Once A Month Cooking, Part 3

So you've made your month-long (or more) menu, shopped, and all that food is sitting in your kitchen.  Don't be overwhelmed!  Be thankful!  Put the pantry/cabinet items away.  Group your meats and produces according to kind.  If you know you can't cook multiple meats at once, choose which one you want to start with and put the rest in the fridge for safe keeping.  Make sure your recipes are handy so you can consult them.

I used a small white board I keep on my fridge to figure out how much of each kind of meat to cook in what particular fashion for which meals and how many of those meals.  Too confusing to follow?  :-P  Similar to this for ground beef...

Plain ground beef - 2 lbs (Spanish Rice x 2)
Pepper/onion ground beef - 3 lb (Spaghetti x 2 half pounds, Chili x 2)
Taco Season ground beef - 4 lbs (Tacos x 2, Taco Salad x 2)
Meatloaf - 2 lbs (Meatloaf x 2)
Hamburgers - 2 lbs (Hamburgers x 2)

Or this for chicken...

Boiled/cubed chicken - 4 breasts (Chicken Tortilla Chili x 2)
BBQ Chicken, shredded - 8 breasts (BBQ Chicken sandwiches x 2)
Raw, cubed - 10 breasts (Honey Soy Chicken x 2)
Raw, cubed - 6 breasts (Chicken Broccoli Parmesan x 2)

And so on.  If you have questions about this, just ask!  These lists were helpful to keep track of what exactly I was doing.  Once I had two pounds of plain ground beef cooked up, I knew to divide it into 2 ziplocs labeled "Spanish Rice."  Then, on Spanish Rice Casserole night, I just take out one pack of frozen plain ground beef.  Or for the Honey Soy Chicken, I cube 10 breasts and divide them between 2 ziplocs labeled "Honey Soy Chicken," make up a double batch of the marinade and divide into the two bags of raw cubed chicken.  Zip 'n freeze!  For the Chicken Broccoli Parmesan, I got my HUGE red bowl (Thanks, Nonie!  Grandmas know what a kitchen needs!) and threw the 6 raw cubed chicken breasts in along with all the other casserole ingredients and froze it in 9x13 pans.  You probably have more questions now that I've tried to explain.  Like I said, I winged it!  I know some people like step-by-step instructions to get a feel for how someone did something, so at the risk of being wordy and even more confusing...here is a run-down of how to actually do the cooking without making a huge mess.  :-)

Meatloaf:  Mix up two pounds according to my recipe and place in parchment lined loaf pan.  Cover with foil and freeze for a few hours until very firm.  Remove from freezer and cut in half with a sharp knife -- careful!  Wrap the two halves and put back in freezer.  You can then pull out a meatloaf half the night before and pop it in your loaf pan (since it fits perfectly because you froze it in that pan).  I forgot to do that, and it still baked up beautifully but took twice as long.

Open it up, plop it in the pan.  I happened to already have some fresh carrots I chopped and froze, so I just baked those (covered) right along with the meatloaf.  If you like meatloaf but don't have a meatloaf pan, GET ONE.  It keeps your meatloaf from swimming in grease which 1) is healthier, 2) allows the loaf to get crispy on more sides than just the top!

Ground Beef:  Use one pan and do batches!  Cook your plain ground beef batch, drain and let it sit for a bit to cool before you divide for freezing.  While it cools, cook your next "plain-est" batch, in this case, with peppers and onions for spaghetti and chili.  Just before it's done, divide up your plain ground beef into labeled ziplocs to free up your strainer.  Then drain the pepper/onion ground beef and let cool while you cook up your four pounds of taco seasoned ground beef.  No need to even wipe the pan because you're moving from least seasoned to most seasoned.  Before your taco meat is done, divide up the pepper/onion ground beef to free up your strainer once again.  Drain your taco meat, cool, divide.  You just made meat for 9 meals!  If you made up your meatloaf while your ground beef was cooking, then you just made meat for 11 meals!  How easy was that??  And all you have to wash is the ground beef pan and the bowl you used to mix your meatloaf.

Chicken:  Boil in batches for those meals that need cooked chicken.  Cube or shred and combine with whatever the recipe calls for.  Cool before cubing; shred while warm.  It's easy that way!  While you're boiling your chicken, cube up the raw chicken and prep their labeled ziplocs for freezing (marinades where applicable).  Again, multiple meals done and frozen, just like that!  One pan used for boiling, one cutting board for raw chicken, and one for cutting cooked chicken.

I know there are other OAMChefs who get into chopping and freezing the veggies to go with that dinner, but I didn't prefer to do that.  I'd rather get fresh produce each week when I need the regular milk, bread, and such.  I did however get big bags of frozen broccoli for a few of the meals, and I do use some canned vegetables/beans.  But everything else is purchased and used fresh.  Here are a couple pics of my freezer when I was stocking the shelves.

Frozen, foil-wrapped casseroles and lasagnas.  More on that in the next post.

Shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie (that failed), honey soy chicken in it's marinade...and more!  There are
about 6-7 meals in this one little picture.  Main dishes of course.  Because really, who has a big enough
freezer to fit 36 meals of main dish AND sides all together?  :-)

Roasts and chickens and meatloafs, oh my!

Next up, how to freeze casseroles without losing your pan for weeks!

Once A Month Cooking, Part 2

How I Began

I first started by sitting down to make a master list of my family's favorite meals.  I just thought it through without looking at cookbooks or online recipes.  That way I knew it would be the TOP favorite meals and the most go-to dishes.  I didn't think it would be many, but I ended up with 18!  I realized I could stop there, but that wasn't quite a month.  So why not double 18 and end up with more than a month rather than think up more meals?  Wouldn't that be nice??  I printed out a table with all of the meals to have on my fridge.  I did NOT use a calendar or date the boxes of the table.  Leftovers are bound to become a meal, and what if I wanted to try a new recipe one week or we ate somewhere else one night?  Then the whole dated meals would be thrown off.  This way, I could just move through the meals one at a time.

My 36 Meals... Fish 'n Chips was added as a reminder Hubz likes it.
So I might throw it in somewhere for his sake.
Do feel free to read through the meals if you want ideas of what can be done!

Once I had my menu, I then began the monumental-but-doable task of assembling my grocery list.  I made up a blank list with categories based upon my grocery store's layout (something I use every time I shop).  Then I went through each recipe, writing down the double amounts of each food item in the right category.  Only write down ingredients that will not perish: meats to freeze, canned goods, pasta, baking supplies, spices, etc.  (You'll buy produce and other perishable ingredients each week.)  Then if a food item repeats in recipes, just increase the amount on your list.  Very basic and easy, just time consuming.  At the end, you'll have what might be the biggest grocery list you've ever made.  But that's ok!  Think of how little time and money you'll spend at the store for the rest of the month!

Before I started the grocery list, I went through on my table and penciled in how much meat each meal would use on the first 18 meals.  I would use 4 chicken breasts for BBQ Chicken x 2 would mean I 'd need 8 chicken breasts on my grocery list for two meals of BBQ Chicken.  Spaghetti would use 1/2 pound hamburger x 2 meals, so I needed 1 pound of hamburger for two meals of spaghetti.  And so on.  I hope this isn't confusing anyone!  Do what works for your brain.  It just made it easier for me to add up the meat poundage for my list AND know how much to allocate to each freezer meal once I had it home for preparation.  'Twould be a shame to get all that meat home and not remember how many pounds went with each meal.  Talk about feeling lost!

Initial Tips

1) Make sure you don't make more meals than your freezer can hold!  If we hadn't had an extra fridge in our garage from when friends were living with us, I would have gotten seriously stuck in this process!  I hadn't even though about how much our freezer would hold (or not).  :-)  After we had been through a few days of meals, I was able to fit it all in our own freezer.  Whew!  And we got rid of the extra fridge... so I need to really think through storage space for my next OAMC!

2) Be sure to purchase storage items: parchment paper, aluminum foil, freezer zip-top bags in both gallon and quart size.  It is also helpful to have a cookie sheet that will fit into your freezer.  This helps liquids in zip-top bags freeze flat instead of with ridges from the wire shelves.

3) Carve out a good chunk of hours for the shopping and cooking.  I did my shopping and cooking over two days, and it ended up being about 12 hours total for work time.  It would have been a bit more if I hadn't forgotten to purchase the Italian sausage for the lasagna.  So add maybe 2 hours (my sauce simmers for 1.5 hours).

4) Figure out which part of the recipes you can prep/freeze.  Here are a few examples:

• Asian Beef w/ Broccoli & Rice: roast can be frozen in zip-top bag with marinade; prep frozen broccoli and rice day of.
• Chicken Pot Pie, Fruit:  filling can be made and frozen (do NOT freeze raw potatoes...subtract two meals from my menu above); pie crusts can be frozen or made day of; purchase fruit week of.
• Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Bread:  sauce and garlic bread can be made and frozen; prep noodles, salad day of.
• Chicken Tortilla Chili: chicken can be boiled, cubed, then frozen; combine with canned goods and broth day of.  (beans can also be made and frozen if canned is not desired)

So now would be a time to get started on your own menu if you're interesting in trying this!  Go in easy.  Think of meals today, and write them down.  Do your list on another day.  Plan your shopping the next day.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  :-)

Next, I'll talk about a few tips on how to cook and freeze all the food!

Once a Month Cooking, Part 1

Food and drink.  Necessary for survival.  A blessing to be enjoyed.  And something to plan for!  Let me start by saying I feel quite inferior to the other blog posts and articles I've read about this "Once a Month Cooking" shindig.  It's cropping up everywhere on Pinterest it seems.  I've only tried it once, used my own recipes, and sort of just winged it.  How's it going now that I'm about two weeks in?  WONDERFUL!!!  Several friends have been interested in how I did it, so I thought I would share some of the basics from a non-professional OAMCook.  :-)

Why I Tried It

Because of all that has happened in the last few months for my family, there has been much good and bad stress.  On top of that, fatigue from life's duties and increased fatigue from my current MS flare have made it harder to function as a meal manager.  Spending brain power on menus and grocery lists proves to be a daunting task that takes longer than it used to.  Physically going shopping each week (sometimes with three kids in tow) and cooking every afternoon is hard on my back and energy level.  I began to loathe it all: the menu planning, the shopping, the cooking...  It made my impatience during the Valley of the Shadow (4:30 - 6:00 pm... you moms know what I mean) worse.  I'd be angry if my Hubz had to say he'd be later than planned (poor guy!).  I didn't enjoy creating food that would satisfy my family and make them smile -- I've always loved that about feeding people.  Something had to change even though I had tried several methods to make it easier.  So I got my Hubz on board with the OAMC idea (it's a bigger hit to the finances since it's all at once) and got the gusto to actually do it one weekend (Jan 28-29, '13).

Already Realized Benefits

1) I can't even begin to explain the burden that has been lifted from the Valley of the Shadow!  It's incredible.  Because there is much less prep that has to go into dinner, I have this strange time now that I can do...whatever!  I can say YES to reading a book or playing outside or sitting and snuggling with a groggy little girl who woke from her nap.  I don't have to be so tempted to use the Electronic Babysitter to keep them occupied without a fuss because I can be WITH my kids.  I can SIT down for a while instead of standing in the kitchen for an hour or more.  I can REST at the dinner table when we gather 'round rather than collapse in the chair with a sigh of relief that cooking is over.

2) The amount of brain power needed for meal management has been drastically reduced.  Slower cognition is actually a flare symptom of MS.  I've not talked to anyone except my doctor and those very close to me about it, and it's humbling to admit because it makes you feel stupid or forgetful or disorganized in front of others.  Very humbling, especially the disorganized part.  I think I'd rather limp or have a hand tremor.  Time to fess up.  I have experienced slower cognition over the last several months, some days much worse than others.  I think that, combined with the extra fatigue, is precisely what made meal management become SUCH a mental chore that I dreaded.  It actually makes me a little choked up when I think about how much more free I feel mentally when it comes to feeding my family.  Again, a huge burden - lifted.

3) Hubz had a good point.  With these meals made and frozen, should we choose to take a meal to someone (which we used to do often!) ... there's no extra prep or purchases necessary!  Gotta admit though, my knee-jerk reaction to that was selfishness.  "But if we take a meal to someone, that means one less meal for me not to plan!"  Silly Dawn.  Be generous!

Remaining Questions

1) How will the food budget at the end of using the meals compare to weekly planning/shopping?  Will we have come out ahead, the same, or will more have been spent?  My hypothesis is either ahead since more can be bought in bulk theoretically saving more, or it will be the same.  If we end up spending more, I think it will be because shorter grocery lists can sometimes give rise to feeling like you have more wiggle room to spend week-to-week.

2) Just how long will this last?  I think I was still used to cooking for two families when I made my list, or I had forgotten the exact amount my family eats by itself.  Several of our meals have extended into two dinners or even three  (Roast/veggies, leftovers, then a beef pot pie).  So making a date-less table already paid off (explanation in Part 2)!  I started out with 36 meals, and we have already gone beyond that.  This may end up being Once A 1.5 to 2 Months Cooking!

Next, I'll talk about what I did to prepare for OAMC!