Our friends Tricia and Cortney have an awesome new website called Once a Month Mom. They provide detailed menus, recipes, grocery lists, and – most importantly – instructions on how to cook once and eat all month.
Since once a month is about my cooking limit anyway, I decided to give it a shot. However, cooking one meal and doing “Once a Month Mom” cooking are two entirely different things! Last weekend, though, I decided I was up for the challenge.
To make OAMM cooking day a success, it’s best to have a partner. My partner was my good friend Emilie, who is usually game for whatever crazy scheme I concoct. Emilie and I work together, and we both have really limited time to get dinner on the table at night, so we were excited to give it a shot. We printed out Tricia’s handy grocery list, figured out what we already had between the two of us, and split up the rest of the items.
As I mentioned yesterday, in order to do all this cooking, I decided to buy a food processor and a can opener. Yes, I did own a can opener (Campbell’s chicken noodle is a staple at our house) but after seeing the mass quantity of can goods that were going to require opening, I thought an electric one would be a good idea. And the food processor just seemed like a lot of fun.
Because of my genius, Tricia has appended her cooking tips to include “The food processor is NOT FOR EVERYTHING.”
So my tomato and green peppers were a little soupy. How was I supposed to know that?
In any case, after about six hours and a few minor mishaps (I put all bazillion ounces of cooked pasta into one dish that called for 16oz – oops!), Emilie and I had made:
–Breakfast Burritos
–Banana Sour Cream Muffins (my personal favorite thing of the day)
–Taco Soup
–Vegetable Soup
–Chicken and Corn Quesadillas
–Spaghetti Sauce
–Lasagna
–Chicken Parmigiana
–Baked Spaghetti
–Chicken Macaroni Bake
–Chicken Ziti
–Chicken Enchiladas
My freezer is FULL. And guess what?? Emilie and I each only spent about $100 on the groceries! Do you realize how CHEAP that is for a month of meals? It is amazing. I would have never, ever, ever had enough time in the evening to make meals like this. And I would have never undertaken it on my own – the grocery list (in a spreadsheet, which made my dorky heart sing), recipes and instructions provided by Once a Month Mom did all the thinking for me.
It was a long day (Note: Take Tricia’s advice about getting the kids out of the house. Our three kids running around made it much more complicated!), but it was fun and it was so worth it.
Healthy, homemade meals all month long? That works for me!
For more WFMW tips, click over to We are THAT Family, the new home of WFMW!
I love this idea! I am always throwing things in the Crock-Pot for dinner, because with team practices, girl scouts, therapy for my son, homework, etc. I never had time to make a good meal. Pulling something out of the freezer is IDEAL for me! Thanks!
You girls are WONDERFUL!! I was led to this site through a talk Jenny gave on couponing for my moms group at church, now me and my girlfriends are ADDICTED to CVSing and now hoping to get together for Once a Month cook offs!!
LOVE your cute stories and look forward to your new posts everyday. Keep up the GREAT work!
this is a great idea. The more I hear about it the more I really want to do it. Now to find a partner.
Nice! Loved reading about your day. Want to co-author “what not to do with a food processor” with me? Thanks for sharing your story with everyone!
*sigh* Maybe I should try this after all. I’ve done so much reading and thinking and planning, but never manage to just pull the trigger and DO IT. A partner would help…
Brilliant! I’ve never undertaken cooking and freezing an entire month’s worth of meals, but I did make sure I froze several dishes before both of my last two babies were born. It’s such a huge relief knowing there’s something healthy, hearty, and soon-to-be hot sitting in the freezer for those evenings I just don’t feel like cooking. Good for you!
Don’t you feel like the theme music to Rocky should be playing non-stop when we OAM cook? And we should all wear grey sweats head to toe.
I have to say I am with you. I partnered with Amy and we rocked it. I couldn’t believe how much food I got for the investment. I’ve already tried 4 meals and have yet to be disappointed!