Once a Month Cooking frees me up!

What about you? Are you too busy to cook and get stuck in a rut when it comes to meal planning? Well, I've found a very practical solution to this dilemma which is once a month cooking or OAMC. Take one or two days and just cook up a storm, and fill your freezer with all the meals you’ll need for the next month. Clean up will be minimal too, and the time you save cooking and cleaning can be better spent with your family or doing something else you enjoy. So as you can see, there are numerous reasons why you should do once a month cooking.

Once a month cooking works well for singles, couples, and small or large families. Food items needed to prepare the meals can be purchased in bulk or when they are on sale, which will greatly reduce the monthly grocery bill too. No one could complain about that! I don’t know about you, but I am somewhat disturbed when I walk out of the grocery store with one small bag of groceries that cost $25 or more!

The art of cooking in bulk is all in the preparation. When you think about it, a chef often has to prepare meals for large groups of people that all want to be fed at the same time. Once he knows what he needs, he gets it all prepared well in advance and gets a system in place that allows him and his helpers to get a methodical procedure together which should make light work out of a heavy load. OAMC is similar in that you get your plan of action drawn up for the month ahead and work through it in order. The difference is that your meals are being prepared for the next 4 weeks unlike the poor ole chef. Anyway, here's how it works:

To get started you will want to sit down and pick out meals that you or your family won’t get tired of during the next month. Make the shopping list based on enough ingredients for at least twenty-four meals, depending on how often you eat out, and don’t forget extra freezer bags, aluminum foil pans, or other storage containers. Being organized will help you out tremendously!

Online once a month cooking sites recommend that once you have chosen the meals you want to prepare, look at all the ingredients needed and add up what you’ll need. You want to make sure your shopping list is accurate, because you don’t want to spend time running to the grocery store when you should be cooking! For recipes that can’t be completely assembled ahead of time, like Sloppy Joes, make sure buns are on the list and frozen separately with the meat mixture so that everything is on hand when you need it.

If you’re interested in simplifying your life by doing once a month cooking, visit any number of online sites for recipe ideas, storage tips, and more. Busy people don’t want to spend time in the kitchen cooking when they could be doing something else. Once a month cooking is the answer; it saves time, money, and your sanity. Meal planning can become monotonous and a chore, which is why it is so much easier with once a month cooking. Take two or three days to simplify your life and the lives of your family members, and enjoy the rest of the month!

Practice will perfect your OAMC and before you know it you'll be taking a lot less time to prepare your meals compared to your early efforts. Remember too, that you can always take the occasional cooking classes in specific cuisine if you'd like to add a little spice and variety to the monthly dinners. Also, if you are thinking 'healthy' these days as so many of us are, you will find many free cooking light recipes and other cooking recipes for just about every kind of food there is online. Remember, once a Month Cooking gives freedom to you and your family