Just about every new cookbook recommends cooking extra food over the weekend to have on hand for weekday lunches and weeknight meals. There are entire cookbooks dedicated to the idea of a slow Sunday brunch. The theory behind this cook-on-weekends advice is that people have more free time on the weekends. And that they want to spend it cooking.
In theory, it's a great idea to use the obligation-free weekends to cook. On Sunday, you probably have a more leisurely morning than on the average Monday, and if you cook ahead, you don't have to worry about food during the generally busy work/school week. The problem is that weekends are not obligation-free and can be just as busy as the week, with errands, events and, if you have kids, everything from music lessons to soccer games. When you're running around from one place to another for 10 hours straight, there isn't much time or energy left to cook for one night, let alone 6 others.
Now, I do cook on the weekends, and I love the idea of a long Sunday brunch, but I do not wait until the weekends to cook. Instead, I try to cook most days, not "saving" the work until it needs to take up one massive chunk of time to get it done. But is it actually easier to do it this way? Cooking as much as you can at one time? I can't say. But if you are someone who is able to plan out a whole week at once like this, I would love to hear about how you manage it in the comments section below!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-28-2006 @ 5:47PM
raj said...
My mother used to cook like this, when she first started her busines in the late 1970s, back when women were expected to do everything in the household, even if they had a job. She would make close to a week's worth of meals and freeze everything in glassware bowls. Microwaves were new then. While she's a great cook, the frozen-and-reheated meals never tasted as good as when she made them fresh.
She still does this cook-on-Sundays thing, but it tends to be a few days worth of meals and more baked goods than meals.
You'd be surprised, though, at how many restaurants do the same sort of thing with their popular dishes. I've worked in a variety of restaurants in the past 4 years and we'd make large pots of some dishes, then freeze them in lidded buckets - defrosting only when the bucket on the line was half-empty.
One thing to note: Italian food seems to hold up best under freezing. East Indian food never tastes as good.
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5-29-2006 @ 9:33PM
Rebecca said...
With my schedule, some weekends I can cook in advance for the week, and other weekends I'm lucky if I get anything house (or cooking) related done! I find I get a lot of milage out of cooking a few extra portions whenever I can. The extras are frozen and brought out for later. If I'm chopping up veggies for one night, I'll chop enough for two and put the extra in the fridge. Ditto when I make salad. Every little bit helps, right?
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