As a Celiac we all know that we need to bring food with us almost everywhere we go for more than, lets say, 2 hours. I bring food everywhere, including to placement and school. I have become the envy of my classmates in graduate school because I always have a bag full of goodies for the day. They should be jealous, but I have yet to get the knack down of making food in bulk. Lately I’ve been attempting to cook bulk meals, AKA cook more than one meal with the same product that will give me enough left overs to last for a week. I am still trying to navigate the realm of bulk cooking, my main two issues being that I cook for both mike and I and I don’t really enjoy left overs so I need to be creative in having distinctly different dishes.


Recently I took a swing at a ‘Week full of Beef’ as I’ll call it. We had two pounds of ground beef and with that defrosted I took to the cook book and pantry to come up with two recipes which were distinctly different but would also need to least shopping to complete. I came up with the below two recipes, which I’ll share because they were very satisfying!


Italian-Style Shepard’s Pie (From Incredibly Easy Gluten-Free Recipes)
1 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
2-3 table spoons reduced-sodium chicken broth or milk (I went with milk)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, finely crushed (optional, I did not use it)
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 cups sliced yellow summer squash
1 can (14oz) chunky pasta-style tomatoes, drained
1 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup no-salt tomato paste


1. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Combine Potatoes and enough water to cover in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil uncovered, 20 -25 minutes or until tender. Drain and Mash potatoes. Add enough broth to reach desired consistency. Add Parmesan cheese and set aside.


2. Brown beef and onion in large skillet over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring to break up meat. Drain Fat. Stir in Italaian seasoning, fennel if desired and red pepper. Add squash, tomatoes, corn and tomato paste; mix well. Spoon mixture into2-quart casserole dish. Pipe or spoon tomatoes over top.


3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until meat mixture is bubbly. Let Stand 10 minutes before serving.


Makes 6 servings! 


Tempo Brand Chili
This chili mix is not my favorite, but I wanted to try something different. The cooking ingredients are simple:


1. Brown beef in a large skillet. Drain off fat. 


2. Add contents of package and tomatoes (undrained). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally


I added pinto beans to my mix, in addition to Penzy Spice’s chipotle pepper powder. And to make it last longer, I made white rice to put it over. While it was decent I don’t think I’ll be eating this brand again, it was too bland for my tastes.

Overall, I was satisfied. I was left with remaining food for the week and they were different enough that I was not disappointed by eating the same thing each week. It has been a few weeks since this adventure and I am finding bulk cooking difficult to up keep.

So I have some questions for my fellow gluten free folks: Do you cook enough one day for the week or do you cook every day/every other day? How do you create your menu and pick out your ingredients? How do you stay consistent? Enlighten me!