What is the fastest and most effort-free way to cook the most meat in bulk?
I was thinking of buying a huge boiling pot, putting about 10kg of chicken breast in there, boiling the whole thing, storing some in the freezer, some in the fridge, microwaving it when I want it and hopefully that will be my supply of meat for lunch and dinner (I eat canned fish in the morning) for about two weeks without me having to spend another minute on cooking.
Vegetables, I will do in the same way - put 10kg of the sh!t into a boiling pot, package it into the fridge and freezer, microwave when needed.
Carbs I don’t really care about - because you can buy plain bread cheaply and it requires zero prep.
Bear in mind I really don’t give a cr@p about taste, so I know the vegetables and meat are going to taste as bland as anything and the meat will probably be very tough - but that’s ok - I’m used to eating bland foods - just shovel it in your mouth and rinse it down with plenty of water so you can work your way through it quickly. I don’t like to spend more than 2 minutes eating each feed, so I hope I can keep up that record (or even break it with more aggressive shoveling and rinsing) with the tough boiled meat.
Anyway, to cook meat quickly, and effort free, in massive bulk, would you boil as described above? What’s the rough guideline of time spent boiling per kg of meat or veg? What’s the most amount of meat/veg you’ve cooked in one go and the longest it has lasted you?
Boiling it will probably be quickest, but try adding a shit ton of seasoning to the water, that way it’s not completely bland. And the chicken will probably come out fine (won’t be tough) the only meats that’ll probably become really tough when cooked that way is pork and red meats
I suggest baking chicken. By a large package (6 or more breasts). Cut them up into bite size pieces with scissors, place on baking sheet, season and put in oven. Bakes in 15-20 mins if not quicker since it is smaller in size.
When done place in large container and pick at it through the week.
Don’t base the majority of your food around bland stuff. You’ll just hate yourself. And chicken breast is really really disgusting boiled. Even more so boiled, refrigerated, and then reheated.
For vegetables you can also pre-prepare salads which should be easy and not bad tasting. Put large amounts of lettuce in a bowl, add some cucumbers or onions or whatever you prefer. In a different container pre-slice and keep things separate like tomatoes which dont keep as well, and then when it comes time to make your lunch just grab a few and add them together.
With vegetables you won’t be able to prepare a whole week of food in a ready to go container, but you’d be surprised how much time you can save just cutting a week’s part ahead of time and then keeping all those in separate containers with saran wrap (lids you gotta wish so fuck them).
Slow cooking is good, much nicer than boiled. Thing I always do is stir fry large portions of chopped meat and vegetables in a sauce (say 8 portions or so) and then put them into sealable containers then eat with whatever carb source you want to go with. Some can be frozen some refrigerated and you actually have tasty food for 8 meals done in round half hour.
If you really don’t care about test then I guess boiling or baking will do the trick. Fast and convenient, though I would recommend seasoning of some sort to at least add some flavour.
First, learn to cook. It will make your job easier.
You are bulking, buy whole chickens. Cook three at a time. Have a meal. Clean, cut and freeze remains.
Buy frozen veggies.
You can freeze rice and pasta really easy. Cook a lot at a time, freeze rest in portions in Ziploc bags.
So, you have in the freezer, cooked protein (chicken, ground beef, beef, etc).
When you get hungry, you grab a bag of frozen carbs (rice, pasta), frozen meat and frozen veggies. Mix in pan with favourite sauce, spices, herbs and/or can of soup (think, hamburger helper here), simmer, serve and eat.
Example: Take bag of cut up pork, bag of rice and some green beens, mix with Mushroom soup (add water if too thick), simmer until heated, put on plate (or use the pan), eat and enjoy.
I pan cook a couple pounds of chicken 1-2 times a week. It takes about an hour to cook everything, and I do it after my workout when I’m stretching and then showering. Same goes for ground beef. As long as you are cooking a lot at once, you save a ton of time even if it takes an hour or two to cook.
[quote]JFG wrote:
First, learn to cook. It will make your job easier.
You are bulking, buy whole chickens. Cook three at a time. Have a meal. Clean, cut and freeze remains.
Buy frozen veggies.
You can freeze rice and pasta really easy. Cook a lot at a time, freeze rest in portions in Ziploc bags.
So, you have in the freezer, cooked protein (chicken, ground beef, beef, etc).
When you get hungry, you grab a bag of frozen carbs (rice, pasta), frozen meat and frozen veggies. Mix in pan with favourite sauce, spices, herbs and/or can of soup (think, hamburger helper here), simmer, serve and eat.
Example: Take bag of cut up pork, bag of rice and some green beens, mix with Mushroom soup (add water if too thick), simmer until heated, put on plate (or use the pan), eat and enjoy.[/quote]
THIS,also what bird and others have said about the slow cooker.The thing makes anything tender and delicious while you sleep or at work.
You can get a good size steamer at an Asian grocery story, which can let you steam multiple tiers of meat and veggies at once. You can marinate a bunch of meat and throw them in the steamer until they’re cooked and fall-off-the-bone tender.
If you buy the meat pre-cut, you can throw it in ziploc bags with a marinade and leave it overnight. (Can be nearly zero work if you do it right.) Then when you’re ready to cook, fill the bottom of the steamer with plenty of water, stick the meat in the steamer layers, and turn on the heat so it starts simmering. You can walk away from there and come back a few hours later with a bunch of tender, flavorful cooked meat. (Except for getting the boiling started, that’s also almost zero work.)
There’s plenty of marinades you can use, and plenty of seasoning packs you can buy at a store… but for the most tender meat, they should include an acid (wine, vinegar, citrus juice, pineapple juice).
Ginger, garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, and optionally some Chingkiang vinegar is a pretty traditional, basic, Chinese marinade. For a different flavor profile, there’s “Al Pastor” from Mexico. And there’s “Satay” from Thailand and Indonesia. A whole bunch of flavors to play with, but a very simple basic cooking method for a lot of meat at once.
Another vote here for the slow cooker - I throw in a load of beef or chicken, some veggies (egg-plant, peppers, onions, potatoes, etc), tinned tomatoes, stock and plenty of herbs and spices. Cook for 8 hours overnight or when you go out to work. I usually make a big tub once a week and that will cover my lunches at work.
I used to use my crockpot all the time but have recently started using a pressure cooker which in my view is just as good as a slow cooker in terms of making cheaper/tougher meat like brisket/rump whatever really tender… and much faster obviously…
Usually I rub all sorts of spices on a beef top blade… put it in a basket on a tripod inside the pot as I prefer the beef getting steamed and not boiled… pour some water into the pot, wait for pressure to get to 25psi and let it cook for 1 hour… the meat comes out so tender its almost falling apart… Very easy to shred if that’s what you like
I eat the beef shredded or in cubes in salads a couple of times a day…