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| Amidst the chaos |
Lulu's bedtime recently crept up to 6:00, and I suddenly have zero time to make dinner each night. I had read about Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) here and it occurred to me that maybe this could help save us some time and some money. For those not familiar with OAMC, you spend one (very long) day cooking, and then the rest of the month you just defrost and warm your meals.
The grocery shopping was a pretty daunting task. So I devoted all of Saturday to just that. I went to three different stores: Costco, Sprouts and Fry's; I spent a combined total of about $170 and it took almost 4 hours to do all the shopping. Over the next four weeks we'll only need to buy produce, milk, and eggs each week.
Our menu included some Classic Shelton Faves and some new additions that I had bookmarked:
Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Enchiladas served with refried beans
White Veggie Lasanga
Italian Tomato Soup (recipe courtesy of Auntie Fallon and Grammy)
Bourbon Peppercorn Grilled Chicken served over salad, with a side of corn bread
Breaded Chicken Tenders served with sweet po fries and salad
Cheesy Pizza
Casey's Spicy Turkey Burgers served with salad
Lemon Thyme Salmon served with couscous
Teriyaki Salmon served with couscous
Lemon Basil Salmon served with couscous
Broccoli, Quinoa, Chicken Casserole
Salsa Chicken with Chipotle-style Cilantro Rice
Turkey Tacos served with refried beans
Sausage and Ham Breakfast Burritos
Some meals are repeated throughout the month, like the grilled and breaded chicken and the salmon. I made just about everything listed above, with the exception of salad and couscous, for obvious reasons. Did you know you can freeze rice? You can. I cheated by using rotisserie chickens in the casseroles and enchiladas, and by using storebought pizza dough, but the rest of it was all me (and at times Casey), baby!
It was A LOT of work, but worth it. My feet are killing me, the kitchen is still a mess, and I didn't do an ounce of laundry all weekend. We may not have clean underwear, but we've got food for the next month.
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| Never mind all those pineapples in the background... |
Anyone else out there do OAMC? Would love some freezer-friendly recipes for next month!
Yum, this looks so good, especially those burritos. I might have to try this.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm a fellow March Mom, and also a writer for Once a Month Mom (www.onceamonthmom.com)! I've been reading your blog since before Lucy was born, but I just had to share our site and resources. I started doing once-monthly cooking when I was on maternity leave, and I've been devoted ever since (so much that I started writing about it as a part-time job)! :) If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer or help you out!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea! You'll have to keep us updated on how it all works out. I bet you'll love all the time it saves every night!
ReplyDelete@Vanessa & Em - I think you should both give it a try! It is such a time saver. Tonight Casey heated up a batch of enchiladas, totally easy and delicious. And clean up was way easy too.
ReplyDelete@Jimmie - Thank you so much for the link, I hadn't heard of the site but I will certainly be referring to it from now on! Always nice to hear from another March Momma!! :)