ONCE a MONTH COOKING

Welcome to Time & Cost Saving tips with “Once a month cooking” Brought to you by www.apronmadness.com

For the next few days... I will be posting recipes for different OAMC sessions.

Getting Started…

Healthy Meals & FAST is the name of this game. Forget the yukky fast food & Pizza delivery just because you don’t have time to cook a healthy meal for your family!

OAMC.. Mega Cooking.. Bulk Cooking.. Freezer Meals.. What does all this mean? This is about preparing food ahead... especially for the freezer but also canning, drying, shopping in bulk and lots of money saving ideas. Special occasions & different times of the year are ALWAYS the best times to plan ahead & stock up on those HUGE specials!!!

Even though this is called “Once a Month” …. You can plan your own schedule. I mostly do 2 weeks worth of meals in a weekend. OR you can do a few meals from that Turkey that is ALWAYS a great deal at Thanksgiving…. Then when you do other meals, just double the recipies & put half in the freezer for another time. But at this time I will give “lessons” on full sessions.

OAMC is also a terrific time to spend with kids…. Family or friends! Plan an entire session for as many families as you want. The kids LOVE to help assemble…. Stir… or make Meatballs! Be prepared for a tiring weekend… have good tennis cuz your feet WILL get tired… BUT it will be worth it for the next 2 weeks or a month!

♦ Helpful things to have on hand before you get started…..
Lots of Ziplocks… both quart and gallon size
Plenty of Aluminum pans (I get a bunch at the dollar stores)
Plastic “rubbermaid” type freezer containers with covers… assorted sizes. Also found at dollar store.
& IF you want…. I have a Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer & plenty of bag rolls. I use rolls so I can cut to size.
Sharpie pens & freezer tape

One last thing…. PLENTY OF FREEZER SPACE!



Planning:
You will find some sample forms in our files… feel free to print out & use.
A week or 2 before your “Cooking weekend”

#1: Fill out the weekly menu as a “preview”…. Start with Dinner first since these are the main meals. You can always change it but this will assure that you will not be eating chicken 4 night in a row…. Just Keep in mind the specials at the store. If sales are on different pork… you may want to add extra pork meals… etc.

#2: Look up recipes for each meat type. Re: if you have 3 hamburger dinners listed…. Find 3 different hamburger recipes.

#3: Looking at your recipes… Start your shopping list. Be sure to count how many chickens… lbs of beef … pork etc.

#4: Go thru the Newspaper! Look for what & where the sales are for your items. Also don’t forget to clip the weekly coupons for additional savings!!!

Tomorrow we will start with a Breakfast Session