One of the things I’ve been doing for months now is buying food for an entire month and then cooking several things in bulk. I don’t quite do the full-blown once a month cooking (OAMC) production, but it still works out well regardless.

This month we bought two sets of meat from the local meat market instead of just one month’s worth, and I ended up with 80+ pounds of various meats including beef/pork roasts, steaks, pork chops, sausage, bacon, chicken, and a few other random cuts of meat.

To help me out later in the upcoming months, I went ahead and split the pork packages up into zip-loc bags in appropriate portion sizes for our family. For five of portions, I also whipped up some marinades to pour in and freeze with them so they’re all ready to go*. I’ve never used marinades much, but figured with so much pork, they were worth a shot and would give us something different to try.

I looked around for marinade suggestions online, but I wanted to use what I had on hand, so I tweaked several of these recipes to make them my own. Some won’t look much like what they original did, but they all tasted pretty good before I even put them in the bags, so I’m betting on mostly successes.

Apple Cinnamon (compiled from a few different recipes)
2-3 apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup applesauce (I’d just made some fresh applesauce, so this was perfect)
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Tangy Pork Marinade

6 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. parsley (I used about 1/2 tablespoon fresh parsley)
2 tbsp. wine vinegar (I used regular white vinegar and used a bit less, just for the tang)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard (I used regular yellow mustard here)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. lemon juice (I squeezed a fresh lemon and used a bit less)

Berry Marinade

1 cup blackberry wine (Me? Keep blackberry wine on hand for cooking? I think not. I actually added some frozen berries instead, knowing full well that it’ll taste nothing like this recipe was intended, but it’s fun and different, so we’ll see how it goes….oh, and some water to make up for the liquid difference)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup green onions
1/2 tsp ground ginger (used less ginger, simply because I didn’t want the flavor to be overpowering with the fruit attempt)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup olive oil

Cinnamon Honey BBQ Sauce

2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. bbq sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. oil
1 1/2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Honey Mustard Marinade
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tsp. honey
3 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon leaves (skipped the taragon altogether)
4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (only used 2 cloves)
1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

(This one was already so much of a success that it was requested we have it again soon, so I made more and tossed it in with some other pork that I left un-marinaded)

* Tip: After putting the meat with marinades, put it in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight before freezing. You could also freeze immediately and when you’re ready to use the meat, let it thaw overnight in the fridge. This gives the meat time to really marinade in the sauces for a better flavor.