Have any of you tried once a month cooking? I've beenreading about it some on a feww web sites. I like the concept and decided to try it without buying any of the books. I could go to the library but they never seem toi have what I want. I made 2new casseroles(4 of each) and enough pancakes and French toast for a month. I planned to make 4 lasagnas but am pooped with cooking. I also made 4 tuna casseroles. Any hints from personal experience? Looks like at this rate it will be 2x a month cooking for me. I'm also running out of freezer space for my cooking because I buy in bulk and had alot in it already. oops!Denise

-- Denise (jphammock@earthlink.net), June 20, 2000

Answers

I have a reciepe which makes anough for two weeks, basicly it is a spaghetti reciepe with shreded carrots, onions, and zuccini in sauce, Four dinners over noodles, two with sauce and cheese layered on tortilas for a cassorile,two dinners of chicken and spinach soup, and about three dinners of salsbury steak. It is cheap to make and goes a long way when you are feeding a large family[ serving sizes were four people]. I got the reciepe from womens day. Freezing in plastic bags takes up less room in freezer.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), June 20, 2000.

Denise, Funny you mentioned this cause I heard something on the news and started thinking about trying this. What web sites did you visit? Sherrie

-- Sherrie Holcomb (ester@communitygate.net), June 20, 2000.

I just requested the book from the bookmobile, our mobile library, so am anxious to try out some of the recipies. Kathy: do you know which issue of Woman's Day that was that had the recipe you mentioned? Sounds great! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 20, 2000.

It was in womens day about six years ago[ yes im a pack rat]if your interested i can list supplies and directions.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), June 21, 2000.

I have tried the once a month cooking. It was both good and bad. First the good... it saved (a lot) on groceries because you use everything you buy on the list. If you have home grown stuff (onions etc) you can save even more. It was convenient. Even when we were extrememly busy we had a really nice dinner that month. I didn't use the meals every single night so it ended up lasting for several months. Most recipes in the cookbook are pretty good. Only a few were failures with the kids. The spaghetti sauce recipe is the absolute best I have ever made. Now the bad...it is exhausting on the day you decide to cook. I haven't done it since because of how tiring it was. If you go through with it, I would recommend a weekend of cooking. You could do the pork and chicken recipes one day and the beef recipes the next. What I am doing know is picking two or three recipes that are favorites with similar preparations and fixing double recipes to freeze. These casseroles like Heavenly Chicken are wonderful to have in the freezer for when a friend is in need. I'd be happy to answer any othre questions you might have. I think the cookbook is worth buying because of the great freezing recipes. Good luck, Jennifer

-- Jennifer (KY) (acornfork@hotmail.com), June 21, 2000.

Names of books and authors please!! Pretty please, even!

I frequently buy chicken and beef roast when it is on sale as a loss leader and cook up huge vats of it (cook up in big pressure canner), then freeze with broth in recipe size containers. I cook the beef with onion soup mix. I use the beef and broth for Italian beef (add hot pickled peppers and oregano to broth and simmer) Hot beef sandwiches, beef and noodles, vegetable soup, etc... The chicken goes into chicken and noodles or dumplings, or my family's favorite - Chicken biscut stew. I also make a lasagne type cassarole using wide egg noodles instead of lasagna noodles - just stir everything together and pack in cassarole pans.

Does anyone else buy aluminum foil pans to freeze in, or what do you use? Rubbermaid used to make a freezer container that would just fit a 1 qt corning ware dish, but I haven't found them lately. I prefer cartons that stack easily, rather than bags - easier to locate in my old monster chest freezer!!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), June 21, 2000.

Kathy: YES, please! I would love the recipe for the sauce, and any of the others of you who have favorites that make a lot, or can be doubled and used in different ways, please post them! Thanks! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 21, 2000.

I agree it is tiring. I've been cooking again today. I made 4 lasagnas, and a layered casserole called magnificent cassserole. It better be because it took alot of time and ingredients. After my break I'm going to make 4 breakfast bakes and then I'm finished. The main book is Once a Month Cooking: A Proven System for spending less time in the Kichen and Enjoy Delicious Homemade Meals Everyday. There alot of books about it and they are listed and available at www.realfood4realpeople.com/oamc.html. I liked that site because they had alot of recipes and tips without having to buy anything. I used aluminum pans from Sam's. So far they have washed well and can be recycled for another meal. I'd be interested in the sauce too, if you wouldn't mind posting it. Denise

-- Denise (jphammock@earthlink.net), June 21, 2000.

I LIKE to cook. I like deciding each day what to make for dinner, according to my whim du jour--it's one of my creative outlets. I don't look at it as a chore to be "efficienated". I wouldn't want one of life's blessings to be reduced to catfood (Hmmn...Seafood Surprise, Beef Chunklets, or Turkey & Giblets today? What to do?) That would get boring in a hurry.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), June 21, 2000.

Snoozy, I agree with you. If you LIKE to cook then doing it every day would be enjoyable. This is what happens here: I run all day with the kids and home schooling, take care of animals and garden etc, then its late afternoon and haven't even thought about what to eat. So it ends up being frozen pizza, fish sticks or other convenience foods that arent the most economical. I figure this way I can get it all done at once and I dont have to worry about it. Since I will be more organized, I will hopefully save money too. Oh did I mention that I DONT like to cook. Denise

-- Denise (jphammock@earthlink.net), June 21, 2000.

Cant find grocery list but here are reciepes,CHICKEN SOUP with tiny meatballs,bring 8 cups chicken broth and 8 cups water to boil[large pot], add 16 ounces bow tie noodles and cook 5 min,add 16 ounce bag spinach and simmer 5 more min. meanwhile in large mixing bowl mix 1 and 1/2 lbs ground beef[we use ground turky]1/2 cup parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon minced garlic until blended , form into balls and drop into soup, cook until meat is done,stir in 3 cups choped and sauted onions, carrots and zuccinni[you saute 2lbs onions,2lbs carrots and2lbs zucinni for these 4 reicipes]cook 5 more min and freeze. BASIC MEAT SAUCE cook 1 tablespoon minced garlic and three lbs ground beef sauted in large pan until no longer pink, add 6 cups sauted carrots zuccinni and onions, 4 28 ounce cans tomatos in juice,1 15 ounce tomato sauce and bring to boil,simmer uncovered 20 min. ZESTY CHILI 2 cups basic meat sauce,2 19 ounce cans kidney beans, 2 tablespoons chili powder, mix and freeze.MEXICAN CASSEROLE,this is better not frozen so freeze sauce and make when ready,each 1 takes 4 cups meat sauce,grease 9 or 10 inch baking dish, put a tortilla, spread 2/3 cup meat sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, and black olives, repeat 3 times, bake 30 to 35 min in 375 oven.the rest of sauce can be poured on noodles for dinners. enjoy.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), June 21, 2000.

What about cooking half the stuff one week and another half two weeks later? (Sort of like staggering breeding dates so you always have milk.) (Now I just re-read the end of Denise's post, and she already said that! Duh!)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), June 21, 2000.

Hi, I've used once a month cooking in a modified way, cooking several chickens at once, then making a bunch of the chicken recipes. It's not so overwhelming that way. Even if you really like to cook, it's nice to have some homemade ready to heat meals in the freezer for those hectic days when you're gone all day, or canning, etc. Instead of buying disposable foil pans, you can line your cake pan with aluminum foil, fill it with the food, freeze it, then take the frozen wrapped food out of the pan to store it in the freezer. When you're ready to cook the food, put it back in the cake pan to heat, and you have simple clean up when you're done. Good luck to all you cooks!

-- Deb (andersland@webound.com), June 22, 2000.

Denise, We use it in a modified way. I didn't like the fact that we couldn't take advantage of the weekly store specials, so when I cook I just double or triple the recipe and put the others in the freezer. Then, I have a meal when needed but can still take advantage of the good prices. Renee'

-- Renee' Madden (RM6PACK@aol.com), June 22, 2000.

Denise, I see your point. I never could see how homeschoolers had any time to get anything else done besides education -- quite a project! Good luck to you!

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), June 22, 2000.

Hi, I haven't posted here before but I lurk all the time. I've done once a month cooking several times. It can be really wonderful....once everything is in the freezer! It is a lot of work. I have two cookbooks that are specifically for once a month cooking. "Frozen Assets" and "Freezer Cooking Manual" They are both good and give good tips on how to do it all. They also have web sites with forums. Try www.30daygourmet.com and members.aol.com/DSimple/OAMClinks.html.

Good luck.

-- Tauna (tegan@ida.net), June 24, 2000.

I don't do cooking once a month but if I make things like chili or chop suey I make alot and than separate them in to different cassarole dishes lined with saran wrap and freeze them enough to make them solid and then take it out an wrap it up the rest of the way. Then all I have to do is pop it in the cassarole and into the oven for a ready made meal with out all the "stuff" in some of the frozen dinners at the store but I have to admit I am guilty of buying the cheap frozen stuff at the store sometimes. It's hard to do alot of cooking at times because I work full time and have a 6 month old. The only problem I had is sometimes the saran wrap doesn't want to come off.

-- cynthia (chemenway@hotmail.com), June 24, 2000.

I tried something like this one time. I cooked a turkey in the middle of summer and made a bunch of turkey pies with peas and carrots and then I took some of the filler and just saved it in freezer containers to have later. I was so proud of myself particularly to have homemade turkey pies since it is hard to get good ones in stores. Several weeks later I went downstairs to the basement for something and saw liquid on the floor in front of the freezer. Come to find out, hubby decided to unplug the freezer for a minute because he needed the extra outlet to use his drill. Guess who forgot to plug the freezer back in? I was so bummed out that I could never bring myself to bake all that again and I never got to eat any of the original batch. Waaaaahhhhh! But, you are inspiring me so maybe I'll try it again. After all, it's been fifteen years since the last time. LOL

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), June 24, 2000.

What a great bunch of ideas. We only allow ourselves a small freezer, with hurricanes and winds and living in the forest you loose power alot, so I try to keep everything in the fridge that can be easily cooked and canned. I do cook up large batches of hamburger meat, and chicken that I shred, I then freeze on cookie sheets, then pour into zip-lock baggies. So if I am running late hamburger helper or chicken spegetti is very easy. I also freeze all my produce, washed and dried, until I have enough to can. I usually wait and hold my fruit in the freezer until I have more time to make pie fillings and jam, canning during the winter also keeps the AC bill down during the heat of the summer. With the Y2K stuff I did we found out we loved the canned cakes, I used my normal carrot cake recipe, used the straight sided jars, baked them in the jars like normal, but as I took them out of the oven put on a clean seal and tightened down the lid. They kept, moist and delicious! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 24, 2000.

I've done both once a month cooking & daily cooking - it took me the same amount of time either way. When I come in from the field at dusk, too tired to move, its nice to nuke something while I shower. If I use rain days to cook up a batch of something, it doesn't seem like such a punishment to stay inside.

-- Judy Genereux (thistle_farm@hotmail.com), June 25, 2000.

Vicki,

Canned cakes baked in jars??? Please fill me in. It sounds so interesting. I would love to learn more about this method.

Hhhhhhmmmmmmm....Cake all the time? I LOVE that idea!! =)

Thanks, Greenthumbelina

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 20, 2000.

i like to no how to make good baked cake in a can

-- kimberly kempton (easy-rider25@yahoo.com), March 21, 2001.