The kids come home from school, their book bags hit the floor and all of the sudden they are acting like the haven't eaten for weeks. This week we will be exploring ways to tame the hungry beasts with delicious snack ideas. Some of them will be healthy, some will be decadent, but they will all be delicious. Come back often because you don't want to miss out on all of our fun tips and ideas. Your kids will thank you!

Hello, Hello! Please Come In!

Welcome to our second installment of Batch Cooking 101, the 'What's Your Style' edition. My first lesson can be found here:Batch Cooking 101- What You'll Need. Haven't read it yet? Go ahead, I'll wait.

Okay, we're back!

Now, when I tell people about my batch cooking obsession I often get one of these responses:

"Ohhhh, so you basically have homemade t.v. meals for dinner every night? Huh..." OR "Gosh, I tried that once, but I kept forgetting to thaw the giant casserole in time for dinner. It was finally ready to reheat at 9pm when we were full of delivery pizza because we got tired of waiting."

And my answer is... well, there are several ways to batch cook! Not every cook will take to every style, and in my case I find that different styles lend themselves to different occasions. So, let's take a quick look at what I consider to be the three basic batch cooking styles: Family Style, T.V. Dinner and Protein Ready.

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Family Style:

I think Family Style batch cooking is what most people conjure up in their minds when I first tell them I make dinner ahead and then freeze it. Family style is when you make a complete one-dish meal, enough for the whole family, and freeze it as-is without portioning. A large casserole, for example. Family Style batch cooking is challenging for several reasons: it takes up a lot of space in your freezer, it takes a long time to defrost, it takes a significant amount of time to reheat and it doesn't allow much flexibility with the final meal. We don't do a lot of this type of batch cooking in our house, and I absolutely understand why if you try this style first you may never want to batch cook again. That being said, there is a time and a place for this style!

If you're great at remembering to defrost in the fridge in advance, and have the forty-five or so minutes to cook, then this may be perfect for you. In my case, not so much. But I do find it wonderful for large get-togethers. Baby showers, poker night, family reunions; Family Style is my very good friend for this type of occasion. I like to cook up a big batch of soup, along with a hearty casserole and serve it buffet style. The only thing I need to make the day-of is a great big salad and some warm bread. Easy-peasy and everyone is happy.

T.V. Dinner:

This is my husband's favorite incarnation of batch cooking. It's exactly how it sounds. You cook a full meal and then portion it out into individual servings. Freeze, then thaw a single-size complete meal at a time. It's perfect for families with picky eaters or staggered meal times. It's also great for taking healthy, delicious meals to work.

Protein Ready:

Now we've reached my favorite type of batch cooking. This is where you prepare your proteins in advance, so you can put together a mostly fresh meal but without the hassle of cooking meat. This allows for incredible flexibility in your meals, while cutting out the majority of your cooking time. At any given point, I generally have shredded pork, pork loin, cooked ground beef, shredded chicken and shredded turkey ready in the freezer. I portion them so I'll have enough for one finished meal that will serve my family of five and when I'm ready to cook, we thaw and then incorporate into nearly anything! Some of our favorite meals to make with precooked meat are stir fry, tacos, spaghetti with meat sauce and lettuce wraps. SO TELL ME! What type of batch cooker are you? I'm a Protein Ready gal, but my husband is a T.V. Dinner kind of guy and, since we have frequent guests, Family Style is familiar territory around here too!

Quick! Quick! Hurry up and... WAIT!

I fancy myself a pretty good scrambler. I'm not blessed with amazing luck, nor am I fantastically organized, but things do seem to come together for me in the eleventh hour. Does that ever happen to you? I call it being 'Forty-Five Minutes Ready.' I can be showered dressed and out the door (looking presentable, even!) in forty-five minutes. I can have my house prepared for company (just don't check the closets!) in forty-five minutes. And I can have a pretty decent dinner on the table in forty-five minutes. It's just the way my life works. Forty-five minutes.

This recipe was born of my 'Nearly Prepared' way of living. I had thawed a pork shoulder with the intention of making our beloved slow roasted pulled pork. As I was setting up to throw everything in the slow cooker, I discovered we were completely out of Worcestershire sauce. And, that's kind of the main ingredient. So, I ducked my head into the pantry and started sifting through cans and bottles. It makes my husband crazy that I stockpile nearly anything canned, jarred or bottled that is on sale, but I can't tell you how many dinners this habit has rescued. I emerged from the pantry with a bottle of barbecue sauce and a can of diced pineapples. One more rummage through the deep freeze for some leftover hamburger buns and, folks, dinner was saved. And delicious to boot!

Slow Cooker Pineapple Barbecue Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

- One pork shoulder (about 5 pounds)
- One bottle barbecue sauce (about 18 ounces)
- One can diced pineapples, not drained (15 ounces)
- All purpose seasoning

Directions:

1. Sprinkle all purpose seasoning over the entirety of pork shoulder and place meat in slow cooker.
2. Dump can of pineapples over pork.
3. Pour bottle of barbecue sauce over pork.
4. Cover and cook 10 hours on low or 6 hours on high.
6. Shred with a fork and serve on hamburger rolls!
So, tell me! Do you have a scramble recipe? What's your best on the fly meal? How much do you love stocking up the pantry?

You may be asking yourself right now, "What the heck is a great pork switch-out?" Well it is the latest assignment we have put our favorite bloggers on over here at Smithfield. We have asked them to take some tried and true traditional recipes that everyone knows and loves and give them a twist. They will be taking these recipes and switching out pork for whatever the traditional meat is in each recipes. So get ready to eat Philly Cheesesteaks without the steak and your go-to Chicken and Rice Casserole recipes is about to get flipped on its head. Join us this week to find out just which of your favorite recipes pork will show up in.

So it turns out, you folks are pretty interested in hearing more about my batch cooking extravaganzas. I don't blame you! When I first found out about batch cooking, I wanted to learn absolutely everything I could. I'm not a professional chef or an expert on the subject, but I've been doing it for a while now, so here are my getting started tips.

What You'll Need for Batch Cooking:

TIME.

I usually set aside three or four days for dedicated cooking and assembling. I try to schedule it for when I will have help with the kids, because this is not the right moment to have extra little helpers underfoot.

PLAN.

Sit down and plan out your attack on paper. Don't try to cook recipes one after the other, because this will just waste time. Take a look at the common ingredients and see what you can combine. If three of your recipes call for chicken, cook the chicken all at once. If you can make several components in one pot or roaster, do!

INGREDIENTS.

Have all your ingredients purchased and ready to go before you begin. Running to the market in the middle of an otherwise beautifully orchestrated batch cook can be disaster. I like to set everything out on my kitchen table before beginning to be sure it's all in order.

SUPPLIES.

Pots, pans, dishes, utensils, labels, food storage containers. Make sure you have enough of everything!

SPACE.

Refrigerator space, freezer space, counter space, oven space, stove top space. You will need a lot of this. Think about it carefully when you're making your plan because what you do or do not have space-wise can have an impact on the recipes you choose.

RECIPES.

Do not use a previously unknown recipe for batch cooking. I repeat, do not use a previously unknown recipe in batch cooking! Please, trust me on this, if the family doesn't like it you're going to end up with a heap of wasted time, food and money. Take it from someone who's been down that road. Test your recipes first! So tell me! Do you batch cook? What's your favorite batch cooking recipe? If you don't batch cook, are you going to try?