I was NOT happy with the results of cooking in mass quantities. The quality wasn’t the same. However, in the future, I will make an enormous batch of marinara sauce from another large can of tomato sauce and freeze it. I can also buy the mozarella cheese in bulk, and cut it into usuable size amount and freeze that too. It changes texturally, but will work great for lasagna, baked ravioli, etc.

Thanks, Trent – I wouldn’t have bothered trying it all before I read your post!

As I recall, the last USDA food pyramid used 2-3 oz. servings of meat and recommended 2-3 servings per day. That would make 4 to 9 oz. per day of meat or equivalent. But the new My Pyramid does give amounts in ounces rather than servings. There is a calculator on the site to tailor this a little more, but the chart gives 5-6 oz. for most adults, a little more for more active people. So probably 1 lb. per day should cover all three of them.

Based on the fact that he says to eat what you want, then split into 8-10 bags if you’re single, the whole daily portion of only meat/equivalent for the day would be in the package. Also, dairy products and whole grains have proteins that should not be overlooked. Obviously, there is still the possibility that USDA still has meat/protein blinders on and that the needs could be revised downward, although they have made a lot of progress over the past 30 years.

Also: I seem to recall having good success freezing lentil barley soup. It’s a personal favorite as we long for autumn, very hearty, and if you refrigerate it the first night the rosemary blends wonderfully.

One thing I noticed about this recipe, there’s 64 1 oz servings of chicken. It seems a bit excessive. Although I assume there will be other things served with this meal, it is drastically unbalanced. This breaks down to more than 5 servings of chicken per serving, more than most people should eat in a day. Plus there is cheese and milk added. The recomendations for protein intake discourage consuming more than 35% of total calories from protien, but no less than 10%. The risks of ODing one’s self on protein include heart problems, kidney disease, and bone loss. And there can’t be more than 2 grams of fiber per serving.

I haven’t been able to do this effectively, is there a secret? They seem to become more brittle when frozen and the baggies get torn after a few uses.

Instead we use tupperware-style or pyrex containers. These last longer.

I would also use brown rice for more nutritional value and fiber, but I know that brown rice can really be a pain to figure out sometimes.

First, brown the chicken. About the time the chicken is almost browned to your taste, add 1 or 2 cups of converted rice and stir around in pan drippings. Let this brown a bit (watch: don’t scorch it). Then pour in your liquids. (2 cups of dry rice will make a LOT of cooked rice, but I think you have enough liquid in your recipe to accommodate it. If you enjoy a more soup-like meal, go for 1 cup.)

Allow this to simmer until the chicken is about cooked. About 10 minutes before you expect the chicken to be done, add the frozen veggies–since they’re blanched, basically all you need to do is defrost and heat them them in the hot dish.

For a note on the relative nutrition of converted vs. white rice, see http://www.foodsubs.com/Rice.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parboiled_rice.

Broccoli does have some dietary fiber in it. I’m a vegetarian, so this recipe isn’t really my thing, but you could do much worse health-wise, especially if the alternative is ordering pizza or takeout Chinese food, or cooking some sort of ready-made frozen meal that’s loaded with sodium.