Kitchen Tip: Save time and money!

In our home we have a lot of stir frys since it's a great, quick way to feed the family a little protein and several servings of vegetables. Since my husband likes to eat low-carb, he can have the stir fry and the rest of us add rice or noodles. The money saving part comes in by buying large family packs of chicken or inexpensive cuts of lean beef at the supermarket or warehouse store and using small amounts of meat and a lot of vegetables in each stir fry. So, what do I do with those large packages and how does this save time?

I pop the whole package, as is, into the freezer for an hour or two to firm it up for cutting into very thin slices. When it is partially frozen, it cuts very easily. I rinse the meat and then slice the entire package and put the slices into a large bowl. I then add all the ingredients that I would normally add for a stir fry marinade. For a couple of our favorite recipes, look below.

Leave just enough in the bowl to use for that night's dinner. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator to marinate for an hour or more. The rest gets divided up into quart size freezer storage bags in portions large enough for your family. Seal the bags carefully pressing out all the air and pat the bags flat so they freeze quickly. Freeze them right away. The meat will marinate as it thaws when you are ready to use it for a quick, healthy family meal. On a busy night, half the work of meal prep will already be done for you and you save time in general by prepping everything for several meals all at the same time.

Pictured above:  Citrus Chicken Stir Fry with yellow summer squash, white onion "petals" and delicate enoki mushrooms.

CITRUS CHICKEN STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

fresh orange juice

low sodium soy sauce

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

pepper, optional

small amount of fresh orange or lemon zest (for more citrus flavor)

SAVORY BEEF STIR FRY MARINADE

adjust the amount of each ingredient according to the size of the batch and your family's taste

low sodium soy sauce

small amount of rice vinegar

oyster sauce

fresh garlic, minced or sliced very thin

fresh ginger, minced

green onions, sliced

drizzle of roasted sesame oil

pepper, optional

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To Prepare Stir Fry:

Thinly slice vegetables of your choice and have them ready to add to the stir fry.

Heat a wok or large frying pan and quickly saute the marinated meat in a small amount of peanut or canola oil. Add vegetables one by one according to how long they will take to cook--for instance, the delicate, straw like, enoki mushrooms in the stir fry pictured above were added just before the heat was turned off. Do not overcook the vegetables. This can take some practice, but it always tastes good anyway. If you want to thicken the sauce with cornstarch mixed with water, do this at the end. Optional:  top with chopped peanuts, green onions or pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or noodles if you like. For a nutrition boost I usually serve it with fragrant brown basmati rice, brown jasmine rice or very quick cooking buckwheat soba noodles if I forgot to start the rice 40 minutes early (brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook).

Enjoy,  Sue