For many months now I’ve wanted to try my hand at a full on Once a Month Cooking Day (OAMC). I really like the convenience of having ready made meals in the freezer for busy nights, mornings or even lunches. Trisha, over at Once a Month Mom, is celebrating her one year blogiversary and to celebrate she put forth a Once a Month Cookoff complete with great prizes! I knew it was my time to jump in.
Some of the meals I’m making will be for those busy days, while others I hope to use later on in my pregnancy when the “gusto” is just not there anymore. If everything goes smoothly, I hope to tackle a few more of these Once a Month cooking Days between now and July so my freezer will be stocked post baby.
This is what I am making tomorrow (Tuesday):
Breakfast:
- Lazy Granola (double batch)
- Blueberry Muffins (triple batch) Done!
- Bacon and Egg Biscuit Cups Done!
Dinners:
- Sloppy Joe’s (double batch) Done!
- Beef Empanada’s/Pockets (using homemade pie crust) Decided against this, because I had no desire to roll/cut out pockets!
- Lumpia {so excited for these!} Cooling the mixture so I can wrap them. Done!
- Taco Bake Done!
- Quick Pizza Crust and Chicken Ranch Pizza (double batch) Done!
- Curried Chicken Tidbits (double batch) Done!
- Black Bean Salsa Chicken AGH! Forgot to pull my cooked black beans out of the freezer! No go on this one.
Now, here’s hoping I can make it through this list without first collapsing. 
What are your favorite OAMC recipes and tips/tricks?
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I’ve never tried OAMC, but I’ve always wanted to. It would be fun and probably a lot of help to do it with a friend or two. That way it wouldn’t be so much work on one person and everyone walks away with some meals for the freezer. Good luck!
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How do you store your meals in the freezer. I try to stay away from plastic. Any suggestions? Thanks
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GettingFreedom Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
I line my regular Pyrex dishes with aluminum foil leaving enough to fold back over on top. Then I put whatever I’m freezing in the freezer lined dish and pop it in the freezer. When it’s frozen, remove it from the dish and it frees up your dish. When you go to cook, just place it back into the dish. If you don’t want to mess with the aluminum foil, and the extra cost doesn’t bother you, you could also buy the disposable cake pans that come in 9×13 or 8×8 sizes.
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Miranda mentioned that it might be helpful to tackle OAMC with a friend or two. Have you ever done OAMC with a friend? What recommendations would you make to do OAMC with a friend?
Thanks for sharing your March OAMC adventures.
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GettingFreedom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:44 am
So far I haven’t done OAMC with a friend. I hope to be able to plan a big OAMC day with a few ladies in my church for the month of April. As for recommendations, check out Once A Month Mom’s website. Not only does she make a monthly menu and grocery list, but she helps with the instructions (for 2 people). Her recipes are already doubled/tripled/quadrupled so each person has meals to take home.
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I have never tried OAMC, but some of your recipes sounded really appealing. I made the Bacon & Egg Biscuit Cups, which were really good, and I made the Lazy Granola. Oh my goodness! I am totally hooked on the granola now! I made a batch per the directions, which was really good, but then I made a batch adding peanut butter (instead of cinnamon), and OMG, it is SO delicious! You have to try it! The peanut butter batch barely lasted 2 days in our house! It makes a wonderful snack, is great as cereal with milk, and I bet it would make a really tasty hot oatmeal! Now, I need to make some more! (I doubt I will ever buy ready made granola again!)
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As a birthday gift to my 2 friends, I did a mini version of OAMC. I got all the ingredients for 3 different meals that could be cooked, assembled, frozen, then thawed and reheated for quick dinners. I precooked the meats, onions, etc…I then invited them over for cofffee & a chat. Unbeknownst to them, when they arrived, I had 3 stations set up. One person constructed 3 lasagnas, one person assembled 3 chicken enchilada casseroles and one person put together 3 taco soups. It was a hit and only took us 2 hours. I did us alunimum foil throw away containers becuase I didn’t have enough dishes to lend out. The gifts were a huge hit!
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