Helweg - 101 recipes for preparing food in bulk: everything you need to know about preparing, storing, and consuming

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Introduction

There are many reasons why you would consider cooking in bulk and making any of the recipes in this book. There are many good reasons why you will find this book on cooking food in bulk to be a valuable addition to your cookbook library. You may have a garden that produces prodigious amounts of vegetables and/or fruits in the summer months. You might be a member of a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm and regularly receive large amounts of produce. Perhaps you regularly take part in potluck dinners where you must prepare a dish to feed a large number of people. You might find that cooking and freezing meals at a time that is convenient for you is a good way to manage those times when you would like to have dinner for your family but you do not have the time to prepare a meal. You might be someone who enjoys taking advantage of sales at supermarkets and purchases meat and produce in large quantities.

This book will take you through the process of preparing to shop, cook, preserve, and serve large amounts of food. This book will guide you through every aspect of cooking in bulk to make it as manageable as cooking regular-sized meals. The book details all the essential appliances and utensils you need in your kitchen, as well as how to take inventory of the supplies and foods you already have. This book provides tips so you know where and how to do your grocery shopping. In addition to these basic details, you will learn everything you need to know to prepare yourself for cooking day, from deciding whether you should cook solo or with a partner, to how to prepare, cook, cool, and properly store your meals. Once you are ready to eat your frozen meal, this book tells you how to thaw and reheat each recipe and how to detect foods gone bad which probably will not happen if you follow the simple instructions in this book.

Included in this book are more than 100 recipes that detail the ingredients and methods for preparing food for 100 servings. Whether you are making breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, or snacks for a wedding or a soccer team, everything you need to know is here. The companion CD-ROM included in the back of the book has all the recipes in the book plus an additional 1,700 bulk food recipes. Another great feature about the CD-ROM is that it has the ability to scale a recipe. For example, if you are planning a party for 150 guests, simply key in 150 and the recipe will change all the quantities for you.