Oversized cooking

[Jarlaxle]

Mom made a shepherd's pie last weekend. She asked me to bring the stuff for a big one (my nephew was visiting), using her big casserole dish...so I did: 5lbs hamburg, 5 cans of corn, and 5lbs potatoes. Prep went fine (despite getting the "Mom's eye roll" at the fact I got the stuff at Walmart.)

Then, there was a problem. It was too much for the casserole dish. Like, WAY too much. (As in: just the meat had it 2/3 full.) So, we dug out the gigantic (14x20x3?) lasagna pan...and even that was a tight fit. Just ate one of the (eight) frozen portions I took home. It was really good.

Anyone else with tales of a "wow...that's a lot...now what?!" moment?

 

[skyactiv]

I don't know what shepherd's pie is, but lucky you. I grew up with a mom that is a health nut. My wife is a skinny type 1 diabetic that is also a health nut.
Guess what I had for dinner, a chicken salad with one piece of banana bread.

 

[Gebo]

Yep, when we make soup. Pork tenderloin, potatoes, corn, onions, celery, pinto beans, tomatoes, green peas, black eyed peas, tomato juice and other various vegetables can really fill a pot up to overflowing quickly.

 

[ls1mike]

I will do it for Chili and soups. That way I can freeze some.

 

[jdawg13]

i love shepherd's pie

 

[A_Spruce]

I rarely run into size issues when cooking because I have everything from a 9x9 pan to an extra deep, to extra pans, to larger dimension baking pans should I ever get a little overzealous, which doesn't happen often.

I'm a good cook, but I need recipes to work from. Anything that has been tried and liked, has been tweaked and portioned down to the size pan it needs for it's normal preparation. If we need multiples of the recipe, then we usually have the extra pans or a larger pan to facilitate the additional portion size.

I'm not one to experiment on other people, so when I do a new recipe, I first try it as written, if it holds promise it gets tweaked to my family's liking, then it is added to the recipe file in the appropriate portion size. From there, it gets scaled to whatever the occasion requires.

 

[CharBaby]

Mmmm, love Shepherds Pie. To me, it's all the right stuff!
It induces about a 3 hr nap afterward. And then, go to bed!

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Mom made a shepherd's pie last weekend. She asked me to bring the stuff for a big one (my nephew was visiting), using her big casserole dish...so I did: 5lbs hamburg, 5 cans of corn, and 5lbs potatoes. Prep went fine (despite getting the "Mom's eye roll" at the fact I got the stuff at Walmart.)

Then, there was a problem. It was too much for the casserole dish. Like, WAY too much. (As in: just the meat had it 2/3 full.) So, we dug out the gigantic (14x20x3?) lasagna pan...and even that was a tight fit. Just ate one of the (eight) frozen portions I took home. It was really good.

Anyone else with tales of a "wow...that's a lot...now what?!" moment?


The suggested limit is 10 oz of red meat a week. This sounds like 10 oz in one meal.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Mom made a shepherd's pie last weekend. She asked me to bring the stuff for a big one (my nephew was visiting), using her big casserole dish...so I did: 5lbs hamburg, 5 cans of corn, and 5lbs potatoes. Prep went fine (despite getting the "Mom's eye roll" at the fact I got the stuff at Walmart.)

Then, there was a problem. It was too much for the casserole dish. Like, WAY too much. (As in: just the meat had it 2/3 full.) So, we dug out the gigantic (14x20x3?) lasagna pan...and even that was a tight fit. Just ate one of the (eight) frozen portions I took home. It was really good.

Anyone else with tales of a "wow...that's a lot...now what?!" moment?


I have to ask , from time to time , NOT to cook large amounts . I get tired of eating the same left over , day after day .

I run our refrigerator as cold as I can w/o freezing the milk . So left overs keep well in our frig .

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Mom made a shepherd's pie last weekend. She asked me to bring the stuff for a big one (my nephew was visiting), using her big casserole dish...so I did: 5lbs hamburg, 5 cans of corn, and 5lbs potatoes. Prep went fine (despite getting the "Mom's eye roll" at the fact I got the stuff at Walmart.)

Then, there was a problem. It was too much for the casserole dish. Like, WAY too much. (As in: just the meat had it 2/3 full.) So, we dug out the gigantic (14x20x3?) lasagna pan...and even that was a tight fit. Just ate one of the (eight) frozen portions I took home. It was really good.

Anyone else with tales of a "wow...that's a lot...now what?!" moment?


The suggested limit is 10 oz of red meat a week. This sounds like 10 oz in one meal.


It was about 18 (maybe 21) portions...most of it was vaccum-sealed and frozen-which was the plan the whole time. (My mother has a -15 deep freezer.)

My mother is retired, but works seasonally from January to July-her hours are long (it's dead slow or 6 day, 70+ hour weeks with very little middle ground)-she tries to stock the freezer with pre-made, portioned, vaccum-sealed stuff because when working, she has neither the time nor the energy to cook.

I suspect there will be very large batches of lasagna, chili, beef stew, and pea soup in the freezer before much longer.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
I don't know what shepherd's pie is, but lucky you. I grew up with a mom that is a health nut. My wife is a skinny type 1 diabetic that is also a health nut.
Guess what I had for dinner, a chicken salad with one piece of banana bread.


Wow. I...don't think I ever met anyone unfamiliar with shepherd's pie. It's ground beef, corn, and mashed potatoes, layered in a pan and baked.