I've heard that cooking a month's worth of meals at once can save lots of time and money. Does anyone here do this? If so, do you know of any good websites that give instruction on this? How does it work for you? Thanks in advance!
I have a friend that used to do it and kept a blog let me see if its still is like that. I could not do that. I can't remember to pull out dinners like that. plus my family is too picky, they don't like casseroles.
I've looked into this. If you do a search on-line for OAMC, you'll find lots of plans. The main reason I DON'T do OAMC is because of sales. Where I live, this week we have boneless chicken breast for $1.89/lb. That's a great price! So I will buy lots of it. But the day I do my buying for OAMC, it won't be that cheap; it will be over $3/lb! So I'd rather buy it now and make a lot of chicken recipes to freeze. Or, last week a store had beef roasts B1G1. So I bought four, put them in an electric roaster, and made six freezer bags full of pulled beef for sandwiches, or I can add gravy to a bag and put them over mashed potatoes. Again, I bought the meat on sale. If I were doing OAMC, I'd be buying them on Shopping Day, not when I could get the best price.
I'd love to do it but don't for the same reasons as Jackie....now if only I could convince myself that I, too can make ahead and freeze meals....I'd benefit tremendously. =)
I don't do it once a month, but I often make 2 or 3 dinners at once and freeze 2 of them. I do it with lasagna, enchiladas, soups... things like that. I would love to try doing it once for the whole month sometime and see how it goes!
We did it a few times, but it was too much for me. Each time I ended up throwing away food that we didn't end up eating because it looked kind of gross after a month. I think once a week cooking probably would have worked out better. I got the recipes from savingdinner.com. I think if you do a search on Recipezaar.com you can also search for oamc and find dinners suitable for the freezer.
I did it successfully for a year, but had help. A friend made half of the recipes at her house for both of us and I made half at my house for both of us. Then we swapped. It made it so much easier. Now I just do some cooking ahead when things are on sale or when I know I am about to have a very busy week.
I tend to make a double batch of something and then freeze it. So it becomes unintentional, but end up with a bunch of premade - toss in the oven - type dishes because of it. Maybe that's a way to start? Just double up for a few weeks. After a month you'll have a whole months worth of dishes in the freezer.
I honestly am afraid I'll end up with soggy yucky food.....I don't know what freezes well and what doesn't....besides soups.
I have made meals in advance and froze them but never a months worth. However, I do cook individual ingredients and freeze them. I like to keep frozen chicken broth in the freezer, premeasured. I just drop a cup size in my rice or soup. Ground turkey or beef freezes well and it is great to just thaw it and add other ingredients. The same goes for beans, chicken, and whatever I can make ahead and freeze.
Thanks for all the ideas. My husband told me grocery shopping once a month would be too costly a trip the grocery. LOL But I'm definitely going to start doubling up recipes and freezing some dishes that I know freeze well. At our house we love chili and I know that freezes fine. A lasagna freezes well too, so I'm sure I'll be throwing a few of those together. I think I could easily do a week at a time! Thanks ladies!
Exactly!!! I get my grocery money every two weeks. I usually buy the most the first week and do the most doubling that week. I then end up using some the 2nd week GOOD LUCK!
Perhaps we can change this thread, or start another, for tried-and-true recipes that freeze well....?
I think we all could benefit from that....I know when I'm not sure, I just end up throwing it away lol
I don't do OAMC - I now do weekly meal planning and I use the meals from e-mealz.com. I subscribe to 2 different "plans" and combine them for the week depending on our family.
We don't do "once a month", however, we often do "a couple of times a week" cooking. We also have a list of about 40 meals that everyone in the family enjoys. We keep rotating through those meals. Because the meals are repeating and we have a shopping list for each, it's easy to pre-plan at least a week in advance and to do the shopping. Everyone in our family enjoys leftovers, so we prepare more than we need and the rest is consumed during the following mornings and afternoons. It took many recipes and a long time to come up with the list that everyone will eat from.
Andrea, that was the most informative, easy-to-use guide I've seen of OMAC!!! Thanks! Very practical, and even addresses my "problems" with doing it!
