Save-a-Step Cooking: Everything from scratch, but not every day

It's all in intelligent menu-planning

When you plan your menus, have in mind “downstream” plans.

So — if one day the plan is to roast two chickens* (on Sunday, say), along with boiled and buttered waxy potatoes, peas, and sourdough rolls, then also schedule in, maybe on Tuesday, Chicken Pot Pie.

Cooking good food in a way that also frees you for other things means you try never to make from “scratch” a casserole or other sort of dish requiring assembly, such as enchiladas, that calls for already cooked meat and some sort of sauce.

But you also don’t open cans of sketchy “soup” or buy pre-made crusts.

Yes, all the elements will be made from scratch, but not on that day. That’s just exhausting and defeats the whole reason those dishes were developed in the first place!

The idea of them (e.g. chicken pot pie) is that you already have some roast chicken with its gravy, potatoes, and peas in the fridge, and now all you have to do is rummage up a pie crust** and salad and you have a wonderful easy meal, not a marathon of prepping from raw ingredients.

In this way, you will work yourself up to “Save a Step” cooking, which is much more efficient than separate meals conjured up without reference to each other!

It does require a little forethought so you can stash away your “extras”, which is why I encourage making menus.

*Always roast at least two chickens. You’ve turned the oven on — why not? The leftovers, tucked away in the freezer, will be many more meals, and the bones will render lovely stock for… many more meals!

**Always make extra pie crusts. You’re getting everything out — why not? Pat the extra into a disk, wrap, label, and pop in the freezer.

Maximilien Luce - Mère et enfant dans la cuisine

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