Once a month cooking
Has anyone ventured into trying once a month cooking? How has it worked for you?
I decided to try this concept out. Chicken was on sale, so I stocked up. I just put 4 packages into the crock pot and plan to shred it up for tacos, casseroles, fried rice, etc. I will make up some meals and freeze them so I have stuff ready for a quick meal. I decided to try this out because it seems like I make some of the same things over and over, and I wondered if it would be smarter to make it in huge quantities and get several meals out of it.
For those who do/have tried once a month cooking, what kinds of meals do you freeze? What has worked and what hasn't? Any tips or advice?
freeze well
Chili, enchiladas, and meatloaf freeze pretty well. I'm a mother of three and a student who also works part time so this is a great alternative to fast food or over processed frozen meals. Chilis and soups you can freeze in gallon size ziploc freezer bags and there is tuperware (i think also ziploc) containers that fit small casseroles nicely.
Anastasia
Great Idea
I am getting ready to go away for my job for 4-6 weeks. So I had to create foods between the two weeks that I will be gone. I have froze chili, breads, brownies, soups, sloppy joes, etc so my husband can just grab, thaw and reheat. I actually like this and once I am back for good I think one day of the month I am going to do this.
your post
Actually, it was your post that made me start thinking of trying this on a permanent basis!
Well, here's what happened. Stocked up on the chicken, got a bug in my butt to go ahead and start on this yesterday afternoon (when I really wasn't prepared to). My crock pot was so full of chicken, it took forever to cook through. No biggie because I still needed to run to the store for a few things to complete my meals. Well the chicken took so long to cook that I got nauseated from smelling raw chicken all afternoon, and it really dampened my mood to finish this project! Needless to say, I ran out of energy and motivation to go to the store, didn't have any desire to make a bunch of food last night at 9:00 after the kids were in bed, so I just shredded it all up, packaged it in freezer bags and threw them in the freezer. At least I have cooked chicken ready to go for some quick meals over the next month. I do think I will have better luck with beef. Most of my tried-and-true recipes were beef anyway, and stuff I already make pretty consistently and know that it freezes well. Most of the chicken would have been "experimental" anyway!
One thing I did learn was rather than cooking 10 things in 1 day, I may have better luck dedicating 2 hours a day to making just 1 or 2 things, and spreading this project out over the week. After I started, I realized I don't have enough BIG pots and pans to make several things at once anyway. I will give my project another try, but I will slow down and make it a little easier on myself. Who was I kidding? Was I really going to make 2 months worth of meals in one afternoon???? HAHAH!
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
funny!
I like your way of thinking; you made me laught! My husband couple months ago ask me to look at this 1month cooking but wow it seems so much work in one day like you said : )
What I like to do is double or triple my batchs, per ex: spagnetti sauce i use it also for lasagna and just freeze them so for those emergency or just relax nights I have something and it's good. Love to freeze my salsa rosa and soups.
I want a go one day to a "seven days freezing meals class" with my husband and like this have some fun time at the same time : )
Get a Buddy
What if you got a buddy that wanted to do this also. Go shopping one day, prep one day and then cook another day. If you do it together maybe it would be more fun. I have been trying to get my mother to cook with me once a month but it has not worked yet. I have friend that loves cooking this way. I have been work on doubling my recipes. Which has worked a couple of times for me. I just have to go and buy the meat and get moving on it.
Mommy of Aaron
Success!
I tried it again, and it was actually pretty fun! This time I bought 16 pounds of ground beef and started cooking it 2 or 3 pounds at a time. I made 5 pounds of taco meat, 5 pounds of bbq beef, 2 meals of spaghetti, and it all took me about 40 minutes. I let it all simmer for an hour, let it cool a bit and packaged it into meal portions and froze it. Later I decided to do some vegetable soup and got 4 meals out of that. I think I'll finish up today and do chili.
Funny though, my husband was in heaven when he got home from work. Usually he is told what is for dinner, last night he got to choose between 4 things!
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
freezing
What do you put the meat in to freeze it? How long does it stay good for in the freezer? Do you use a deep freezer or just your normal one? I was talking to my husband about this last night and I think he might try it. How do you do the chicken? We use the boneless skinless and either shred it or make chicken nuggets or soup.
freezer
We have a deep freeze. For the chicken, I just used boneless skinless and cooked them, then shredded it and froze it 3 cup portions (with a little broth) in freezer bags. The beef I actually made the food....tacos, veg soup, bbq, chili, then froze it in either freezer bags or those semi-disposable tupperware bowls. From what I've read, it should last a good 3 - 6 months in the deep freeze, probably not as long in a regular freezer.
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
Freezing prepped items
I haven't done a whole month of cooking, but I have done a few meals here and there. Mostly I end up freezing things that take more time to prep so they are ready for future meals. Dry beans is a great example of this, they are much cheaper than canned beans but you have to soak them for several hours or overnight to prep them so I usually soak a whole bag even though I only need 1/4 of the bag. Then I freeze the rest in freezer bags. I have tried freezing cooked rice, but found the consistency was off after thawing. I think the casserole type dishes work really well for freezing, although I never plan on enough thawing time because they take forever to thaw.
Whenever I am out of town, I usually have meals planned ahead for my husband and kids and it definitely takes a lot of hours cooking and cleaning to make it easier on those weeknights after work and school. But there are definitely some efficiencies to doing all that work at once because you can use the same cutting board and knife to chop all those vegetables instead of washing it after one thing.