The concept behind once a month cooking is to plan your menu and do all of your meal prep work on one day and then keep it all in the freezer until you use it later in the month. It has changed the way I cook and the way my family eats! We are eating a better variety of meals, ones that are healthy with organic and whole food ingredients, and I am spending a TON less time in the kitchen each day getting our meals ready.
How does it work, you say? Here is how it looks for me...
Each month, I typically set aside 2 hours for menu planning - looking up new recipes I want to try, locating my recipes that are tried and true, planning the order of meals so we don't, for example, have all soups one week and all Asian food the next, and then writing out an extensive grocery list. I then do a big shopping day at Sam's Club, Costco, Super Target, and Cub. Sometimes that comes in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed or sometimes it is on a day I know my in-laws will babysit.
With all the ingredients on hand, I tackle the cooking. The first time I did it with the kids safely tucked away at my in-laws' house, I cooked for about 6 hours, and got 15 meals completely prepared and in the freezer. The second month, I cooked for about 8 hours and got 24 meals in the freezer. The next two times I did this, I didn't have the luxury of a solid day of cooking without the kids at home so did 3-5 meals a day during nap time for a week and then had everything in the freezer for the rest of the month.
Some of the meals are prep only on cooking day, meaning I toss all the raw ingredients into ziploc baggies and label them with cooking instructions and throw them in the freezer. Some are minimal prep - meaning I have to brown meat or cook noodles and assemble. Thirdly, (and I usually try to limit the number of these kinds of recipes) are the meals that involve cooking thoroughly and then freezing in their cooked state to reheat on eating day. For those, I like to try to double the recipes since I am going to go through all the work of cooking it.
Many of the meals make enough food for a family of six. We are currently feeding about 3 1/2 people so for us many recipes can be split. By doing this, I feel like we waste a lot less food not throwing out uneaten leftovers later in the week.
Because I am doing the grocery shopping in bulk, I have been able to maintain a budget of about $10 per meal. It saves us money, time, and stress every day! And, I love it! I have done four months of this now and couldn't imagine going back!
I am currently working on the menu for February. Our menu hangs right on the fridge and I mark on the menu where fresh ingredients need to be bought that week (i.e. lettuce, tomato, and avocado for tacos, fresh bread for french dip sandwiches, etc.). I try to plan 4-5 meals per week knowing that weekends are always different as far as meals go and we need to have at least one night of leftovers so as to not waste food. I'm definitely not rigid in my meal plan and do rearrange as my mood hits but generally stick to what I have planned for each night. Here is what I think February's menu will look like:
| February Menu | ||||
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Orange Apricot Pork Chops* | Chicken Tortilla Soup** | Hearty Beef Stew | ||
| Kung Pao Chicken | Rotel Tacos** | Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti | Chicken Noodle Soup* | Chicken Pot Pie |
| Basil Chicken and Spinach Ravioli | Taco Soup** | Shepherd's Pie | Sloppy Joe's** | Stuffed Shells |
| Chicken Caccatori* | Jack Hilger Stew* | Black Bean Corn Quesadillas | Asian Pork Tenderloin and Asian Carrots** | BBQ Chicken Pizza |
| Asian Peanut Chicken Stirfry* | Black Bean Burritos* | Chicken Pot Pie | ||
* food swap group meal
**needs additional fresh ingredients:
Tortilla Soup - sour cream
Rotel Tacos - lettuce, tomatoes, avocado
Taco Soup - sour cream
Sloppy Joes - buns
Asain Pork Tenderloin - green onions
Hope this is helpful for all you aspiring freezer cookers out there!!!
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