Frozen Rodent Mix

Taking a leaf from the Dapper Rat's site on her frozen food recipe, I decided to try a frozen mix myself since I'm always so pressed for time.

Thanks to another friend, I found Whole Foods sells frozen kale.  In the interest of time I also used the frozen rice and beans.  In future mixes, I'll make the rice and beans myself.

I gave them some tonight and they all LOVED it.  I will vary it every batch but there are some base ingredients I will use in every batch.  I'll add other items for variety.

• Frozen Whole Kale  (10#)
• Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Cauliflower, Squash, Carrots (11#)
• Peas (5#)
• Corn (5#)
• 10 cups of cooked beans
• 12 cups steamed brown basmatti rice
• 12 cups steamed quinoa
• Frozen Green Beans (5#)

For those in the Beaverton/Hillsboro, Oregon area, I get items to make the mix at the following locations:

• frozen, chopped blue kale - Whole Foods
• frozen corn - Costco
• frozen peas - Costco
• frozen green beans - Costco
• frozen Normandy vegetables - Costco
• brown rice - winco bulk food bins (you can get any grain, but since I eat the basmatti brown, that is what I buy them, it is more expensive)  And I actually purchase my basmatti brown rice at Costco or Winco, depending on which one is cheaper.
• mix of dried beans (I buy a combination of dried beans from the bulk bins in Winco; I do not include lentils or split peas because I already have frozen peas and the lentils don't seem to hold together so well.

I steam the brown rice in a cooker.  I have the small cooker so when I cook it, it takes 2 pots of it for about 12 cups.  I then cook the quinoa in the cooker and it also takes 2 pots to get about 12 cups.

I cook 1 cup of dried beans for every 2 cups of cooked beans.  I place the beans in a pot on the stove and cover with water and bring to a boil for 3 minutes.  Then I turn down the heat and let simmer for 2 and a half hours until the beans are tender but not mushy.  I then drain and put beans in the fridge to cool.  The rice and quinoa are put in the fridge to cool and then in the freezer to freeze.

I then mix all of the frozen foods together and add the beans as well.

After mixing it all together, I part it out in amounts that I will use each night.  Currently I use freezer zip bags (and I reuse them).  Eventually I will get the appropriate sized freezer containers to do this with I still have to find one that I like.

Each night I pull a packet out and  put it in a microwave safe container and cook it for 3 to 5 minutes.  Then I dish it out to the kiddos.

I do include fresh vegetables when I have them.  I don't cook those. 


Because of their dry mix, I don't put in any pasta in the mix.

I purchased the 1 pound paper boats at Costco, 250 for $5 to feed the wet mix in.  I would rather spend the money on paper plates than spend the time washing them. :D

Reference:  The Dapper Rat Rat Diet http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet