Once a month cooking?

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Permalink Reply by The Happy Housewife on March 3, 2009 at 11:17am

You should check out Once a Month Mom, I met the authors of this site at Blissdom and they had some great ideas!
Toni

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Permalink Reply by Tricia on March 4, 2009 at 6:06pm

I went to a conference and bought the book, but I never got the hang of it. Now I am learning to double or triple recipes and freeze portion. I haven't been at this that long, but I have found Menus4Moms to be very helpful. I have tried some of their recipes and we really liked them. So you might want to check out their website - http://www.menus4moms.com/

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Permalink Reply by Dddiva on March 12, 2009 at 7:44am

To start without getting overwhelmed I'd suggest making double or triple batches of things you know your family likes- chili, lasagna, etc.
Then when something is on sale, say b/s chicken buy a lot then make several dishes with that. When ground meat is on sale make the dishes you like calling for that.
It helps a LOT at least it did for me, to have things like onions and peppers chopped ahead of time and in the freezer ready to go when I am ready to cook, it's just that much less to do and that many less dishes on a big cooking day.
In case you can't tell, I'm all about making things easier on myself. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by A.C. on April 1, 2009 at 7:59pm

These are great tips guys! I used to do the once a month cooking, but as my household grows that becomes harder. I think making extra batches as you see things on sale is a wonderful plan...you're already cooking it, so why not make two or three?
I've got to get back into this groove!

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Permalink Reply by Ronnie Berg on April 8, 2009 at 8:11pm

I so wanna be down with once a month cooking. I plan, but probably not to well since I go to the store at least 3 times a week.

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Permalink Reply by Beth Gasser on April 28, 2009 at 7:33pm

I'm happy to say that I've been part of a founding OAMC cooking club for years and have trained/helped a lot of people get started. It does take committment, but it can be such a fantastic experience. If you are going to do it as a group, you need equally committed moms and a large space/kitchen to do it (church, community center, firestation, school are some I've seen used). If you are going to do it yourself, then there isn't as much needed. I've done it both ways and you can save a ton of time and money (you save more the more bulk you can buy). The recipes on my site are all OAMC (tried and true freezer recipes. www.confessionsofamom.com Also, another site and friend of mine in the cooking club has this OAMC site: www.tidytightwads.com Our local NBC station did a feature story about OAMC and saving money. You can watch how we make it work here: http://www.kare11.com/news/investigative/extras/extra_article.aspx?...
Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by J9 @ yourLI.com on April 29, 2009 at 10:19am

We are a family of five. I think this is a great concept if it was only my partner and I, however we have two teens and one 6 year old. The oldest, who will be 17 soon, is a picky eater as well as our six year old.
Does the food still remain fresh in the freezer? I would think that after a week, once reheated, the meal would lose the fresh flavors and have a bit of a freezer burned taste.
I would LOVE to try this out, but I am a little concerned about pleasing ALL the members in my family.
Feedback would be appreciated.... :)
Jeannine

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Permalink Reply by Kim Kihega on May 1, 2009 at 9:10pm

I want to try this, but it seems like a lot of planning! I'm not too great at that :)

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Mann on May 8, 2009 at 1:37pm

I've kind of fallen off the wagon since I've been working at home. I'll double or triple recipes when I'm cooking or if I get a good deal on chicken thighs or something. And I never really managed a OAMC--more of a lots of stuff every couple weeks approach. My family is so-so on casseroles,and I'm so-so on ground beef, so we lean more towards lasagne, chili, soups, etc. and I'll bread chicken parts or throw them in baggies of marinade in the freezer.

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Permalink Reply by Val on November 6, 2009 at 1:29am

I own http://OnceAWeekCooking.com and this is a weekly meal plan instead of monthly. However, it's a 12 month plan and I personally reuse the meal plans according to what the grocery sales are and go for as monthly as possible with meals.

I try not to, but my meal plans tend to lean towards chicken recipes. I'm almost done with the 12 months of meal plans and then I will also start out specialty meal plans. As I can have no dairy, so that is tops on my list for building a meal plan and my best friend is gluten-free.

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