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Lisbet
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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Anyone do this? I am intrigued by this idea. I've had cooking days where I've cooked, say, a weeks worth of meals. But this is far more detailed. I have a copy of Jill Bond's "Mega Cooking" which is very interesting and has some great recipes. I came across this blog post yesterday, Once A Month Cooking. We also have 2 deep freezers, a smaller chest freezer in our basement that we usually keep milk, bread, and cheese in, and a bigger one in the garage that is currrently empty. (it was free so we couldn't pass it up!) And of course the freezer part of our fridge in the kitchen.
I was thinking I could have my mom over to help me if I actually go to do this, and just dedicate a day to it. It would be really really wonderful for the summer months not to have to worry much about dinner, and even better when Benedict makes his arrival.
My other concern though, is the money. Dh has given me a very strict $250/per week for any and everything that we may need for groceries, the house, the kids, etc... (well, this is seperate from our monthly school/activity budget, but it does include shoes, clothing, medical things, cleaning supplies, etc...) I have been REALLY good about sticking to this with some left over to save. But if something comes up, like this week, 5 of the 8 needed new church shoes, I'm sunk! 
Any thoughts on this? Is it practical for a family the size of ours? (Bethany has 3 children I believe) Thanks so much!
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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Marybeth
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 9:08am | IP Logged
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Lisa,
I have done once a month cooking with a friend about 3x. We would do it more often except she moved and is an hour and half away now. We still are working on the logistics of trying it again in her brand new kitchen.
It is trial and error as each time we learned some new things,made mistakes and realized how to make it easier for the future.
We purchased our meat and the bulk of our ingredients at Sams Club.
We had lunch and breakfast ready for ourselves and families before we began our cooking marathon.
We used two crockpots and browned all meat the evening before.
Fish dishes didn't seem to work well with freezing. We tried for meatless Fridays,but decided our grill cheese and tomato soup dinners work just fine. 
We purchased ready made sauces b/c it was an added step we didn't have time for "that day". You could always make any sauce earlier in the week.
We made sidedishes the first time which was very time consuming and made for way tooooo long first day. We cut back on them drastically the next two times. Now with our main dish ready it is easy to add the sidedishes and rolls to the table.
Keep a sink full of hot sudsy water at all times.
Keep plenty of drinks on hand b/c you get hot and thirsty.
Start early!!
Get more ziplock gallon bags then you think you will need and label them ahead of time!
Divide duties and cooking chores before you begin.
We saved money doing this each time. I am only feeding three people, but my dh has a huge appetite and ate the leftovers for lunch each day. We ate our meals for almost two months from one day of cooking. My girlfriend fed seven people (five kids,Mom and Dad) for six weeks with one day of cooking. She couldn't believe how much they saved. They are huge restaurant people so that savings alone has her husband pushing us to set up a series of cooking dates for the future.
Just one caution....
I have had people I know let their children get dinners from their freezers and the doors not close properly which caused them to lose all their food from spoilage.
I know several moms with 7,8,9,10 kids in our homeschooling group who cook monthly and wouldn't do it any other way. They have such well-managed cooking dys b/c their children learned early how to cook,bake and help around the kitchen. One family has a separate cooking,baking and bread day each month.
Hope this helps...if you need anything else specific let me know...I can ask these mothers of larger families for answers.
Take care!
Marybeth
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Marybeth (Mb)
http://held-together.blogspot.com
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 9:43am | IP Logged
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I did this a few years ago about 6 times. I had a neighbor who would watch the kids for a few hours on a Saturday and then dh would take them the rest of the day. I LOVED to do it and I LOVED the results. (Who wouldn't love tons of bags and containers full of homemade prepared food staring at you when you looked into your freezer? )
It was just too exhausting and time consuming all at once. It wasn't necessarily cheaper, and I'm not sure it saved time. But, I probably didn't do it enough to get good at it, or very efficient. It changed WHEN I did the food prep. (all at once-with no kids around vs. a bit every day). which, of course, is helpful.
I also get a bit OCD about the organization of it all, even when I was following someone else's meal plan.
I used these two books:
Frozen Assets
Once-a-month-cooking
I do a mini modified version of once-a-month cooking now. Making one recipe at a time in large quanitities and freeze. THIS saves money because the sales/marked down section of the meat dept dictates what I cook.
Most of my prep work/cooking is done at night, so I don't have to cook in the afternoon.
ETA: Sue Gregg's "Meals in Minutes" is another one I use for good, healthy freezer meals.
And, I just did a post on how I organize my freezer. Hold on to your hats.....it's quite exciting!
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 10:30am | IP Logged
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I love once a month cooking, but haven't done it in awhile. I really believe that this is the MOST economical way to shop/cook.
I have stacks of old Gentle Spirit magazines (conservative protestant mag from the 90's) with reams of articles that I've saved on this. I particularly like these because the women contributing had uber-large families.
The keynote article was on feeding a family with 8 children for $350 per month...all three meals a day with snacks included! She included where she shopped (costco, food coop, local place with deals), and detailed grocery lists.
Breakfast 6 days a week is bulk oatmeal or other hot cereals from a local coop, purchased in either 25# or 50# bags. Saturday is whole grain pancakes...flour also purchased in bulk. They used a homemade syrup recipe with maple flavoring, I think, or homemade jams.
Lunches were homemade soups with bread and veggies/fruit on sale. She would start with a water base, and make a batch on Monday, and then use the leftovers as starter for Tuesday, etc. Bread and peanut butter is an economical addition.
Dinners included spaghetti and 4 other casserole type meals that would freeze well, including at least 1 or 2 that were bean based. Fish does not freeze well. All dinners included a salad and more homemade whole grain bread.
Popcorn was the snack of choice.
Its a two day process. One for shopping, and doing some of the processing work ahead of time (chopping onions and other veggies, soaking beans, etc), and one VERY long day cooking and cleaning up. Try to balance your recipes so that some are stovetop prepared, some are crockpot prepared, and some are oven prepared.
I think that allowing for inflation, you could make her menus/recipes for $400 a month now. Its austere, but it will satisfy even hungry teenage boys and is all scratch food. No cans of cream of mushroom soup or anything like that.
You've inspired me to pull them out again. I'd like to start this over the summer and try to get into the habit before the school year starts.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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JenniferS
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 10:37am | IP Logged
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I did this right before our last dc was born. It was nice to have all the stuff in the freezer and ready to go while adjusting to another little one. I never did do it again, but I need to. It sure beats my last minute efforts as of late.
Jen
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: May 17 2007 at 1:30pm | IP Logged
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I do this several times a year, using ideas and recipes from Frozen Assets.
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: May 21 2007 at 4:55am | IP Logged
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The concept appeals to me, but the execution doesn't.
I do have a wonderful book from Better Homes and Gardens called "Make it Now, Serve it Later." It isn't exactly once-a-month cooking. But it includes many great recipes and ideas for doing that on a less intimidating scale. For instance, you might make a basic recipe for seasoned ground beef (batch and freeze) and then you have 6 different meal ideas you can use it in. I really like this better, because you can do it as you are able.
My other favorite cookbook is called "Meals That Can Wait: Recipes for Commuter's Wives, Weekend Hostesses, and other Dependents of the Undependable". They have copies at abebooks
These recipes can be prepared ahead and heated through at the last minute, etc. This makes it easy to throw something together during the day and relax right before dinner time instead of rushing around. The recipes are delicious and the author has a wonderful sense of humor.
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 21 2007 at 5:23am | IP Logged
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I have been looking at this too to get meals in the freezer before the baby comes. I use Sue Gregg and have taken Frozen Assets out of the library. The whole day cooking thing is not going to work for me - so my plan is to do the following;
One day - cook breakfasts - batches of muffins and waffles and freeze
Another day - cook chicken dishes and freeze
Another day - do beef dishes and freeze
Another day - concentrate on sides, pizza and other
I have a problem with some of the ingredients in the OAMC books. eg does anyone have an alternative to the Campbells Cream of .. soups - they are used a lot and we cannot use them.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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Lisbet
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| Posted: May 21 2007 at 7:11am | IP Logged
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Thanks for all of the great ideas and input gals! I've been brainstorming and experimenting for a few days now, and I think I'm really going to give it a go. Marilyn, I visit this blog a couple times a week and she has a great homemade 'cream of' recipe, and all kinds of great inspiration for meals. And she seems like a very pleasant lady to boot! :)
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
Mama to:
Nick, 17
Abby, 15
Gabe, 13
Isaac, 11
Mary, 10
Sam, 9
Henry, 7
Molly, 6
Mark, 5
Greta, 3
Cecilia born 10.29.10
Josephine born 6.11.12
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SaraP
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| Posted: May 21 2007 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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I do a modified version where I do a big-cook once a week and make a week's meals worth of ONE dish, we eat one portion that night and I freeze the rest.
About a year and half ago I did this for a month or so without eating any of the frozen meals (to build up a variety of meals in the freezer) and then started cooking one night and eating out of the freezer for the rest of the week and it's worked great.
ETA that a thin white sauce (2TBS flour, TBS butter, 2C milk) with sauteed onions or celery works fine in place of cream of's . . . but depending on why you can't use the soups that might not work for you either.
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Mama to six on earth, two in heaven and two waiting in Russia. Foxberry Farm Almanac
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Once a Month Cooking
