Once a Month Cooking {part one} Planning

Cooking and Freezing meals, then enjoying them later.  In a nutshell, I have foud that OAMC saves time, money, and my sanity during the week when I really don't want to think about planning or cooking meals.  Take a meal out of the freezer the night before to thaw and heat it up at dinner time. 

There are a variety of different ways of doing OAMC.  My friend Brooke and I have developed a system that works for us.  This is not a one size fits all kind of thing though, so if it sounds like something won't work for you... don't be discouraged!!  Everything can be adapted and changed.  It is also a trial and error process... some meals are great for freezing, and others aren't.  If you try OAMC more than once, you will find some recipes that you love and will continue to use each and every month.

{part one} Planning

By far, the most important thing in doing OAMC is planning.  In fact, we usually do a preliminary meeting before a cook day to plan out which meals we will be making, make a shopping list, and divide up the responsibilities. 

*Note* OAMC does not have to be done with a friend, however it makes the workload lighter and a lot more fun!

List making works for us.  We usually make three different lists:

• Meal List
• What meals will you make? 
• Look for recipes in magazines, cookbooks, and online. 
• Think about a meal you already know your family likes, if it can't be frozen, can a portion of it be made ahead and frozen? (Like chicken for a salad)
• Variety is the spice of life!  Casseroles are NOT the only meals that can be frozen.  We have adapted many healthful recipes to be freezer friendly.
• Will you make main dishes for dinners only?  Something to use for breakfast or lunch?  How about side items?  I will say that we really do main dishes only.  We might throw in a few side dishes here and there, but we have found that the major time and money saver has been planning out our main dishes and keeping sides like rice, potatoes, and veggies on hand.
• How many meals will you be making?
• Our last OAMC meal list consisted of 21 recipes, but we doubled many of them and ended up with 33 meals for each family!  Start small (like with 10 meals) and add to your meal list as you become more familiar with the process.
• Think about the level of difficulty for each meal and the method of preparation.  It is best to have a variety of different types of meals. We have a few different categories, some being easy and some more difficult:
• Marinate-Only recipes - meat in a bag with marinade, then freeze.  One of the easiest.
• Crockpot - Cook all or a portion of the meal in the crockpot, wait for it to cool, then freeze.
• BBQ
• Skillet
• Oven
• Microwave
• Raw Prep - preparing the recipe, but not cooking it (like meatloaf)
• What types of meat will you be using?  Our basic categories are:
• Steak
• Chicken
• Ground beef
• Ground Turkey
• Pork
• Seasonal (turkey in November, soup in the winter, etc.)
• Make notes on your Meal List of any additional information that will be helpful on cook day.
• Will this recipe require marinating ahead of time?
• Will you be doubling the recipe? 
• How much meat are you planning on using for that recipe?
• Shopping List
• Once you have a list of meals, gather your recipes.  Go through the ingredients of each recipe and make your shopping list.
• Seperate your list into sections of the grocery store... meat, cheese, produce, dry/pantry goods...
• Don't forget to check your pantry for items you might already have on hand!
• Also, list items you will need to store the finished meals in the freezer.  We use these items regularly:
• Ziploc Gallon, Quart, Sandwich, and Snack sized bags
• Aluminum casserole dishes (approx 9x13 size)
• Foil
• Personal List
• When working with a friend especially, it is a good idea to divide the responsibility. 
• If you are cooking at one person's house the other might be able to contribute cooking tools, crockpots, food processors, extra cutting boards, etc. 
• Check each person's pantry for items you might have on hand and can contribute to keep the shopping cost down.
• If there are better prices at different stores, you might divide up the shopping responsibility.  Keep all your receipts!

Once your lists are made and you have a day in mind to cook, head out and do your shopping!  Plan to shop a day or two before you plan on cooking.  Try to clear enough room in both your fridge (for ingredients) and freezer (for completed meals). 

...to be continued...