Cook Once, Eat Twice

I am a Food Network junkie. I love to watch cooking shows and get ideas. However, out here in the real world I don't ever have time to make a meal that will take 2 hours to prep and 2 more hours to cook. I have five kids and normally they are all in my kitchen begging to eat, help, complain, or stand right where I need to be. That's why I strive to cook once and eat twice. Here's how I achieve that. 

1. Buy whole chickens and cook at least two at a time. I never only cook one chicken at a time! I cook two and we eat one and then I take all of the meat off of the bones. I make either chicken salad, a casserole, soup, or chicken fried rice with the meat. I then make bone broth with the bones and after it is cooled I put the broth in freezer bags and freeze them. 

2. Have a Chopping Party. Chop up all of your produce when you get home. I have said this a lot but this will save you a lot of time and headache later on. I have started letting my kids join me in chopping up produce and putting it in containers in the fridge. 

3. Make a roast or stew once a week. On Sunday I make a roast in the crock-pot. This provides us with leftovers for either lunches or another dinner. 

4. Cook your grains for the week. I make rice by the package instead of when we need it. Then, I freeze our rice in serving sizes. You can quickly thaw rice by running warm water over it. This is easy to make a quick dinner with stir fry veggies with and chicken you cooked up or chicken and rice soup with your broth! 

With these easy tips you are saving money and time in the kitchen as well as your waistline! 

Do you have any tried and true cooking once eating twice tips?

What I keep in my kitchen.

I've been asked a lot lately what I keep on hand food wise.  So I thought I would let you all in my kitchen. 

In my freezer I always have frozen vegetables and frozen fruit.  The veggies are great to quickly saute for a side dish on a busy night.  I also will throw them in a casserole, soup, stew, or stir fry for extra bulk and nutrition.  The fruit is great to have on hand for smoothies for a fast breakfast or snack.  I have also been playing around with frozen berries for "syrup" to go on pancakes and homemade ice cream.
In the refrigerator I always keep coconut aminos, fish sauce, coconut flour, ghee, mustard, eggs, fresh produce, homemade mayo, and salad dressings (as natural as I can get).   The coconut aminos and fish sauce I use to season meat and veggies for that "Chinese Restaurant" taste without the extra MSG, gluten, soy, and other additives.
The coconut flour I use to make treats for the family and to thicken up stews.  Honestly, I don't like to bake often but when I do I prefer coconut flour.  I will honestly tell you that it takes some getting used to and a little bit of coconut flour goes a LONG way!
In my pantry I keep diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.  I also keep macadamia nuts, almonds, assorted seeds, and cashews along with unsweetened dried fruit.
For baking and cooking I keep coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, olive oil, garlic, vanilla beans, cumin, chili powder, parsley, turmeric, basil, parsley, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, garlic, vanilla, and anything else that looks interesting at the store.
These of course are my basics.  Your kitchen is going to look different but these are my fall backs that I ALWAYS keep on hand.  Do you have basics that you always keep on hand?  What are your favorite kitchen staples?