Does anyone here do ONCE-A-MONTH cooking????

[jaksilee]

I just wanted to see if this is something that anyone here is doing this. If so how big of a family are you doing it for, any couples???

[mom-from-missouri]

I do once a month baking-esp during the summer. This is for 4 of us. I pack my kids school lunches, and they always have a baked good in i--so, once a month, I bake bread, cupcakes, muffins, pies, cakes...takes me all day, but lasts all month. The baked goods are used at all meals--muffins for breakfast and the girls morning snack at school, deserts at meals....Now during the winter, I don't wait a month. I'll bake maybe every 2 weeks, as I can turn down the heat, with the oven on.
I store in it the freezer. Lunch items (cupcakes, muffins, corn muffins) I let cool, put in a baggie (which I wash and reuse) and freeze. They are thawed by lunch time, but help keep their lunch box cool.

[bee]

I do that with cookies,cakes,bread, rolls and sometimes pizzas starting in the fall. I will do a double batch of a few different kinds of cookies, roll in balls or flaten with a fork and flash freeze the dough on cookie sheets then pop in freezer bags which I will also wash and reuse when finished, this way the cookies are not all eaten at once and it smells so good in the mornings not to mention there is nothing like freashly baked cookies for lunches or if the school has a bake sale coming up it is so handy.


When I make cakes I will also double the batter and pour them into bread pans when they are finished and have cooled I wrap them up seperately and freeze.

If I am making a casserole,spaghettie sauce etc I make 2 batches and freeze one.


When I buy chicken legs/thighs on sale I take a big stock pot put a bunch of legs/thighs in it and cover with water, I also will add some onions quartered and celery for a bit of added flavour , however this is not required ,I bring all of that to a boil then simmer it for a couple of hours. When time is up I take out the chicken and set aside to cool a bit so that I can handle it and take off the skins, discard,( I do use paper towel for this as I don't like the feeling of trying to take it off as it is too slippery or even cheaper take an old linen napkin ) then take off the meat and put enough in freezer bags for adding to meals to freeze eg: chicken casserole , chicken fried rice, soup, Hot chicken sandwhiches, sandwhiches , chicken and pasta etc. It really is amazing just how many meals you can get from doing this.

Mean while, I had let the broth cool and have put in the fridge so that the fat will be easier to take off the broth ,then I take that and divide it up into freezer bags for gravies and soups, there is nothing like homemade broth , some people will also put the broth in ice cube trays or muffin tins and freeze then pop them out and put a bunch in freezer bags .


I buy the big family packs of hamburger and I will do up a bunch of taco meat, hamburger mixed with garlic and onion, meatballs ( for sweet and sour meatballs etc.) This way if I want a quick meal some nights and feel like having say french fries with taco meat on top and sprinkle with shredded cheese,salsa,sour cream etc.......Hamburger soup is a good quick meal or make up some tortillas with taco meat etc. The meat is already cooked so it is quick just to nuke up.

If I am not in the mood to cook up a bunch of hamburger I will freeze it raw and cook it up on another day.

If steak is onsale and I buy it I will cook 2 extra and freeze the extra to make beef barley soup, beef/gravy/veggies with biscuits casserole. The same with pot roast.

I will buy ham when it is onsale and out of an $8 smoked ham (I live in Canada) I will make a boiled ham and cabbage dinner and have enough left over for another ham dinner/ ham to make up fried hash/ and 2 freezer bags for macaroni and ham as a side dish with a meal.

I buy breakfast breakfast sausages and do up a bunch and for $4.50 I get a breakfast supper with pancakes, and freeze the rest and if the kids want sausage with their breakfast they can just take them out of the freezer and nuke them and I also use them to cut up on homemade pizza, biscuits with cut up sausages and shredded cheese baked etc.

I do this with bacon too, I bake it up in the oven instead of frying it and freeze them. This is great for toasted BLT's, bacon bits on salad, bacon with breakfast and ongoing......

I make alot of homemade mixes to have on hand so that I am not hauling out flour,sugar etc every time and making a mess . I have a rubber maid container with homemade biscuit mix and I usually just do up the drop biscuits instead of rolling out the dough that way when I make casseroles etc I just take my mix, add the milk to it , stir and drop on cookie sheets to go with soups or I will drop it onto a casserole for the crust on a pot pie. I do my brownie mixes up, cream soup mix, rice mix, corn bread, pudding mix etc all up from scratch .

I should add that we are a family of 4.....2 adults and 2 children ages 12 and 14.

Heather

[cicy33]

I don't but you make it sound so easy maybe I should!

[jaksilee]

cicy, if you want more info on doing this check out this website.

http://members.aol.com/oamcloop/index.html

Or this on....

http://organizedhome.com/content-85.html

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by bee

I o my brownie mixes up, cream soup mix, rice mix, corn bread, pudding mix etc all up from scratch .

Heather

whats the recipie for pudding mix? is it really instant pudding, or cook kind? and is it healthier than the box kind? (I have a weakness for pudding)

[bee]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

whats the recipie for pudding mix? is it really instant pudding, or cook kind? and is it healthier than the box kind? (I have a weakness for pudding)

The pudding mix that I have on hand I cook on the stove but it only takes a few minutes to make then you pour it in your bowls or pie crust to cool then eat......

Here is one of my favorite mix websites and when I make up any jar mixes etc I take the recipe and X it by 5 so that I have it on hand for a least a month plus......be prepared to be looking for a while as I kid you not.....there is just about every kind of mix to make in there

http://members.tripod.com/~MaryMae/jarlinks.htm

Also here are a couple of meatless meal recipe links for once a month cooking but you can just whip up alot of them for a quick supper and if you add just one or two a week it will save on your monthly groceries.


http://snider.mardox.com/Veggie.htm

http://snider.mardox.com/Veggie2.html

Here is the freezer cooking page for those sites with OMAC

http://snider.mardox.com/OAMC.htm



Hope this helps

Heather

[cercis]

We try to always cook extra when we cook.

When the weather gets cooler, I cook pots and pots of beans, which I then mash and make into refried beans for the summer. It helps to heat and humidify the house and then we have good refried beans when it's too hot to want to cook.

DH also grills as much meat as the grill will hold. We grill roasts, steaks, chicken quarters, etc. We debone the chicken, cut up the roast and steak and freeze it to use in fajitas and stir-fry. Or in several other dishes dh makes using little bits of meat (most of our recipes use about 1 cup of meat for our family of 4).

I've never done the organized OAMC, because I'm just not dedicated enough to devote a whole day to just one thing. But what we do works out really well.

[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.

[marglo]

No for just the two of us and I don't work outside the home, there doesn't seem to be any reason to do this. When the kids were all home and I was working I tried it once but didn't seem to work for me. It wore me out to cook so much at once. Now I cook very simple meals that mostly take only about 15-45 min. to prepare. I plan my menus and shop for the ingredients once a week. Pretty easy.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by bee

Here is one of my favorite mix websites and when I make up any jar mixes etc I take the recipe and X it by 5 so that I have it on hand for a least a month plus......be prepared to be looking for a while as I kid you not.....there is just about every kind of mix to make in there

http://members.tripod.com/~MaryMae/jarlinks.htm

Thanks!

[flash]

Originally Posted by jaksilee

I just wanted to see if this is something that anyone here is doing this. If so how big of a family are you doing it for, any couples???

Actually, yes. My mother ran a catering service, and I've always cooked in quantity if I'm putting in long hours at work. The key is a big freezer!

My husband loves breakfast muffins, so every 3 or 4 months I make 30 dozen or more muffins. Frozen, he pulls them out every morning or for quick snacks.

I also occasionally take a weekend and just fill the freezer. It is just the two of us (couple), but time gets tight, and it's great to have it ready to go.

[ioana]

I cook daily for two people!!! I love eating fresh food with no conservants in it and I have learned how too cook exactly the quantity we eat for not wasting any food. I would feel so bad to waste food when they are so many children who need food in this world.

[contrary1]

I've tried the OAMC & it didn't work well for me. I could never carve out the time it took in one session. I've got disabled kids around all the time & when I did have a day off, cooking wasn't my activity of choice.
I do, however, do the double, triple batch type event as often as possible. There are usually just 3 of us here now, so not cooking for a tribe any longer.......But, I will still cook several chickens, a couple roasts, a whole turkey & then package the parts we didn't use for the current meal. Makes for painless cooking ahead for me.
I do the same for baked goods, just double or triple and freeze what we don't use right away.
Love having at least parts of meals in the freezer...........then, I can add the fresh items & pull out a dessert.