I've been so tired, lately, of eating either hastily prepared half-way good food, or quickly heated-up bad food. Or, when we actually take the time to make good food, we don't eat until really late, and I end up being tired. It's not worth it!!
I've done some research online, and have discovered Once a Month Cooking. It sounds awesome! What you do is go shopping for everything you need, and spend an entire day preparing, cooking, and freezing meals. You can even do it with a little fridge-top freezer, if you store economically--no huge casserole dishes.
So, next week, we'll have some extra money, so I figure it's the perfect time to start this new project. I haven't quite decided on a menu yet, but I've found lots of recipe sites online to help me out. I tried to get "Frozen Assets," a great book on this topic, but it was missing from the library I tried to get it from. I'll probably buy it next week.
Have any of you ever tried Once a Month Cooking? It sounds really great. Some of the dishes you pre-cook before freezing, and some of them you either leave uncooked or only partially cook. Then, when you eat the meals, you heat up the food, prepare some sides with some fresh produce or something, and voila! Instant Yummy Home-Cooked Meal.
Are any of you out there interested in doing this in your own homes, and sharing ideas and experiences here?
I'm pretty excited about it. A little later, I can add some interesting links I found with recipes and ideas.
posted
I did a bit of reading about this at organizedhome.com - it looks pretty neat. They had a bunch of book suggestions, and also some suggestions about how to...well, organize it. Definitely something I'd like to try someday.
Posts: 54 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Katarain I bought a book on it and tried several of the recipes in there and they were very, very good.
I did some of it and froze some meals but it was not something I kept up. They suggested you have a friend who does it with you, because an all day marathon of cooking is hard to do alone, and if there are two of you you can make things in large batches, and split them, saving time and effort.
I never found anyone else interested and like I said I didn't keep it up.
But for the one time I did it, I really loved having all those good meals made with fresh ingredients in the freezer. In one case, a friend was moving and I asked her what she was going to feed her family the night they moved in and she said "Probably order pizza." I told her I'd take care of it and she was expecting me to show up with burgers or something.
I brought stuffed shells with marinara sauce and she told me she couldn't remember when her family had such a great dinner and it was wonderful to have a home cooked meal in their new home.
All I did was pull it out of my freezer and heat it in the oven. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I may have to try this out... especially since it's just myself and the girls. And I could definitely use a bunch of "oops I forgot to thaw something out" kind of rescues!
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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When I lived out in Portland, a friend of mine belonged to a meal share club. There were about 20 folks in the club, and they'd share 5 dinners a week. Each person would take a turn cooking dinner and hosting everyone at their house. So, every 20th dinner, you'd make a huge meal at your house... then relax the other 19 days. (Sort of like the restaurant government in "The Twenty-one Balloons," for anyone who ever read that really neat kids' book.)
I always thought that was a great idea. If I was living alone, I'd get in on a club like that! (But as it is, me and my housemates already compete over who gets to cook dinner next so I'm not going without...)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I did Dream Dinners for a couple of months last year. That's where you go to their commercial kitchen and put together a couple of weeks worth of meals. They have all the ingredients and the recipes all set out. It's great for trying new things, and especially for recipes that call for spices you wouldn't normally use, but I found having my food frozen too inconvenient. I always forget to pull something out to thaw.
Crockpot cooking works better for me, where I fix everything in the morning and let it cook throughout the day. I've even done it without thawing my meat first, and it still works great. I just let it cook an extra hour.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I think I'll be doing a lot of things that can go directly into the oven frozen. Also, I've read recipes for meals you can have ready to throw in the crock-pot to cook all day. One of them was Crock Pot Lasagna. Now THAT is cool.
My goal here is getting us eating more from-scratch homemade food.
I think I'm going to have my mom visit for the weekend and we'll shop and cook together. Should be fun--and it will be good for her, too. She lives alone, and YES once a month cooking can be adjusted for ANY size family or freezer.
I'll keep you all posted...if you're interested. I'm a newbie to this, so we'll see how it goes...
posted
Hmm... interesting idea. If it actually works, that would be perfect for me, living in a dorm, as cooking every day is practically out of the question, but eating is still sort of important!
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Raia, if you have enough freezer space, I bet you could do this, too. There's no reason why you have to only cook once a month either. Some people do it for just a week, and some build up a month's worth gradually, making extra and freezing every time they cook.
Maybe you could get one of the local ladies to let you use her kitchen and freezer, in exchange for cooking and eating together.
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When I was in college, I did this for a while. I got a lot of those cheap ziploc tupperware things and I'd cook a big batch of something and then freeze it into little one-serving sizes.
My favorites were casseroles, and I like to make them with homemade egg noodles, chicken, a white sauce with garlic and whatever fresh vegetables were on sale (broccoli and asparagus being my favorites). I also made big batches of soup - beef barley or egg drop or cream of tomato - and those were good in the winter. And one time I made a lot of home made corn dogs, but I chopped the hot dogs (actually, I think I used polish sausage) into bite-sized pieces first and then dipped them in a corn batter and fried them and froze them. My roommates loved it, because it was the perfect snack to microwave really quick and eat while you're studying. We named them Weiner Tots. Actually, I think naming things was one of the best parts of it. I have very fond memories of the time we invented Buff Muffs. (Buffalo pot pies that we made inside muffin tins, so they looked like little corn muffins)
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Annie, once you return from your mission, you should seriously think about opening your own business. Annie pants (and accessories) and a fab cookbook should keep you going for a while. Good names for food is important. One of my favorite cookbooks has something called Flattire Chicken in it. It's a chickenish pizza. I love the cookbook because it makes me laugh.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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We should have a business of Jatraqueros with things to sell. We can all do it together. I have been wanting to write a cookbook entitled "Cooking From the Pantry" for ages, all about what you should keep in your pantry/cupboards/fridge to always have on hand, how to store it, why it's cheaper in bulk, and then sections with just "in-stock" items, one additional, two additional, and three additional, also cross-indexed by category, alphabetically by name, and by main ingredient.
I also sew. And I'm in the process right now of making OSC some cushions to go on his airplane armrests, since he complained about them. Poor guy. If they work, maybe I'll make more.
My point is, there are enough of us that make stuff in our spare time, we should totally be able to all get together and support the fees for an online store...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Hey, kq, I could contribute Indian & Sri Lankan cooking sections... And how to make your own curry powders... You know, stuff like that. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Like jeniwren, I find crockpot cooking more convenient. And I almost always toss the ingredients into the pot straight out of the freezer.
I need the recipe for crockpot lasagna! That sounds awesome -- pasta doesn't always do well in the crockpot, so a tested recipe would be great.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Fall/Winter I tend to make a casserole and a hearty soup that will take Nathan and me through the week on a re-heat/add some fresh fruit/vegies to the side and a biscuit or other bread . . . works well.
Summer, though - I haven't got that figured out yet. I need to get in the habit of making a big ole salad, and then adding a different protein source (shrimp one night, cold cuts another, tuna, hardboiled eggs, etc.)
Just gotta get on the ball -
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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In the summer I try to always have some cooked pasta in the fridge, and I get fresh vegetables from the garden or farmer's market.We do a lot of corn-new potatoes-green bean dinners.
Another easy thing in the summer is just to add fresh tomatoes to hot pasta, which cooks them a little. I usually dd a bit of whatever cheese is around, some fresh basil, and that's it. it is good hot, and then cold the next day.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Another easy thing in the summer is just to add fresh tomatoes to hot pasta, which cooks them a little. I usually dd a bit of whatever cheese is around, some fresh basil, and that's it. it is good hot, and then cold the next day.
In Japan, someone made me pasta tossed with fresh tomatoes and squid ink. It was awesome summer eating.
Posts: 516 | Registered: Aug 2004
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That link that kq posted has the crock pot lasagna. It's kid approved and got 4 out of 4 stars from her husband. It's the second recipe on this link: Crock Pot Recipes
I was more hoping for something that could be just tossed into the crockpot in the morning, but I may try this. It does look good!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Cooking from the pantry... sounds like some of my adventures in Sunday cooking. That is, we don't go to the store, what can we make without borrowing? Another idea is 4-5-6 ingredient recipes. The principle behind so many published recipes is to change one thing that makes it unique (and not a copyright violation), and you wind up with these monstrous recipes, and ridiculous proportions like 2 3/4 cups flour. You know what I'm saying?
The only recipe I named that I thought was cool was Quesadagne (which is a layerd mexican food bake) but now of course people would read it Quesa dang e.
But Quesadagne would probably make a great once a month recipe. You just layer tortilla, refried beans, salsa (you can add meat or cheese as you like) And cheese definitely on the top. It should fit neatly into one of those food storage bags, and should hold together well enough to not need a pan around it when freezing.
I spent too much money at Costco yesterday. I came home and baked 3 lbs of sausage. It was a trick I learned in the restaurant business- bake breakfast meats. 350 for 15 mintues did the trick for mostly frozen sausage patties. Works for burgers too.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Mothertree, to extend it more, you could make a big pot of beef based vegetable soup, save some, and add beef and beans and spices to make it into chili. Then, save some chili, and use some chili as filling for your quesadagna, and also for burritos, which are great to freeze.
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I have to come up with 14 recipes and then a shopping list for when I do this. There are so many floating around online that it's hard to pick out seemingly good ones. I'm thinking a few chicken...a few beef...a few mexican... a few italian... a few vegetarian...
I also have to pick things that will awe my doubtful husband.
posted
A crockpot cookbook that I really like is Fix It and Forget It . It has great recipes, even for desserts!
Posts: 1132 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Katarain, Another good thing to make is a pork butt. (sounds awful, I know.) Then you have shredded pork for pulled pork(just add barbecue sauce and try to ignore the sniggers), burritos, or soup. My favorite bottled barbecue sauce is Dinosaur Barbecue sauce. You can also make a roast beef, then save slices for barbecue beef(sdd the sauce again, heat, onto a bun) or make an au jus sauce and have French dip.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Are the sniggers over the pork butt or the pulled pork? And I swear I saw an add for pork shoulder butt roast once. It must have been grown on a meat tree or something.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Wendybird, the Fix It and Forget It cookbooks are wonderful! I use them probably more than any of my other cookbooks. I like the Fix It and Forget It for Entertaining the best...I just like the way it's organized better than the original. But the recipes in there are often *so* tasty.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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My variation on this is once a month meal planning and grocery shopping. I plan several crock pot meals that I can throw in if we decide to go to the zoo or something, and several simple throw it together meals...and a few special, takes a while to make meals.
Then the only trips to the grocery store during the month are for milk and fresh fruit. Not bread-that gets frozen with most of the other ingredients.
(I do make a big batch of pancakes or waffles once a month though. The kids like to have breakfast early...too early for me to get up and cook most of the time.)
My favorite recipe for pancakes so far is one I found on a recipe site for school cafeterias. It's for Applesauce Pancakes, and serves 50!
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I forgot about this thread... I guess it fell off the front page and I never saw the last 7 or so replies.
I don't eat pork, but the beef ideas are cool.
I haven't quite been able to do the OAMC yet--although I'm working towards it. When I cook I make 2-3 times more than we need. It's just that we keep on eating the leftovers over the next 2-3 days rather than freezing it for later. I"ll get there... eventually.
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