Once a Month Cooking...anyone else?

[stargazer]

I have done this method of cooking last year and just about killed myself trying to get it all done in one weekend. I see the merit and want to do this again but this time since I am couponing, use the sales and cook in smaller batches. Say chicken is on sale this week and I want to pick up 30-50 lbs, I would then prepare recipes with this chicken and freeze them as my go to meals. Does anyone do this here and are you successful or am I having delusions of grandeur and will I be biting off more than I can chew? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[Jiji]

It's not as hard as it seems if you have a few hours to devote to it relatively uninterrupted. I've even done it with 3 kids in the house - took a little longer, but I got it done.

Go to www.30daygourmet.com and read up on their suggestions and recipes. Those ladies have really got it together.

I've done this with success especially when I was pg and didn't want to worry about dinner the first few weeks.

[1daygourmet]

I owned a food assembly business called 1 Day Gourmet, hence my user name. I was so surprised to read the pp that said go to 30daygourmet. lol I found that in my business that if you froze you meals after assembling the recipe, before cooking you got the best results. It saves you time on assembly day, and on the day you are going to use the meal it tastes as fresh as if you had made it that day.

[hotcouponmama]

Originally Posted by 1daygourmet I owned a food assembly business called 1 Day Gourmet, hence my user name. I was so surprised to read the pp that said go to 30daygourmet. lol I found that in my business that if you froze you meals after assembling the recipe, before cooking you got the best results. It saves you time on assembly day, and on the day you are going to use the meal it tastes as fresh as if you had made it that day.

Yep - I did a newsletter topic here about this last year for one of our HCW newsletters. Not all the ingredients need to be cooked ahead.

I routinely do this with ground beef - and will do meatballs, spaghetti meat, pat out hamburger meat and make taco meat simultaneously. Takes me about 2-3 hours to handle 20-30 pounds of ground beef.

Having owned a restaurant before, my advice for your chicken is to tray it up on cookie sheets, season it with assorted seasonings for whatever dish you're making, bake it off in the oven, then cool. Chop or leave whole, but be prepping each dish as you go while it's cooking, and have all your containers, etc spread out with base ingredients on the counter. Cook pastas ahead, rinse and cool.

It is doable to prep meals in a weekend, but it does take some good prep work and planning. And then another tip - make the meals "stackable", in that way, I mean, if you're going to prep chicken for enchiladas (which freeze well), use the same seasonings to make a southwestern chicken and rice dish and make all that flavor of chicken up at once.

Also, don't worry about eating the same thing 2x in one month - it cuts down on the amount of work if you can make 2 pans of one thing instead of separate pans for separate meals.

[FrankRyan]

I started a social group here at HCW called: OAMC, bulk cooking or Feed the Freezer. My wife and I routinely do exactly what the OP suggested. Using loss leaders to assemble meals quickly cuts down on expenses and time. Sure, you don't have a 30 day menu, but you might have at least two dinners and four lunches per week pre-made or at the ready for the next six weeks. Over time, we've found that preparing loss leaders once every two weeks will eventually lead to 5 or 6 days available per week.

We found OAMC to be ridiculously expensive. Sure, it cuts down on time, but why shell out a month's worth of ingredients in one shopping trip? What are the odds that all the ingredients will be on sale that day.

I'd love to help and learn from anyone interested in this style of cooking.

Are the Social Groups new? What a great idea.

Frank

[Jiji]

I only suggested that website because they have an incredible recipe section and great tips. I believe in feeding the freezer, whether it's making one extra dish or cooking all weekend long.

[1daygourmet]

Oh, I agree. I only laughed because 30 Day Gourmet is so close to my stores name
1 Day Gourmet. I've closed my shop but try and prepair meals the way I did when the shop was open. It's not as easy as when I had 7 prep stations and 4 employees chopping, preping and cleaning up after me. How I miss those days.

[stargazer]

Yeah my daughter and I have done this before and just about killed ourselves. I was lucky in that I picked up ground beef and chicken that was on sale the first time I tried it so it ended up being relatively inexpensive (I wasn't couponing then). I am just thinking that with all the condiments and ingredients that I have gotten for pennies on the dollar that it will be much cheaper. I will definately be doing this in smaller batches as I have a "one butt" kitchen. We were falling all over ourselves the last time and every surface was covered. It was doable but something I won't do again. I would like to join a social group here geared to this very topic, I think it will help us save time as well as money.

[raesana]

I recently started researching OAMC which turned into me thinking about once a week cooking. I really think I can handle it weekly, but am confused about a couple of things.

1. Am I supposed to cook the stuff and then freeze it? I'll probably cook things like steak, baked chicken or ribs, spaghetti, meatloaf, stirfry... pretty simple meals.

2. How do I reheat them so they don't taste like junk? Microwave, bake, refry or some other method?

3. Am I supposed to defrost the food before I reheat?

4. What kind of containers do I use and where can I get a deal? I've been looking at Pyrex but they seem kind of pricey considering that I only want the long flat pan.

We usually cook enough dinner for 4 people and then have some leftover for lunch . Any other advice or ideas would be appreciated! TIA!

[raesana]

I know there has to be someone who knows!