April 17, 2010 cooking

Well we finished our cooking. Boy were we pooped. The day got started with Amber having to bow out as Baleigh was sick and vomiting. Ewwww. Poor little thing! So, when Ivy arrived, her and I went to the store and bought the items Amber was bringing, then we (Roy, Ivy and I) went to eat lunch and then home to begin! We were almost 2 hours late starting, so was really worried as to whether or not we could get everything done. We did, with the exception of Lasagna. We added a chicken/pineapple freezer dish. I'm anxious to try it. We like chinese food, so should be good!

As I've said before, organization is key. So...while Ivy was peeling the potatoes for the Shepherd's pie, I mixed up the ingredients for the shepherd's pie. Roy and I didn't want the same frozen veggies added to ours as the girls did, so I did ours separate from what the girls wanted. After we were finished with each recipe, we cleaned the counter and washed the dishes We finished up about 7:30 and were exhausted. We ate some leftovers...too tired to even go out! Our feet hurt so bad. Then we had to store the food! So...downstairs to our freezer and refrigerator! lots of trips! But the feeling is sooooooooo good to have a full freezer and meals ready!

Getting Prepared

Well tomorrow is cooking day. Tonight I got my part of the groceries for tomorrow. I also browned the 8 lbs of ground beef, put a whole chicken in the slow cooker, chopped the onions. I laid out the recipes with the ingredients in the vicinity. Organization is key! TRUST ME! When the girls arrive tomorrow with their groceries, we will put them with the recipes along with the containers and begin.

I will try to post pictures of the before during and after!!!

Now for a good night's sleep so I am rested!

More tomorrow (or Sunday)

April OAMC (once A Month Cooking)

Well the girls and I made our list of foods/recipes for our cooking day next Saturday (4/17/2010). We made out our grocery lists, so each one is buying enough of their list for everyone. I'm doing the meats. I'll precook all that needs cooked ahead! (for instance, browning all the ground beef for casseroles, cooking chicken to shred for chicken enchiladas, etc) Each one of us has different tastes, so we vary the needs for each recipe, but seems to work for us! We don't like frozen veggies except for corn, cauliflower, and broccoli. The girls all like frozen veggies. So we vary our recipes to incorporate our likes.

This month we will be making the following:

Shepherds Pie/fish packets/chicken enchiladas/Speedy Overnight Casserole (turkey casserole)/Souper burgers/Stuffed manicotti/lasagna/marinade steaks.

Yesterday I made 4 dozen butterhorn rolls for everyone to have in their freezer. So..next week I'll post how our cooking day went and possibly some pictures along with it.

We are considering maybe starting up a club to help everyone out! Will try to keep you informed. If you are interested, just let me know.

Introduction

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by deciding what to prepare for a meal? I know I have. Especially our evening meal when our three children were growing up. Then one day I stumbled across a program called "Once A Month Cooking" and thought I'd give it a try. It was a lifesaver and I loved it. I did it for years, from the time my youngest was preschool until he was in 8th grade! I don't remember why I quit, just that I did. When I was doing the OAMC back then I prepared a lot of full, complete meals and froze them, entree, side and dessert. The only thing I had to actually prepare for the meal was the vegetable or the potatoes.

For those of you not familiar with the OAMC program I will try to explain it to you here. this blog is to try to help you see what it takes, how to do it, and how much fun you can actually have.

Once A Month Cooking is the ultimate do-ahead dinner preparation technique. the secret of the OAMC technique is that you cook all your dinner main dishes for a month (or two weeks) in one day, freeze them, and enjoy eating tasty food every night without the hassle of lengthy meal preparation. In this blog I will try to provide the menu we use, shopping lists and recipes.

You don't have to be well organized or a good cook to successfully accomplish OAMC. But you need to expect and plan to:
Take a longer-than-usual shopping trip, preferably the day or night before you cook
Spend the bulk of your month's food budget on this shopping trip (saving money over the course of the month)
cook with a partner or two or three like I do, for maximum fun and efficiency
cook half a day for a two week cycle, a full day for a month cycle
Love the freedom and possibilities this will bring to mealtimes
Enjoy family-building times around the table and like us the time we cook together
Take the stress out of having company for dinner.

I suggest for the first few times you do the OAMC to try to do the two week cycle. Then when you get the feel of the "system" advance on to the full month if that is what you want and have the room for the food.

Also in this blog I will frequently give you suggestions of what to serve with a certain recipe.

Please feel free to email me with any suggestions and question you might have. Even leave a comments here on the blog.

Give it a try. I'm sure you will love it!