Way, but I just didn't have time for that.

emberlee3

I looked at the plan on her website.  I like all the basic recipes, but I don't think I would make them all at once.  I would probably just incorporate some of them into our regular family meals because most of her recipes don't seem very kid-friendly (at least not for my kids).  I make pulled BBQ chicken in the slow cooker, but I might try making a more basic pulled chicken like RR's.  I think it's easier to use the slow cooker than the oven for that stuff.  The roasted veggies are a good idea for next summer when I have tons of CSA peppers.  I'm going to make the rice pilaf this week because I was planning to batch-cook rice, anyway.  Thanks for posting. 

Virgo17

I have thought about it, but I agree with other posters that they seem complicated.  It's almost as if each and every meal could be a Sunday dinner.  Once a month mom has great freezer-friendly recipes.  I usually do "sessions" around a particular protein.  I'll brown up a bunch of ground beef and then make 5 different meals with that, or the same with chicken.  Meal planning can be so difficult as a working mom with little ones...

MommyAtty

Lol. I had forgotten that Robin Miller does often do things the hard way. I auto-simplify, so I end up saying "chop a tomato? Ha. Canned. Roast a red pepper? Those come in a jar, you know." But I do that with everything. Some people call it lazy. I prefer "efficient." I have 2 of her books: Weeknight Meals and Robin Rescues Dinner. I've never done a whole week of her meals. Generally, 2-3 nights is about it for me. But I did totally steal her meal kit idea, where I pre-chop that stuff I can't get out of chopping and do as much prep as I have time for.

groovygrl

MommyAtty said:

Lol. I had forgotten that Robin Miller does often do things the hard way. I auto-simplify, so I end up saying "chop a tomato? Ha. Canned. Roast a red pepper? Those come in a jar, you know." But I do that with everything. Some people call it lazy. I prefer "efficient." I have 2 of her books: Weeknight Meals and Robin Rescues Dinner. I've never done a whole week of her meals. Generally, 2-3 nights is about it for me. But I did totally steal her meal kit idea, where I pre-chop that stuff I can't get out of chopping and do as much prep as I have time for.

Thanks- I think most of the complicated comments were referring to Rachael Ray's month of meals plan not Robin Miller...her stuff looks super easy from what I can tell though I didn't see the meal kit idea, I will have to go see what that is all about! I like that she puts nutritional info in her cookbooks too, god knows I need to work on the diet, New Year & all

dglvrk2

I tried the Rachel Ray make ahead meals once.  It was REALLY complicated for me and some of the food got freezer burned (my mistake). I try to just make meals simple during the week.  I'll often cook something big on a weekend and use it as leftovers or incorporate it into other meals during the week.  Eg. I'll cook a ham or big pot roast on a weekend and use it in other foods during the week....