FLOWER POT KITCHEN: MAKE AHEAD GRAB AND GO DINNERS

28 Feb 2018

MAKE AHEAD GRAB AND GO DINNERS

THE POWER HOUR

A mums success to raising a busy family, running a small holding farm and making sure we all have quality time as a family. In just one hour I prepped the whole weeks dinners and more ready to go from the fridge and freezer at a moments notice. This organised set up allows me and my family to have total freedom there is no stress involved around dinner time what ever time we decided, dinner will be on the table within 25 minutes with not even 5 minutes prep time involved, this means we get to spend more time catching up what we've all been up to and spending more time on our hobbies.

Organising your own fresh fast food ready to go means you can have utter chaos because dinner is sorted! This is just my family's food choices this week and we change these go to dinners to what ever food mood my guys fancy, set up your own go to meals list, the principal is the same, prep ahead.

FREEZER FRIDGE GRAB AND GO DINNERS

Chicken or Lamb Madras Curry in a Hurry

Olive Oil Garlic Salt and Pepper Chicken

Chicken or Steak Fajitas

BBQ Spiced Chicken/Pork

Cumin Chilli Garlic Steak Tacos

Piri Piri Spiced Chicken

Asian Panang Shrimp or Chicken

Roast chicken tacos

Sesame Soy Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

Chilli Beef

Meatballs Marinara Tray Bake

Buffalo Chicken Blue Cheese Tray Bake

INGREDIENTS FOR STOCK DINNERS POWER HOUR

Food Bags

1 bulb garlic chopped

4 red chillies diced

6 spring onions sliced

1 bunch chopped coriander

1 bulb ginger grated

4 kafir lime leaves

Himalayan sea salt

Fresh ground white pepper

Cumin

Piri Piri spice rub and sauce

Fajitas spice rub

BBQ spice rub

Madras curry powder

Tins tomatoes

Olive oil

Lime juice

Sesame oil and seeds

Soy sauce

Cold water shrimp

Chicken breasts

Steak

Ground pork/beef

The principle is simple first make a list of dinners that are sheet pan, tray bake or skillet cooked, add to the list what your serving with each meal, i.e.; broccoli, potatoes, pasta, rice, fixings for tacos etc, and stock your fridge with all these fixings (fridge stock list below), next place your food bags all lined up and open, season the chicken, steak, shrimp with salt and pepper and place your portion of protiens for your family's dinner in each bag top up each bag with spice rub seasonings, garlic, ginger onion etc to your recipes. My recipes for the list above are below.

GARLIC CHICKEN

Olive oil, chicken, salt, pepper, 3 cloves sliced garlic. To cook toss the chicken with peppers and onions on a sheet pan, add some broccoli and diced potatoes and bake for 20-25 minutes.

FAJITAS

Slice steak or chicken strips, olive oil, fajitas spice rub. To cook heat a skillet medium hot add the peppers and onions, sear for a couple of minutes, add the steak or chicken and sear for a few minutes until cooked, serve with all the usual fixings, fresh coriander and soft corn tacos.

BBQ PORK TENDERLOIN

Pork tenderloin or Chicken, olive oil, BBQ spice rub. To cook place peppers, onions, diced potatoes, broccoli on a sheet pan place the tenderloin or Chicken on top and cover with BBQ sauce, bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

HANAGER STEAK TACOS

Ground cumin, chilli, salt, pepper, olive oil, steak. To cook heat your skillet medium hot seat some peppers and onions, add the steak and sear for a couple of minutes on each side, take off the heat, rest, slice, squeeze over some lime juice, fresh coriander, serve with soft tacos and all the fixings.

PIRI PIRI CHICKEN

Chicken, olive oil, piri piri spice rub. To cook place peppers, onions on a sheet pan add the piri piri chicken, maybe some broccoli, diced potato, bake for 20-25 minutes, I like to serve these in buns with crisp salad, piri piri hot sauce mayonnaise.

BUFFALO CHICKEN

Chicken, olive oil, hot sauce. To cook place peppers, onions, potatoes on a sheet pan place the chicken on top, bake in the oven for 15 minutes, at this point crumble over soft blue cheese all over the chicken and more hot sauce, finish baking for another 5-7 minutes.

MEATBALLS MARINARA

Ground beef and pork, salt, pepper, chipotle, oregano, Parmesan, flaxseed, mix and make meatballs, place in the bag along with tins of tomato, purée, sugar, olive oil, peppers, onions, garlic, dash red and white wine. To cook just place the ingredients in a tray and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, serve on subs or with spaghetti.

SESAME GINGER CHICKEN

Chicken, sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, grated ginger, garlic. To cook place some peppers, onions, broccoli, asparagus on a sheet pan place the chicken on top bake for 20-25 minutes, drizzle over some sweet chilli or siracha to serve with stir fry mangetout, bean sprouts, spring onions on noodles with fresh coriander to finish.

ROAST CHICKEN TACOS

Season your chicken, roast for around 45 minutes, leave to rest for at least 30 minutes, pull all the meat off the bone, shredding as you go, serve with all the usual taco fixings.

PANANG SHRIMP

Shrimp, olive oil, salt, pepper, blitzed lemon grass, ginger, corinader, lime juice, lime leaves, onion, garlic, chilli. To cook heat a wok or skillet medium hot, have rice or noodles ready to serve, sauté the shrimp for a couple of minutes and serve on top of the accompaniment.

CHIILI BEEF TRAY BAKE

Ground beef, salt, pepper, mexine chilli powder, ancho chilli, chipotle powder, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, fresh jalapeños, fresh onion diced, fresh garlic diced, sugar, tomato purée, tins tomato. To cook place everything in a skillet or roasting tray and cook for around 1-2 hrs on slow, just leave to do its thing.

CURRY IN A HURRY

Madras curry in a hurry, see blog, chicken, madras curry powder spice, chicken curry base stock, mixed powder, tomatoes, ginger, onion, cumin, fennel seeds, cardamom pods, ghee. To cook place all the ingredients in a large skillet and leave to gently cook for a hour or so, serve with rice.

FRIDGE SET UP

Salsa

Pico de Gallo

Guacamole

Sour Cream

Soft corn tacos

Soft tortilla wraps

Salad

Spinach

Chopped onions

Chopped peppers

Broccoli florets

Cauliflower florets

Asparagus

Potatoes (optional)

Squash (optional)

Red & White Cabbage grated for Slaws

Spaghetti

Olive Oil Mayonnaise

Limes

Hot sauce

MAKE AHEAD SALAD DRESSINGS

Blitzed avocado, lime, sour cream, corinader

Chimmichurri

Olive oil mayo, Dijon, lemon juice, anchovies, Parmesan

It really is as simple as this, copying the ready to go meal sections of your super market that you are tempted to buy to make some meal times easier just make your own with fresh ingredients and go to staples, why buy pre made mashed potatoes or cooked pasta ready to go when with a little time you can stock your fridge and freezer with these short cuts yourself knowing that everything in your food is good for you and your family, preservative and chemical free.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.