[byusteeler]

You can adjust once-a-month cooking to work for any size family. We only have one child left at home. Often he is gone and it is just the two of us. I buy large packages of ground beef whenthey are on sale, cook it all up(with seasoning) and then put it in different size containers. I use larger for tacos or shepherds pie. Smaller for things like spaghetti or when there are just the 2 of us. I also buy steak or chicken in bulk split them out into 2 or 3 in a ziplock bag along with marinade (I do not pre-cook these but they are easily thrown on the barbecue grill). I do the cookie dough thing too. Sometimes we just take out 6 balls of cookie dough and bake them in the toaster oven. Most casseroles can be frozen and you can adjust the amount in each package for your family size. ( I love the ziplock or glad lock containers and they come in all different sizes.) You can cook ahead anything that freezes well. We have also done our own frozen roll dough. I don't think they were quite as good as fresh but they were OK. I am also not dedicated enough to do the spend a whole day cooking thing, But I do extra here and there and use what I've done ahead to save time when I am in a hurry. Also, I work out of town and it is nice for my husband and son to have something they can just heat up when I am gone.