One of my favorite time-saving meal planning methods is the Cook Once, Eat Twice method.
By planning and working more efficiently you can save both time and money. This is why I always try to work a Cook Once, Eat Twice meal into my weekly meal plan.
The basic idea behind this meal planning method is to double some portion of a planned meal and use some of it for a second meal. If your family dislikes leftovers then this is a great method to use as the second meal is not actually a leftover. For you, it means less time spent preparing a meal on another night since some of the work is already done for you.
How exactly does it save time?
It can cut the time spent on prepping ingredients, cooking and even cleaning up since you only do it once but end up with two meals. No sense in repeating things if you don’t have to do it right?
Cook Once, Eat Twice meal planning method can be done in a variety of ways (we’ll go over each of them below):
- Planning a freezer meal
- Doubling a batch
- Grouping meals
Before trying any of these strategies you will need to do a little planning. Sure you can pull these off without planning but there’s a better chance of something not working out right. The last thing you want is to create more work for yourself or end up with ingredients that get tossed out instead of used.
If you’re new to meal planning then you may want to read:
6 Reasons Why You Should Meal Plan
5 Steps For Meal Planning For Busy Families
Keto Meal Planning ….It’s Not Just For Beginners
Cook Once, Eat Twice Meal Planning Method
As you are making your weekly meal plan think about any meals that you might be able to double the batch so you can cook one meal and freeze the other. If you don’t want to freeze a meal for future use then you can plan to double the batch and use part, or all, of the recipe in a second meal which you will eat that same week.
Freezer meals:
This one is pretty easy. Double a batch of something and freeze half of it to be used in another meal later. I like to double or triple my meatloaf batches. If I’ve gone through all the work of prepping meatloaf why not make a few of them! I freeze the others for a night that I don’t have much time. I can then toss it into the crockpot to cook or I can thaw overnight and bake in the oven.
Marinated meat is also a prefect freezer meal. The meat gets very flavorful as it marinates while thawing. It takes just a few minutes to grill up marinated chicken breast or beef tips. They can be used in so many ways.
Try this recipe for Mediterranean Lemon Chicken. It marinates while it thaws!
Doubling a batch to use leftovers:
For this method you would double the recipe with plans to eat the leftovers for lunch or even for another dinner that same week. Soup, stews and casseroles are great to double. You can even portion out the doubled batch into containers for quick grab and go lunches.
Try making one of these delicious chili recipes and double the batches to use for freezer meals:
Doubling a batch for another meal:
Take a look at your meal plan and see if there are any recipes that use similar ingredients that can be prepped at once. Baked chicken served over rice can easily be doubled. Bake extra chicken and double the rice to use later in the week to create chicken and rice soup. When it comes time to make the soup you have saved yourself a bunch of time as you no longer need to prep/cook the chicken or cook the soup longer to allow the rice to be cooked.
A double batch of meatloaf also becomes meatballs to use in another meal.
A double batch of oven roasted vegetables as a side dish one night turns into chicken and roasted vegetable enchiladas on another night.
You can easily double waffles, pancake, muffin, bacon, breakfast sausage…. the list goes on and on.
Grouping meals:
Take a look at your meal plan and see if you can group some of the prep work needed for those recipes. If you needed chopped, diced onions for three meals that week then dice them all at once and store the remainder in a container.
Need grilled chicken for two meals? Grill it all up at once.
Chopping up vegetables for a salad and then have a soup dish later in the week that calls for similar vegetables to be chopped up? Why not cut them all up at once?
It takes very little time to incorporate some of these techniques into your weekly schedule and can end up saving you a ton of time.
If you’ve already prepared some freezer meals then be sure to schedule the second meal into your weekly meal planner. Most freezer meals can last 6 months in the freezer without a change in taste. Don’t forget about them and end up with meals that have freezer burn.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below. I’ve love to hear how you are working some of these types of meal into your meal plan. Why not share any time saving tips that you discover have worked well for you.
Stop staring into your refrigerator hoping that dinner inspiration will suddenly hit you.
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