Some days can fly right by with not as much kitchen time involved. How is this possible in a from-scratch type kitchen? It usually means that you have spent time on another day food prepping!

Recently I spent one day getting a lot of different types of foods prepped and ready so that I wouldn’t need to rely on pre-packaged store bought items. This is definitely something I try to avoid, but I have mentioned before that we aren’t purists. Some of my Sweet Husband’s favorite ‘on hand’ items are granola bars. I hope to some day say that I make most or all of them! But, for now, he enjoys the store bought varieties and fills our wooden berry basket with the colorfully wrapped bars.

Batch cooking is one helpful way to have ample amounts of particular foods at the ready. When I make muffins, I often triple a batch so that we can eat some hot out of the oven, save some for later in the week, and freeze even more. It is amazing how many muffins can be consumed in a short period of time. Ha!

As mentioned before, yogurt can be made up in large batches and eaten for days and even weeks! You can invest in small containers and make ‘to go’ yogurts with fruit on the bottom, honey drizzled over, or even jam inside. Mmm! Add a small bit of granola when you’re ready to eat it and wow! What a treat!

Speaking of granola, that is another food item that can quickly be doubled by batch cooking and keeps for a long time in a sealed container or even the freezer. I like to put different add-ins in mine- one batch is cinnamon apple and another is gingerbread, etc.

Other ideas include boiled (steamed!) eggs, bacon, cookies, and bread! As I probably mentioned before in previous posts, batch baking with bread is what works best for our family. I generally do not bake bread daily, though occasionally with soups I’ll do cornbread or biscuits within the same week.

Another way to food prep is by cooking some meat ahead and freezing. For instance, brown several pounds of ground beef or pork, cool, and package into 1 pound servings for chili, tacos, or sloppy joes. Cook an entire pork roast, shred, and freeze for soups, pulled pork BBQ, or pork tacos. Get the idea? It is a huge help for quick, from scratch meals because even if you forget to thaw the meat, it can thaw very quickly.

I hope this helps you in planning ahead and making things a bit easier for from scratch meals and snacks! What are your ‘go to’ make ahead meals or snacks?