Making more than one portion at once

[raweater]

I think one reason I don't so much like having to prepare raw food is that for some reason I always, always make just one meal worth of food at once. This means every time I want to eat I have to find and make a recipe, I've been living this way for 2-3 years now.

This especially becomes a big problem when I workout, which increases my appetite to 4000-6000 calories a day, that's a LOT of recipes to make per day, and always gets me eating at least one (of my 6-9 meals) per day cooked. The cooked food I eat is always very toxic stuff like grain based things like pastas and breads and it always gets me sick (runny/congested nose, etc.).

The reason I make every meal right before eating it is that I never know how long it will keep, will it keep 12 hours, 2 days, 7 days? This is mainly what's stopping me from making food for more than the next 30 minutes. How can I know how long something will last? If I knew a recipe will keep for 5 days then I'd make 5 days worth of it, but I don't, so I make a meal worth and eat it right away. By the way, I do have a vacuum sealer to store my food with no air, but even then I have no idea how long it will keep.

I think if I learnt to make more than a portion at once when I make a recipe it would REALLY help me eat more raw food, as I could keep things in the fridge and always have something ready to eat, this would be like a dream come true.

Please give me tips on making food for several days in advance and a way to know how long it keeps for, which is my biggest issue.

Thanks

[Hygeia]

Great question. This has always been an issue for me. I have OCD and when it comes to my food I know I throw things away too soon. I always worry that it's gone bad.

So I will benefit from your thread here also, can't wait to see what you get for input.

:D

[Doe]

Raweater, please forgive me for not being familiar with your past posts. What types of recipes do you make? What other equipment do you have?

Nut and dried fruit based recipes will last a very long time, many with no refrigeration.

If all of the ingredients came off the shelf and were incorporated together, they will still keep on the shelf. Of course living on say brownies would not be good. Still these recipes are good to have made and sitting around to eat instead of heavy cooked foods. If water or other wet ingredients were added to the nut/dried fruit base the product will last at least a month in the freezer - say cheesecake. Walnut taco meat has sat in my fridge a week and was just fine.

For savory dishes with a sauce, such as marinara, a very large batch of the sauce can be made dehydrated, ground up and kept in a glass jar on the shelf. Then just put some in a small bowl, add water, maybe a few chopped fresh veggies, spiralize some zucchini and voila!

Fruit leather lastes practically forever in a glass jar on the shelf. I still have the first banana leather I ever made - 3 years ago? - in the cabinet. Every now and again I take it out, look it over, taste a small bit, and decide I still don't like it. It is still in good condition though.

I have put leftover fresh pasta in the refrigerator and hubby ate it the next day and loved it.

Most fresh fruit and veggie creations will only last 3 days at the most.

Then there are those who eat a fresh avocado, or 6 bananas, or a suficient quantity of their favorite fresh fruit without any recipe.

If it is certain favorite recipes you are wondering about please state which ones and surely someone has experience with just how long it lasts for them. :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

Also many recipe books tell you how long things will last. Most stuff lasts at least three days, in my experience.

I never make enough for only one meal... I always have enough kale salad in the fridge for three days and IF it gets a little limp... I toss it into the dehydrator and VOILA I have chips!!!

I do that with anything that looks a little on the 'old' side... tomatoes, greens... if it looks like it's beginning to turn I put it into the dehydrator. That way if I'm short of fresh greens... I have dehydrated ones to add to my smoothie (or salad)

[Dimond]

Most food lasts for a few days, some longer. I make enough soups to last 2-3 days and they never go bad. Some things can freeze well. I don't make much else to last longer than once or twice, but all the things I make are pretty quick.

[Hygeia]

3 days? Is that an average rule of thumb? Good to know.

So does that mean that the pesto I made Friday night IS still good for my pasta lunch I packed for tomorrow? I hope so because I had just enough left for one more meal and didn't want to toss it.

I will definately be keeping and eye on this thread for more specific suggestions.

:D

[Aleesha Sattva]

yup... it's a good rule of thumb! and yup... your pesto will last!!!

[MiahTay]

I've been making Ani Phyo's sesame bread but I dehydrate it all the way to crackers, these would be fairly high in calories AND would last LONG. Also, I always have marinated collard greens in the fridge and they are good for 3-4 days easy. Nut pates should be good for 3-4 days. I personally don't eat anything with avocado older than 24 hours, even if it's still good it LOOKS nasty. I also wash and precut up my lettuce for a few days (I'm feeding a family of six). I cut up fresh pineapple and it keeps for 4 days easy. Smoothies store well for that day so you could make up what you are drinking for the day, they may loose some nutritional value but you have to decide if it's worth the time savings. Best of luck!

Heather

[parsnip]

I make a couple of servings of pretty much everything, and it works out fine. When I was eating cooked food, I'd make a ton of stuff to eat all week (for fridge or freezer), and that's harder when it's all raw, but pretty much everything keeps for at least two days. I cut up chard and bok choy and collards for salads, and store it in the fridge without dressing -- keeps at least three days, possibly more like four or five. Mostly I chop up things ahead of time but don't mix them together if I don't need to -- dressing separate from salads and that sort of thing. Barley sprouts seem to keep well (four or five days, anyway) and I like them in salads (plus they're more on the higher-calorie side, if you're looking for that and if you eat sprouted grains). I've tried freezing sprouted buckwheat to use in oatmeal, and that worked fine (I'd prefer them fresh but I sprouted too many and couldn't keep up). Cut up cabbage keeps well in the fridge.

I also chop up lots of garlic and ginger and keep that in the fridge, so I don't have to mess with that all the time. And sunflower seed pate (the only raw recipe I really make very much!) keeps about four days -- I've heard it can keep longer, but it starts to turn brown and I don't like to keep it around. Don't skimp on the lemon juice. :)

I make two days worth' of smoothies at a time, and they keep fine for that long -- sometimes I push it to three days but I don't think that's ideal. Depends on what's in the smoothie, I guess. Oh, and I keep carob-coconut chocolates in the freezer, and sliced bananas.

I admire your ability to make everything just before you eat it! I don't have the patience.

[jackieboomboom]

you can make soups with many servings. i mean, yeah, i guess its *best* to have it fresh but its better than having a cooked meal. also, i reserve a day of just dehydrating a load of bread and stuff. that way, you can have lots on hand for when you need to make a fast sandwich.

or you can always just eat a bunch of avocados with salt if you're not worried about extra calories... thats the best :)

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