Tomorrow, I will begin my second round of once-a-month-cooking. I did it several months ago and loved the outcome. (I would of liked to keep up every month but finances prevented us from doing so.) I am sold on it. It was nice to wake up every morning and know what was going to be for dinner before even getting out of bed! Everyday I would jokingly say to my daughter 'hmmm...what should I have for dinner....oh, I know, it's in the freezer!'--so proud of myself. Of course, after a few days that got old and she would just reply with an interruption 'I know, it's in the freezer, get over yourself already!'
So tomorrow I begin. The nice thing is that I already have my master menu and shopping list that just needs a little tweaking. I double 2 weeks of meals. It will take me 3 days. One for the shopping and prep work, and the other 2 for cooking.
Some of our family favorites will include: green chili, lasagna, enchiladas, cheesy chicken crescents, beef roast, roast beef tacos, chicken fried steak, chicken barley soup, lo-fat chicken tortilla soup, stuffed peppers, meatloaf, chipped beef gravy and a few new recipes I'd like to try.
Some advantages I found is that even though I only made 30 meals it usually lasted 10 or so more days because 1.) I had leftovers not only for lunches the next day but for a clean-out-the-fridge night and 2.) I plan on cooking a meal at least once during the week that doesn't freeze well but is still one of our favorites.
If anyone is interested in this method of cooking just Google Once A Month Cooking or OAMC. There is a wealth of information on this subject. I would also appreciate any tips that would streamline the process.
So, come Thursday, dinner will only be a matter of putting a side dish and/or salad together and clean up! Hurray!
It's DEFINITELY All Good!
Wow! What a great concept. I'm a "It's in the freezer" kind of person. Usually it's I'd better go to the grocery store and see what looks good that day. Someday maybe I'll get more organized, but I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about cooking like that. It sounds interesting. But my only setback, is that I am not exactly bless with the skills of organizing. By the way, thanks for visiting.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to try that cooking one day for a month thing. It would be great to just pull out a good meal and pop it in the oven. I think I will google it and try it. Those recipes sound very good. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI love doing this kind of cooking! though it's been a while since I've done it - i really need to get back in the habit. Another thing I did was on the nights that I actually cooked a meal from scratch I tripled the recipe and froze the other two batches. That helped put even more meals in the freezer. I'd love for you to share some of your recipes. And guess what? I live off Coors Rd! Just take Coors north from the freeway about 8 miles and you're pretty much to my house!!
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