OAMC or Once A Month Cooking is becoming very popular with today’s busy moms, dads, and caregivers. After working all day many parents just don’t have the time or energy to cook a traditional family meal and are turning to OAMC. Even stay at home moms are turning to this cooking method as in between cleaning, driving the kids around, and running errands they stay just as busy as working moms.
If you are rushed this holiday season, spend a day making several freezer meals so that you can relax at dinner time for the remainder of the week. Those that are really strapped for time are spending one to two days cooking up meals for an entire month! While you don’t have to go to that extreme, you can give it a whirl. Cooking once a week or once a month can add up to big savings in several ways.
If you choose to make meals that share common ingredients you won’t be spending as much at the grocery store. When choosing freezer recipes look make sure you go with something your family will like. There are a lot of choices out there, from casseroles to sloppy joes to soups to mini meat loaves. Skip over recipes with expensive ingredients and choose recipes that you already have some of the ingredients for. If chicken goes on sale at your grocery store, pick up ten pounds. Pick a day to cook up all ten pounds and turn it into several frozen dinners. You’ll save money by buying ingredients on sale.
Another way to get a nice stockpile of foods in the freezer is to make a double batch at dinner and freeze half of it. Do this every night for a week and you won’t have to cook dinner next week. Leftovers can also be stored in the freezer and eaten a week or two (or three) later. See the photo? That’s 1/2 of the double batch of Mexican Casserole I made and froze. It tasted just as good two weeks later as it did the first time.
Tips
Don’t store a big batch of food together if you aren’t going to eat it in one meal. If you make five pounds of mashed potatoes split it up before freezing in manageable sizes. This may mean single servings or family size servings.
Focus on making one kind on meal at a time. Pick one day and make breakfast burritos, muffins, etc. Spend a different day cooking up that ten pounds of chicken. Don’t wear yourself out in one day, stretch your cooking sessions out if needed.
Pasta will soften when froze. Freeze pasta slightly undercooked so it will come out perfect!
Try to pick recipes that cook at the same oven temp. You’ll be able to cook several items at once and save money. It costs a lot less to cook three or four meals in the oven at once than to cook those same meals separately.
Some foods don’t freeze well. Examples include egg whites, frosting, and fried foods.
Now that you’re feeling motivated find some yummy recipes your family will enjoy and get to planning. Invite a friend to try OAMC with you for added fun! If you have a tip, suggestion, or just want to say “hi” please leave a comment!
