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Angel
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 9:48am | IP Logged
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Once again I am considering once-a-month-cooking. I'm just wondering how hard it is to cook once a month (or every 2 weeks) for a large family. Right now I'm feeding 8 -- 2 adults, a teenage boy, and a 11 yo girl in addition to the little ones -- so my quantities aren't super huge, but still larger than the average recipe. Is this too hard to do for the large family? I really think this would solve many of our problems right now, but am a bit intimidated by it.
If you do OAMC, would you share how it works for you?
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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Lisbet
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 10:28am | IP Logged
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My first thoughts are the shopping - the outrageous amounts you would have to purchase at one time....
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 11:32am | IP Logged
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I don't OAMC but I buy outrageous amounts all at one time anyway.. much more cost effective as long as it's things you'll use.. and you buy the sale items etc.
I don't think it would be all that bad.. with 8 that's just 2 meals that you'd make for 4 people. Matter of fact you might just make the meals for 4 and be able to pull out 2 at a time to serve. Gives you a bit more flexibility and items will thaw and cook faster that way too. And you won't have to mess with the recipes.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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I tried OAMC years ago and found it to be much too stressful (at least for me). I've learned through the years to modify the concept by simply making multiple batches when cooking dinner foods, baked goods or desserts that are freezer worthy. I call it freezer banking...one to eat and a couple more to bank away in the freezer. I tend to bank meals whenever I know life is going to be more hectic than usual!
Buying in bulk sizes really helps with batch cooking. A restaurant size can of tomato sauce runs under $3....almost the same price as a small jar of pricey premade spaghetti sauce. Pasta and flour are a couple other items we've found to be less expensive in bulk amounts, unless you find a really good sale. Spices in bulk sizes are much more economical than tiny bottles in the grocery spice aisle.
It helps to have very large stock pots and baking pans (restaurant supply stores like Gordon Food Service or Sams Club are great places to invest in these). I've even used our large electric roaster for multiple batches. Gordons or Sams also sell foil steam pans at a very economical price...very helpful for things like lasagnas or casseroles.
Another adaptation, which has worked well in our household, is to freeze ingredients for meals...cooked meats, chopped vegetables, sauces, etc. I really like to chop up multiple ingredients for soups and layer them in freezer containers. When we have an abundance of zucchini, summer squash and peppers from the garden we slice or dice various combinations, according to the recipe they will be used in, then freeze them in batches for soups and casseroles. I've developed a mentality of always trying to think whether the task I'm performing can serve a future mealtime....I've learned to cube leftover bread chunks from our homemade bread and add them to a bag in the freezer until we have enough for bread pudding or baked French toast.... crumbs from cereals can be frozen and used to top cobblers or yogurt....chip crumbs can be frozen and added to the top of a casserole (or used for potato chip cookies, if you can ever get enough...definitely not lowfat, but VERY yummy).
OAMC can be adapted in so many ways on a daily or weekly basis....you still save time, energy and money, without all the extra effort you would have to invest in a monthly or bi-weekly cooking jaunt. HTH
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Donna Marie
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 1:06pm | IP Logged
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I can't even imagine how hard it would be for me to OMAC. I can tell you what I have been trying to do instead....
I try to cook in bulk, batches of things that can be used for other meals. Like:
I soak a lot of one kind of bean and the next day cook them and divide them into freezer baggies (I freeze them flat for stacking...very important if room is an issue) to be used in soups, tacos, salads etc...
If I get a good price on ground beef I may make several meatloaves or brown meat and divide the cooked meats for freezing. etc... much like what Servant is doing.
When cheese is a good price, I buy it in bulk and throw it in the freezer in its wrapper. I take it out the night before and it is ready to shred the next day (or I put it into cold water to defrost if I need it quicker.)
If I get chicken in bulk, I bake as much as I can...serve some for dinner and de-bone the rest and freeze. I also throw some chicken in a big pot to make a slow stock on the stove to be used in future soups and gravies.
I do everything from scratch so I need something going in that freezer that makes my cooking easier and quicker...I call it my own version of convenience foods.
If I am making one kind of dish, I throw in enough to extend it into another meal.
By freezing in batches, I am also controlling meal size. If I try to put all of what I have out and freeze after the meal is over, the kids have a tendency to eat all or a lot of what I put out!  So I am teaching them what constitutes a meal and portion-control in a much easier gentler way. This is especially helpful when I am distracted by other children and ...well..life. Some of my kids have a hard time figuring out what is a reasonable portion and this makes it a no-brainer in some circumstances.
I also top-load and bottom-load each day with meal prep. I put the kettle on for my tea at days-end and while I am waiting for that, I prep the coffee pot and prep breakfast and make dh's lunch. I may start the process going for soaking grains or beans. I am pretty much done when the tea is ready...that is unless I have dishes that have been left for me to do
In the morning, I might scrub potatoes and put them in a bowl for cooking later...wash and chop veggies (I usually assign a veggie a kid for this so it can get done faster...it makes it easier to have several peelers around for my helpers) for soup(which I will cook at lunch for dinner) I may put together a pitcher or 3 of iced tea to be served at dinner.
I have a red binder with page protectors in it that includes lists and directions for meals with certain ingredients. it takes some of the hurt out of the brain when it comes to making decisions...
So when I am running around like a chicken... at the end of the school day, I try to set things up ahead of time so I can grab *something* that I have already started, to throw a meal together. I try not to leave my decisions for 4pm! 
HTH!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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I like prepping things going into the freezer.. I don't necessarily like pre-cooking things.. though I do that with something big like a turkey or ham or big beef roast.. but I'll make hamburger patties or meatballs and freeze them raw.. but that means I can pull them out of the freezer.. cook from frozen and have dinner quickly.. freeze the meatballs on cookie sheets and then put into freezer bags and you can grab what you want for each meal rather than having to portion it out beforehand. (nice if I'm making lunch when several kids and dh are gone or such). I'll slice up a piece of cheap beef into strips and freeze those on cookie sheets as well like the meatballs. I try and seperate out anything like pork chops or ribs or chicken into single pieces before freezing.. again so that I can grab what I need rather than a set amount.
meatloaves can also be frozen raw.. line your pan with plastic wrap or foil and freeze in the pan.. then you can remove it and it's the right size/shape to go back in the pan for cooking.
I really don't like having to cook things ahead
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Angel
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 1:52pm | IP Logged
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Servant2theKing wrote:
I tried OAMC years ago and found it to be much too stressful (at least for me). I've learned through the years to modify the concept by simply making multiple batches when cooking dinner foods, baked goods or desserts that are freezer worthy. I call it freezer banking...one to eat and a couple more to bank away in the freezer. I tend to bank meals whenever I know life is going to be more hectic than usual!
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This is sort of what I do now, but for me the planning is a problem. For instance, even if I write down that I am going to make spaghetti sauce on a certain night and I know that every time I make sauce I make enough to freeze, it often ends up that with my dh traveling a lot or (as now) at the hospital with his dad or the baby wanting to nurse for 45 minutes at 5:30 PM or the boys unable to stop punching each other, it ends up at 6:15 and what I must do instead is make sandwiches. I have good intentions, but I don't seem to have time on a daily basis. (Lunch is also something I need to have ready to just pull out and I think we are sandwiched out.) We just moved, so I don't have that "bank" available for now, the crazy time. All I have is a crazy time.
(Actually, I guess that's not "planning" that's the problem, but execution!!)
On the other hand... the mere thought of having to spend much of my day cooking every 15 or 30 days does seem overwhelming!! I wonder if a decent modification might be taking a day every so often (maybe not every month) to lay in a supply of meals not for every night for a month, but just to be used on an "as needed" basis.
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Angela
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MWeber
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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I have done it before, particularly when I was expecting a child and wanted some meals saved up for that. The time I did it all at once, it was stressful, but this is what helped me the most:
1. I planned VERY carefully. Like spreadsheet with exact quantities of things needed. I separated ground beef recipes with chicken, pork, etc. I also made egg burritos for b'fast and pizza bagels for lunch. I made a step-by-step list of what I was going to make and when. Sounds obsessive, but I do so much better in a hot and crazy kitchen when I have everything planned!
2. I shopped on a different weekend than I cooked, to spread out the stress. ;)
3. I chopped all veggies, prepared all meat, etc. the day before. Even cooking the pasta and rice ahead of time. If you have to make any seasoning mixes, you can do that too. Basically, it's just plain easier to separate it all into 2 days. The prep day and the put-it-all-together day. 
4. I cooked all ground beef in a big pot of boiling water. Sounds weird, but it saved so much time and made it very lean too! I divided it up into 2-cup portions (equals about a pound) that I threw into my recipes the following day. When I cooked the chicken, I saved the broth. I basically just found any way I could to be resourceful.
5. I used recipezaar.com (now www.food.com) for recipe ideas. I searched its OAMC forum for ideas and advice. There are lots of knowledgeable women on there!
I'm home just about every afternoon, so I don't feel a pressing need to do OAMC at this point. It's also hard for me to set aside a big chunk of time when I have littles running around. But if I had older kids who were super active with extracurricular activities (i.e. out of the house a lot after school), I probably would be tempted. Since I am expecting another baby in a few months, I have already started doubling recipes and freezing half for when she arrives. It saves so much money and is so much healthier than eating out!
Oh, and another easy option is to do "dump recipes", dump some chicken pieces or a pork loin in a baggie, mix together your favorite marinades, and dump that in too. Thaw it out o/n and bake or grill the next night. There are lots of dump chicken recipes on cook.com.
OK, last tip (I promise)...do you have an Aldi? That's a great store to go to if you are shopping for OAMC. I do weekly sales/couponing now, since the closest Aldi is over 30 min away, but when I did OAMC, I couldn't afford to just go to my local supermarket and buy everything I needed. So, Aldi can be a major price-saver.
Good luck!
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Erin
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| Posted: Sept 30 2010 at 3:54pm | IP Logged
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Well Angela, as you know I shop once a month so that wouldn't be an issue. What has stopped me though is that all that freezing means alot of frozen meals and I do like lots of fresh food.
But what if you were to trial it by doing a week at a time?
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Vanna
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| Posted: Oct 08 2010 at 9:36am | IP Logged
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I am truly inspired right now. I am so disorganized and end up at the grocery store several times a WEEK...which leads me to spending WAAAAY too much money.
I am going to try to do better.
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Erin
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| Posted: Oct 08 2010 at 4:32pm | IP Logged
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Vanna
Really encouraging you to shop less, it's true you do spend more the more frequently you go.
All the best.
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Erin
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: OAMC for large families
