anyone cook ahead (oamc possibly?)

[hsingscrapper]

Does anyone else cook extra to save time later? Do you do OAMC?

 

I've been wanting to try it but having limited resources for non-food items and limited freezer space has given me pause. I know the ovenware or metal pans are the way to go. But they take up space. We don't eat soupy stuff very often so I make it when the craving hits.

 

Just looking for ideas to help vary our diet and stretch pricier items like bacon, etc.

[GoVanGogh]

I do soups in the winter, but haven't found many recipes we like well enough to cook in bulk.

 

However, I do a massive baking session about 3-4 times a year to make breakfast, mid-morning and bedtime snacks, plus lunch treats for DS. I love not having to think about breakfast - I just thaw out a muffin or two, add whatever fresh fruit we have on hand and -- breakfast is ready.

 

I just did a baking session Monday - made two savory muffins, five fruit muffins and a batch of oatmeal cookies. That should last 2-3 months.

 

We have a small upright freezer, which I love. It wasn't very expensive and doesn't take up much floor space.

[KungFuPanda]

Have you seen this website? It may help you ease into things. They even have mini-menus to get you started. I've done several recipes from here, but I've never actually done once a month cooking for real. It WOULD suit my temperament though because I tend to be productive in bursts.

 

http://onceamonthmom.com/

[MomatHWTK]

I cook meat in advance and freeze in meal sized servings. For instance, I may cook an entire chicken in the slow cooker (I'm not supposed to mention that am I?)... Anyhoo, I may cook an entire chicken, use some of it to make a soup or casserole that day and freeze the rest for a meal later in the week or month. I do the same with large packages of ground beef or roast beef or pork. It is easier to plan and cook our daily meals when I have meat already prepared.

 

Recently I made up a pot of vegetables stewed in chicken broth and went ahead and froze half the batch to use for soup at a later date. That worked out well. I was able to whip up a soup quickly that otherwise would have taken a lot of time.

 

My mother bakes cookies with and for the kids and freezes those to have on hand for them (we deal with food allergies so have to use a lot of special recipes). Rolled burritos store in a small space, I wrap mine and stack them in a gallon-size freezer bag.

[Kirch]

I just did my first trial of bulk cooking this weekend. I made 4 lbs of taco meat and froze it in 1 lb portions in ziplock bags, and I did the same with plain ground beef (to use in quick stovetop meals like spaghetti). I also made 3 lbs of meatballs (3 lbs was waaay more worth the effort than one lb!!). Then I also put together ingredients in separate bags for crockpot meals and froze them. I have three more crockpot meals to put together tonight that I didn't get to the other day.

 

My only problem now is that I'm having a hard time wanting to dip into my stash, even though that's what it's there for! :lol:

[meggie]

This past weekend I made several meat loaves, mini omelets, nacho meat, steel cut oats, and chicken soup so that breakfasts and lunches would be easy peasy during the week. It went well I think. I had also cut up stuff for fried rice, though I didn't make it until tonight, but that was easy too.

 

 

So I think I'll repeat this. It was a lot of work, but much easier during the day. And we just don't have freezer space for a whole month of food.

[OrganicAnn]

We try to freeze only things we really know we will eat. I did do a potato OAMC that was good. It was twice cooked potatoes that you could add a salad or some protein to it.

 

I wouldn't do Once a Month, until you try it on a smaller scale.

[Grover]

I just started doing this - here's the blog post with a link to the recipes I used. I'm definitely going to carry on - it's made my life so much less stressed in the evenings AND we've ended up buying takeaways much less often. I'm planning next month now, and looking forward to trying a few new recipes.

 

I have a combined fridge / freezer (side by side) which worked really well.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Trick: Line your casserole pan w/foil; freeze the dish; pop it out and wrap it in a freezer bag, so that you then have use of your pan while the casserole is "box-shaped" in your freezer.

 

 

I do cook ahead, often, but I'm not organized enough to do OAMC. When I'm whipping up a batch of something we eat often, I make double / triple the recipe, and then toss the other half in the freezer. We do a lot of casseroles, so having pre-cooked pre-shredded chicken / turkey / ground beef in little ziplock bags is HANDY.

[Citrusheights5]

On IPad in sleeping babies room sorry for alllllll the typos..

 

I cook once a month.. I do it mostly because it's cheaper and quicker most night. What I do is dinner plan for two weeks but with in a theme. Monday is pasta, Tuesday is tacoish, Wednesday is pan stuff, Thursday is- meatless Monday on Thursday ..Friday is casserole- pan stuff, Saturday is fend for yourself- leftover- nuggets cereal.. Sunday is BBQ.

 

For my Friday I have 2 weeks of enchiladas and 2 lasagna. So I get a 3 lbs roast brown and cook in water and tomato sauce.. Brown 3 lbs of ground beef 1 sausage.. & go to sleep... Next day I spread the roast and roll it up in flour tortillas put in a ziplock (18 enchiladas so 1 freezer and 1 quart) I devide the water it cooked in into 2 quart bags) and put a bit of cheese in another.. Put the three quart bags in a freezer one label enchilada one and enchilada two.. Repeat for second batch.. Dinner day I pull out bags.. Mix up sauce with package..or my own spice mix.. And meat juice... Put prerolled enchis in pan.. Pour sauce.. Top cheese. Prep is 15 min tops. Cooking in 20... Same with lasagna don't simmer sauce .. Just mix and freeze in "catering" metal pans... Pull out early enough to defrost and just cook. I hate hate hate soggy food.. So. Most of my food is this way. Minimal prep and I combine in themes so I can buy giant number 10 cans and prep with those... For past I have ravioli and a spagetti &meatballs.. Number 10 can of sauce and 10 can of diced tomatoes mixed (poured from can to bag) 4 bags.. For raviolis nothing else to do.. Freeze flat.. Meatballs I get ground beef form the 10 lbs roll maybe 1 .5 lbs. mix with breadcrumbs and egg roll into 1 inch balls. Cook in oven . Put half in one ziplock ( no sauce) half in other.. Freeze lable with sauce.. Dinner day cook pasta.. Empty bag in sauce pan add meatballs.. No prep and my kids can help if I am held up cleaning a disaster elsewhere in the house.

 

Dunno if this will help you out .. But it is what saves our sanity and time in our house. Prep day everyone helps and everyone hates it.. But it is so worth it all month long..

[hsingscrapper]

Have you seen this website? It may help you ease into things. They even have mini-menus to get you started. I've done several recipes from here, but I've never actually done once a month cooking for real. It WOULD suit my temperament though because I tend to be productive in bursts.

 

http://onceamonthmom.com/

 

Bookmarking it!! Those little quinoa bites look interesting. Thank you!

[Parrothead]

I cook/bake a handful of time consuming things so they are ready. Rice, bread and baked goodies come to mind right off. Brown rice takes 40 minutes, bread takes 3 hours and goodies can take quite a while. So when I cook rice I cook a huge pot of it and freeze it in one meal portions. When I bake bread I bake 4 loaves and freeze three. When I bake bars or cookies I'll bake two different kinds and freeze them in small portions.

[Ibbygirl]

Does anyone else cook extra to save time later? Do you do OAMC?

 

I've been wanting to try it but having limited resources for non-food items and limited freezer space has given me pause. I know the ovenware or metal pans are the way to go. But they take up space. We don't eat soupy stuff very often so I make it when the craving hits.

 

Just looking for ideas to help vary our diet and stretch pricier items like bacon, etc.

 

I don't know what OAMC means, but I do cook ahead. I cook big batches of stuff on the weekend and put it in the freezer so I have it at the ready during the week when I'm schooling and pressed for time. I'll make beans (black beans for rice, kidney beans to throw in a pot of chili, pintos for burritos etc) in big batches and freeze them in smaller containers for later use. I buy a family sized package of chicken breast and wash and cut them up into bite sizes and season and cook them for burritos or wraps during for quick meals. I freeze those in ziplocks and lay them flat in the freezer. Spagetti sauce is great to make ahead and freeze. Whenever I cook lasangna (not too often) I always make two and freeze the other one in the glass baking dish. Mostly I just do the labor intensive stuff on the weekends so I can either whip up something quick or at least cut a big chunk of the time off of what I have to make for dinner during the week. HTH. :)

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[SailorMom]

I do it - love it.

I do now have a big freezer, which helps, but without that you can still cook three lasagnas instead of one, iykwim.

For casseroles, line a pan with two layers of heavy duty foil, and then when it has had about two hours-ish to freeze up a bit, take it out of the pan. Wrap it all up. That will save you from buying a bunch of pans. When you need to re-heat - just plop it back in the pan.

For anything like pre-cooked taco meat, pre-marinated chicken, soups, chili, etc., pour into gallon freezer bags. Freeze flat. Once they are frozen, you can line them up like books. I call it filing my food, lol.

 

I find these are the best investment of my time:

Tuna casserole, Adobo chicken casserole, lasagna

pre-seasoned and cooked taco meat w/ a bag of pre-shredded cheese

chili w/ a bag of pre-shredded cheese

mcmuffin style breakfast sandwiches

marinated meats (the meat actually marinates when it's thawing)

Whole grain waffles

Beef and pork dishes that normally take overnight to eat (for me this is adobo pork, kahlua pig, and barbarosa beef).

 

Most of what you already cook can be frozen - either before or after the actual cooking.

 

Another possibility is having prepped items ready - for example, shred all of your cheese, dice all of your garlic, cut up six onions, etc., and then have bags of those frozen.

 

ETA: don't think I save money doing this - I'm sure some do, but I don't shop the "loss leaders" the way you're supposed to. However, I do save time in the long run, and we tend to eat a lot healthier.

Edited August 23, 2012 by SailorMom

[Momof3littles]

We do it all of the time. I regularly freeze:

 

Grilled chicken sliced up

meatballs (including variations like pork and ginger to add to soup, chicken, etc.)

meatloaf

burgers

pork loin sliced thin

chicken breast shredded in the food processor (for chicken salad)

soup

chili

plain ground beef to add into other recipes

muffins and quickbreads

waffles

chicken stock

sausage and egg breakfast casserole

 

 

With sliced chicken, pork loin, meatballs, etc. we usually flash freeze so we can just pull out the quantity we want. We lay it out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour or so until firm. That way you can pull out what you need vs. having a giant clump of meatballs all frozen together.