Anyone here OAMC?

[Tiggerkeeper]

I just became aware of OAMC (once a month cooking) in January. While I haven't been brave enough to do a real session I have been doing mini-sessions based on what is on sale at the grocery store. I was thinking maybe the puffed french toast recipe would freeze well. What do you think?

Monday I cooked a ten pound bag of taters and made twiced baked potatoes and potato skins for freezer. With my two teenage bottomless pits that'll take care of snacks for a week!

Anyone else?

 

[Bobbie JoSue]

i am also new to oamc. i have always done my ground beef for burritos/tacos/spaghetti - please let me know where you look. i have 2 bottomless pit- on a growing spree all the time - girls and are looking for ways to cut down on grocery to save more for DIsney!!!

hope we can swap some recipes.
bobbie josue

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

I have joined the fugal moms site ($25 per year) which is very informative. The Friendly Freezer group at yahoo has a lot to offer too. At first I was a little overwhelmed with all the info. and trying to figure out what to do - but now I am starting to get on a roll. Do you have any of the "dump" sites? This is great for me just put ingredients in freezer bag along with meat and freeze, to cook just let thaw, it marinates as it thaws! Then grill, bake whatever! Soooo easy.

Feel free to e-mail me!

TK

 

[Kermit]

I do it. I haven't in a while, but I always have stuff in my freezer that I can pull out and use to make quick meals. I'll probably get more serious about it after I have a family and when I have a house big enough for a second freezer.

OAMC is very rewarding. It takes so little time to make so much food. And my favorite part is that there are a lot less dishes you have to wash. The casserole dishes I usually use to bake my food after it comes out of the freezer fit well in the dishwasher, so I don't have to hand wash much at all. It also can be very economical, especially if you're inclined to eat out when there's nothing easy to fix on hand.

I recommend the book Once-a-Month Cooking if you don't have it. I don't use a lot of the recipes exactly as they're written because they aren't quite as healthy as I like to cook, but I use them as guides as to how to freeze them and how to heat them afterward. For example, there are things that you don't cook until they're defrosted, but other things you cook thoroughly before freezing. I use that cookbook as a reference when I think of something I want to freeze.

 

[SplshMtn99]

I was doing it for a while too, but we were getting tired of foods with pasta & spaghetti sauce. lol I also made the twice baked potatoes once.

I still like to do: pancakes, french toast, mac & cheese, meatballs, meatloaf, stuffed peppers, chili, brownies & cookies, and english muffin pizzas.

Also, when I cook on a regular day, I just make extra & freeze it too sometimes.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I'm going to have to check this out some more. The only problem is that I'm not sure my husband would go for it. I think all the casseroles might get to him after a while. It might be good though if I could do it 1/2 the time.

 

[Kermit]

There really are a wide variety of types of foods you can make. For example, you can put chicken in a freezer bag with whatever you want to marinate it in. The flavor will soak in as you defrost it, and then you can bake it or grill it like normal. You can cook meat a variety of ways and freeze it plain. It's not quite as fast when you prepare dinner, but it does save time.

 

[BusyMomof3]

I tried this for awhile, too, but haven't done it recently. I would like to get back to it, but will have to rethink how I will do it. It was really overwhelming to try to cook that much by myself in one day. DH would help some, but it was a lot. Also, my family wasn't crazy about a lot of the recipes from the OAMC book.

Like Kermit, I used the book as a guide and adapted recipes of my own. The meats in marinades do work well, and you can do a lot of different things with them.

I have some friends who do this as a group (unfortunately, their group was already established when I met them). They double or triple recipes, meet at one person's house once-a-month or so to cook, and then split up the meals. They do some pre-prep at home the night before (browning ground meat or chopping veggies), and they rotate those jobs so one person doesn't get stuck doing the same thing every month. They have been doing this for several years and have quite a recipe colletion.

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

I don't know if I could do a full day session but I admire those who do. I basically put up things when they are on special. Just having taco seasoned beef and chicken prepackaged and the marinated meats not to mention a few "casserole" type meals in the freezer has made my life easier. I also keep basic ingredients packaged in the freezer so all I have to do is pull the bags and throw a meal together! My teenagers can even help out! We have stopped going out to eat when I don't feel like cooking because in about 30 minutes we can have dinner out of the freezer and on the table.

Another great help to me was just being organized! All my recipes are now categorized in notebooks and in MasterCook software. I have a pantry list, freezer inventory and a list of meals we commonly eat.

TK