One thing that I do occasionally in one capacity or another is Once a Month Cooking or OAMC. I have done many variations of this in the past. Most recently, I had a cooking day with my aunt. We put together 12 recipes, it was our first time doing that much so we wanted to keep it manageable. It took us about 8 hours (minus lunch and a quick trip to the store because we decided to make extra waffles- oh, and I forgot something and had to run home and get it…) It would have taken less time if we had done more of the prep work in advance, like shredding cheese.
We each took home:
- Banana Muffins
- Waffles
- Bacon Wrapped Chicken
- Pizza Casserole x2
- Pizza dough w/ shredded mozzarella
- Pizza Roll-ups
- Sweet Salsa Chicken
- Chili Maple Glazed Chicken
- Mini Meatloaves
- Chicken Packets
- Mexican Stuffed Shells
Some of those ended up being 2 or 3 meals, so for 8 hours work we had quite a bit of food. I must say I was exhausted though! I am sure that being pregnant may have made that worse though.
Sometimes, I make extra food and freeze it for future use. Other times, I do some basic prep work like browning ground beef with onions, garlic and green peppers. I then freeze this is approximately one pound packages so that it is ready to use when needed.
These techniques save money because you can buy things in bulk on sale and freeze until needed. Also, when meals are prepared already, or at least partially prepared, you are less tempted to eat out after a busy day!
I am planning to post an OAMC tutorial soon, likely in several parts.
Give it a try, start small and the next time you make pancakes or waffles make some extra and freeze them! (I put wax paper between mine and defrost in the microwave approximately 30-40 sec each, or you can use the toaster.)
