about to start Once A Month Cooking..tips?? (Update #13, 20, 24, 25)

[♥ms.pacman♥]

so last night i finally got around to reading the OAMC book, and it sounds awesome and seems like it could really work for us. i think i will start with a 2week cycle (Plan A ), especially i think we could easily stretch it to 3 weeks since our LOs are still little and don't eat a ton.

i plan to have DH take the list and do grocery shopping tonight, and then on Tues when the sitter comes in the morning i plan to do all the prepping/cooking/freezing then. she only stays for 4 hrs, but then the kiddos usually nap for 2 hrs so i'm hoping i can get all the stuff done in 6 hours (if not, i guess i can take a break for a bit until DH is done with work).

Any tips? I am a bit intimidated by making 14 different things all at once!! Do just using gallon-sized freezer bags really work well? (i like that bc it's flat, saves space, plus less to wash afterwards)

[WatchingThemGrow]

Off the top of my head - can you do the shopping online so you can just pick it up? It's just easier, even easier than sending DH.

The gallon freezer bags do work. I try to label the bags (by looking at the bottom of the recipes) the day before. If your babysitter is there, enlist her help. Clean off your counters/tables so you have lots of space. Reuse pots, enlist DH to help do the dishes when you finish. Have open space in your fridge to cool dishes as they are finished, then move them to the freezer. Copy the "freezer list" to stick on the side of the freezer. The meals usually last us at least 2x as long as they are supposed to because of leftovers, eating out, simple meals, etc. We only eat about 3 of them per week. Post if you need more tips during!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thanks for the reply, WTG!!

ok, just got back from shopping..decided to make it a family event and went with DH & kids. OMG. talk about huge shopping trip! By the time we got everything on the list, it was 9pm and the kids were going a little nuts. We spent $200 on everything, which actually doesn't sound too horrible at all, given that a lot of it was meats and raw ingredients and it'll make 14 hearty dinners of several servings each (and like you say, it says 2 weeks but i think we could easily stretch it to a month).

After seeing the sheer amount of food (especially the meats! holy cow!!) i am kinda scared now, LOL. i have never cooked/prepared this much stuff EVER, maybe 3 things, at most! i just emailed our sitter asking if she can sit the whole day as i think i am gonna need it!!

about online shopping, that sounds heavenly (as seeing how insane it was tonight trying to run through all the aisles searching for everything while the kids were shouting) but i have no idea where to go for that. What service did you use? I think I asked DH once a while back to look into it, and he said there wasn't much in our area. I know our local Whole Foods just started a free concierge program and you can fax or call an order in and they will deliver your food for $7.95 (flat fee), but WF is kinda pricey in general...

ETA: the only grocery delivery service i've heard of is Peapod, but they're not available in my area

[WatchingThemGrow]

Check your regular groceries for online shopping. Our Harris Teeter andLowes Foods both gather your items from an onlineorder and bring them to your car. It costs $5.

Iusually start around noon so the kids arenapping then ican use DH to do childcare while ikeepcooking. Have yourfood prepped so you get to eat. Have the kids stuff done as well.

Photocopy the prep instructions and tape them to your cabinets. Get a pencil to mark them off as you complete each step. If your Dh gets home at a decent hour, you don't need a sitter the whole day.

Organize your stuff into zones and have about 10 large and 10 small containers for the prepped items. I use the 8c glad rectangles that are deep and some of the smaller ones lunchmeat comes in that mil alwaysbrings us. Use your largest cutting board and have fun!

You will do well I'm sure!

[rolypoly27]

This sounds interesting! I've always wanted to cook meals ahead and freeze them for dinner during the week, but I didn't know there was a system and a book out there for it. I should probably read the book too but I don't know if I'll get around to it.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Hope you're doing well, ms.pacman!

It's really more of an organization thing. You only have to read the first couple pages of the book, then copy a couple pages and go for it, leaving some time in between each task. The prep takes me the longest b/c I get stuff from different stores.

[elbenn]

If you do find cooking so many meals at once overwhelming, you could just double recipes and put one serving in the freezer. If you did that for a couple of weeks, you would have quite a few meals in the freezer. I can't wait to hear how it goes for you!

[JoyNChrist]

I just started doing this a couple weeks ago, and I'm loving it! I've only had two cooking sessions, so I'm not an expert, but the main thing I've found that I need to do is schedule breaks between steps so I can catch up on the dishes. Otherwise there's just a huge pile of dishes in the sink and it gets overwhelming.

[elektra]

Would you all mind posting the book you are using specifically?
I have heard this mentioned before, and it sounds so cool. I really do not enjoy cooking and if I could get it all done at once I think I would like that.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thanks everyone! i will look into the grocery delivery thing for sure, it would save me SO much time. it's hard to get such a huge shopping trip done with the kiddos, and then if i have DH go after the kids are in bed that cuts out a lot of the time we get to spend together sans kids, so it would be so much easier if we could do it all online. it doesn't seemt that our local Kroger deliver, but maybe other chains here do. If it works out I may bite the bullet and try Whole Foods delivery. I can TOTALLY see why the book says NOT to do the grocery shopping and cooking all in the same day..it's exhausting!!

anyway, tonight DH & I are going to chop some of the stuff ahead of time (that's the part i hate most, and it takes forever). Then tomorrow (Tues) when i'm going to cook everything my sitter is coming and luckily she can stay till 4pm. I figured in the afternoon while the kids are napping she can help me with some of the cleanup and prep.

As for the book, this is the one I got. I got it for like $5 at my local Half Price Bookstore.
http://www.amazon.com/Once---Month-C...sr=1-3-catcorr

The one thing i've read in reviews is that there are some errors in this book, and you have to be careful with the grocery lists (e.g. some cycles the grocery list says to get a steak, but then there are no steaks in any of the recipes). in 2week plan A though there doesn't seem to be any major errors.

anyway, i will update tomorrow after i make everything!!