Group Once A Month Cooking

NEW BLOG and big announcement

2011-02-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I have finally done it. I have been so busy with so many things, but I have finally launched my new business around the Once a Month Cooking concept. You can check it out at my new blog location here.

You can also find me on Facebook at facebook.com/partyinmykitchen

Go check it out.

In additiona, I finally have my 4 month cookbook done. If you are interested in purchasing it, just email me to let me know.

It's been a little while...(and a recipe)

2009-10-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

but I am working on something new and exciting. Hopefully I will have more info to share with you very soon.

For now, please enjoy this recipe, one of my favorites for this time of year!!!!

World's Best Chili

Ingredients:
5 cups ground Beef
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion
1 cup green bell pepper
1 TBSP. Worcestershire Sauce
¾ teas. Chili powder
¼ teas. Cinnamon
¼ garlic powder
Salt and Pepper
1 15 ounce can kidney beans
1 16 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

Assembly Instructions:

Put all ingredients into Ziploc bag and Freeze.

Day of Use Instructions:

Pour bag into crock pot and cook on low setting 6 hours stirring occasionally.

Makes about 8 cups.

Group Cook Day Today

2009-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

We took a bit of a break over the summer because everyone's schedules were so crazy we just couldn't get together to prepare meals, but we are back at it again and we are getting better at this every time we do it. Today we were done with 84 meals in 3 hours. And 3 of us prepared meals for 4 families. It was great. Of course, I once again forgot to take pictures of the whole process, one of these days, I will remember that part.

So this time we did the following meals.

Spaghetti
Lasagna
Magnificent Casserole
Teriyaki Burgers
Teriyaki Chicken
Chicken Noodle Casserole
Meatballs in Dijon Sauce
Orange Chicken
BBQ Meatbals
Taco Salad
Ham Fried Rice
Ham Slices Dinner
Swiss Steak
Macaroni & Cheese
Cream Cheese Chicken
Crock Pot Roast Beef
Chicken Enchilada Soup
Taco Soup
French Bread Pizzas
Meatball Stroganoff

Plus we had a bit of extra ground beef left over so we bagged it up and added seasonings to make another taco meal during the month. So each of us ended up with 21 meals today. It feels so good to have my freezer full again!! The meal plan for this group of meals will be ready soon. I have a few adjustments to make after working it out today. I will let you all know when it is ready.

By the way, for anyone local that is interested, I am working out a way that I can help other groups to get started with this(or even to do it regularly). I am working on a party plan where you gather your friends and have a group cook day for yourselves, with me there to supervise and help get it all done. So you and your friends get the benefit of 20 meals in your freezers, some fun social time while working in the kitchen and the benefit of my many years of experience doing this process. If anyone is interested in doing this, just let me know.

Crazy Evenings and Getting Dinner on the Table

2009-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

So one of the biggest reasons that I do OAMC is for the daily time savings. Our lives are busy. My girls have sports after school, everyone has homework, and let's face it, the dinner hour just happens to fall at the craziest time of the day. Right?

I used to spend in excess of an hour every evening to prepare a proper meal for my family. It was like a juggling act on a high wire in the circus. Put the pan on the stove, "mom I need help", cut something up, "mom can you pick me up from volleyball now?", throw something in the pan, "mom, I can't do this math problem". etc., etc., etc., I think you get the idea. I found that the time in the evenings is too valuable and it is too hard to justify spending it slaving over the stove to prepare a meal. I feel like my kids need that time instead.

At the same time, I was not willing to spend the extra money to buy prepared foods, get take-out, or fast food. (Not to mention the health factor involved in these easier options.) So I was very excited when I learned about OAMC.

With OAMC, the time required to get a meal on the table is very minimal. In most cases it requires only the time to pour the meal into a saucepan and reheat or to throw a casserole in the oven. I have found that instead of spending an hour or more for meal preparation on a daily basis, I spend about 15 minutes in actual meal preparation daily and then about 3-4 hours one day a month to prepare the frozen meals. It is truly a HUGE time saver.

Another way I save evening time in the kitchen is to use my crock-pot. I like to get a meal ready in the crock pot in the morning and let it cook all day so it is ready when I need it. With this method, my prep time is spent in the morning after kids go to school when things tend to be a little bit less hectic. I have several OAMC recipes that use the crock pot too. With these meals all the prep is done ahead of time and all you have to do is dump it into the crock pot, turn it on and go on with your day.

In addition, I recently was sent an email that had links to tons of Crock Pot recipes in it. I traced that email back to it's source and wanted to share this website with you. They have a ton of really great crock pot recipes on it. Crockery Pot Recipes

Well, like I have said, I have found OAMC to be a huge time saver in the kitchen. I love doing it. I love having meals in the freezer and I feel LOVE that it gives me so much more freedom!! Anyway, if I haven't convinced you to try OAMC yet, then just wait for my next article on the money I have saved doing OAMC. You will be amazed!!

Foil or PYREX®?

2009-08-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of articles I plan to write to help others who are using the method of cooking called Once a Month Cooking or OAMC for short.

I recently had a conversation with several ladies about the whole process of OAMC. I was asked how I store my meals. The majority of the meals I prepare and many of the meals that are in my meal plans can be stored in gallon sized zip-loc bags. But what about the casseroles or layered dishes that must be stored in a dish of some sort? What do I prefer? What do I use? What do I recommend?

First of all let me preface my remarks by saying that it has taken me some time to build up my own collection so I do not necessarily recommend that you go out and buy a whole bunch at one time, unless you find a really great sale.

My recommendation is PYREX® dishes with the plastic lids. You can buy foil dishes that have the cardboard lids and they are fairly economical, but you throw them away after one use. This to me is wasteful. I suggest that you slowly invest in a collection of various PYREX® dishes that can be used and reused time and time again. Thus in the long run you will be saving money.

You can buy PYREX® at a number of places. I prefer to buy them with the lids, then you know you will have a lid that will fit properly. In the past, I have found these available in a 2 pack at Wal-Mart for around $13. The set came with two different sizes a 9x13 and a 7x11. Both sizes are very useful. Individual pans are also available. You can also go direct to the PYREX® website found here to buy whatever pans you might wish to buy.

A word of caution however, I feel I must give here, watch what you are buying. There are a lot of gift sets that are available. If you are wishing to purchase pans for the purpose of OAMC many of these sets may not be entirely useful to you. Be sure to verify the sizes of the pans and items that come in the set and depending on the size of your family, you will not need anything smaller than an 8x8 pan. So don't get caught up in the deal for a 20 piece set if most of those items will not be useful with your OAMC cooking. Why buy what you do not need?!

PYREX® with lids will keep your meals fresh for up to about 2 months and you don't have to worry about cutting holes in the pan when you serve your meals like I always do if I use a foil pan. They can be placed in your fridge or on the counter to thaw and then go directly to the oven or microwave to cook the meal.

If you already have some PYREX®(most of us do) but don't have lids, it is possible in some cases to buy the lids separately. Make sure to verify that your pans are actually PYREX® because the lids do not fit other brands. Check your sizes and you can order lids here.

So here are my favorites and why:

1- I love the PYREX® Storage Plus® 11-cup Rectangle w/ Cover

The reason I love this dish is because it is a bit deeper than your average casserole dish which makes it a perfect choice for those layered meals like Shepherd's Pie, or even a small Lasagna.

2- The versatile PYREX® 2-qt Oblong w/ Cover

This is the 7x11 pan I spoke of earlier. It is a very versatile dish and can be used for many different casserole type meals.

3- The must have PYREX® 9" x 13" Baking Dish w/ Cover

This dish is a must have because you will use it time and time again. I have 5 of this one and use them constantly. This is one you may want to have an extra of so you can use it to bake some of the meals that are stored and frozen in bags. It is great for any casserole type meal and so many more!!!

4-Finally the last I suggest is the PYREX® 8" Square Baking Dish w/ Cover

I have used this dish many times and if you have a smaller (less than 6) family, you can make most of your meals into this size pan by splitting the recipes into two meals thus doubling the amount of meals you are freezing for future use.

I may sound a bit like an advertisement for the PYREX® company. I assure you I am not in any way affiliated with them, but I have found a product that is ideal for OAMC and want to help others to the good stuff rather than learning by trial and error as I have. Besides a few less foil pans in the garbage dumps is a good thing right?

2009-08-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well, summer went by so fast this year, I can hardly believe it. I finally have all the kids in school so I am going to get busy and start workin on meal plan #2. I have already posted about plans 1 and 3 (for some silly reason I went out of order). I hope to be posting the next meal plan later this month, so check back later. It is also my hope to start blogging more frequently on various topics relating to OAMC.

If you haven't done so already, subscribe to this blog and you will recieve an email notice whenever I update this blog.

Second Meal Plan is Ready!!!!

2009-05-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

My second meal plan is ready. Don't ask me why I have gone out of order, but it is meal plan #3.
It contains the following meals:
Chicken Puffs
Easy Beef Stew
BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Shredded Beef Tacos
Meat Stuffed Shells
Zesty Italian Casserole
Pizza Pockets
Michelle's Stuffed Manicotti
Easy Freezer Meatloaf
Super Easy Swiss Steak
Simple Salisbury Steak
Tater Tot Casserole
Crunchy Pork Casserole
Southwest Pork and Rice
Pizza Chicken and Rotini
King Ranch Chicken
Hawaiian Haystacks
Chicken and Rice Dinner
Spanish Rice Casserole
Chicken Hot Dish

If you want to order it, just send me an email using the flashing button at the top of this blog to let me know you want meal plan #3. Then make a payment to paypal using the same email address. I will send you the zipped files as soon as your payment has cleared my account.
Happy Cooking!!!

Meal Plan # 1 is ready!!

2009-02-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

I am now taking orders for meal plan #1. It is available for $10 paid by pay pal to my account. Once payment is verified I will email you a zipped file of all the information including 20 recipes, day of use instructions, assembly day order, a self calculating shopping list for if you are working in groups, and information about OAMC and starting a group.

Just send an email using the button on the right so I know to look for your order and payment. Thanks Everyone!!!

Meal Plan # 1 Ready to go

2009-02-03T09:37:00.001-08:00

If you are interested in purchasing a one month complete meal plan, I have the first one just about ready to go. So I am going to start taking preorders. It will be $10 paid by Pay Pal. Email me to place your preorder today and I will send information for payment and downloads next week.

This meal plan includes instructions and how to's for group OAMC, a self calculating shopping list(you just enter the number of families that you have in your group and it calculates what you need to buy), and recipes. It will work whether you are wanting to cook just for your own family or if you are getting a group together so you can save even more money.

Here is a list of the meals in this plan.

Jack Burgers
Shish Kebabs
World's Best Chili
Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
Beef Fajitas
Chick Fried Steak
Crock Pot Taco Casserole
Ham and Potatoe Soup
Farmer Style Chops
Citrus Marinated Pork Chops
Ham and Swiss Pie
Ham and Cheese Crepes
Chicken Noodle Soup
Potato Chip Chicken
Chicken Fajitas
Chicken Pot Pie
Cheesy Chicken and Rotini
Chicken and Stuffing
Stuffed Chicken Loaf
Chicken Parmesan

Recipes are based on a family of 6. If you have a smaller family, you can make smaller portions and have double the meals. Or prepare as is and have leftovers for lunches. If you would like to purchase this plan, just send me an email and I will tell you how to go about downloading it. The cost is $10 (paid through Pay Pal) and I guarantee you will save at least 10 times that much with this program.

Our group did this program and it came out to right around $8 per meal.

If you will be trying out the group process, each person in the group should purchase the program so that they all have the complete information. It is against copyright to share the files with people who have not purchased the program.

Coming Soon

2009-01-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of months worth of meal plans about ready to go. I am working out the details as to how to accept payment and all that so that I can sell them on my blog. I have yet to hear back from any publishers at this point so I am looking at ways to do this myself. Please bare with me as I figure out the details. Look back soon for an announcement that we are up and running.

It's been a while...

2008-11-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have actually been researching and working on publishing a cookbook with all of my concepts and recipes. I sent my manuscript off to 6 publishers about 3 weeks ago and have been denied by 3 of them. The first was because they only use the recipes from their magazines, the second isn't taking on new projects right now and the third said that they are not sure they could effectively market it. I am starting to feel a little bit down about the idea, but I am still hopefull about the other companies. If I can't get a publisher to publish my cookbook, I will be looking into self publishing. Anyway, I just thought I would leave a quick note to tell you where I have been. I will let you know when I hear more.

Our 4th Cook Day

2008-10-12T14:19:00.001-07:00

My group had another cook day this past week. I did all the shopping and thought I would share some pictures of what it looks like to shop for 20 meals each for 5 families. Of course, this doesn't even include all the chicken, ground beef, bacon, and veggies that were already taken to the other ladies for preparation for our cook day.I had intended to take pictures as we were preparing our meals this month, but in the craziness I neglected to do so. Maybe next time I can get it together. This month we made the following meals:

Monterey Jack Burgers

Shich Kebabs

Worl'd Best Chili

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Beef Fajitas

Chicken Fajitas

Chicken Fried Steak

Crock Pot Taco Casserole

Ham and Potato Soup

Farmer Style Chops

Citrus Marinated Pork Chops

Ham and Swiss Pie

Chicken Soup

Chicken Pot Pies

Cheesy Chicken and Rotini

Chicken and Stuffing

Stuffed Chicken Loaf

Chicken Parmesan

The day went rather smoothly and we were done by 1:00. Thank you to my friends who joined me this month for making my OAMC cook day so much fun and for leaving my kitchen so clean. Yay!!!

A Recipe for You

2008-09-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my favorite prepare ahead meals.

My Favorite Meat Stuffed Shells
Michelle Sims

Ingredients:

2 cups ground beef
1 1/2 cups Italian Sausage
¼ chopped onion
1 pkg. Jumbo shells cooked al dente
1 16 oz. can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 teas. Ground basil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups shredded mozzarella

Assembly Instructions:

Mix meats and onion together. Stuff mixture into precooked shells, add a pinch of cheese and place in a casserole dish(9x13). In a small bowl combine tomato sauce and spices. Pour over the top of the shells and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Freeze.

Day of Use Instructions:

Thaw and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Serves 6 adults. For smaller families, prepare in two 8x8 casserole dishes and presto, you have 2 meals!

Serve With: Salad and garlic bread.

Working on a Blog Giveaway

2008-09-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

I am Working on a Blog Giveaway. I thought it would be fun to put together a mini meal plan to give away on my blog. I am getting it together and will post the information within the week. Make sure to tell all your friends.

2008-09-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

After taking a bit of a break from doing OAMC, (don't ask me why I took a break, I'd say I was being lazy, but that doesn't quite work because this break only created more day to day work for myself) my food budget and my daily stress levels started screaming at me to get back to it.

One day, I was talking with my cousin who was telling me about her group of friends and how they all make up several freezer meals and swap. I thought this sounded like a great idea only I wanted to improve it a bit for my needs. As I started considering my friends who might be interested in a group of this sort I realized that I could make this a fun event that would benefit all who participate.

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who does not cook. She will be the first to tell you she doesn't cook, doesn't really like to cook and that her family eats out most of the time. As I considered my group idea, I thought of how this could benefit her and her family.

Then I considered other friends: some I know who have already done OAMC on their own and some who have gone to make and take franchise places. I considered them and decided that I could do this group thing and I could do it well.

So I sent my first email. I explained my idea in as much detail as I could at that time. All three families said they were interested and so the process began. We got together and picked a menu. I made up the shopping lists and did the shopping and we divided up the tasks that could be done the day before our cook day.

When our cook day arrived, I had high hopes that we would be done before mid afternoon, but didn't really know what to expect. Everyone showed up with the cooked meat and chopped veggies and we were ready to start our meal assembly. Our first attempt menu consisted of 15 meals. We got them all put together and were done about 12:30. Our 15 meals cost each family about $95. I was amazed by the money savings of working as a group and the time savings. Think about it, as a group, we did 60 meals in less than 4 hours. WOW!!

I was so pleased by the process that I knew for sure we would do it again. A couple of months later, we were ready for round two. We would have done it sooner but family vacations overlapped and got in the way of scheduling. I sent out another invite to get some new families involved and got started planning. (2 of the families from the previous time opted out this time around for one reason or another)

One of my friends (the same one mentioned above) told me that when the meals ran out her husband started asking when I was going to be cooking for them again. I thought that was hilarious. Though I facilitated the group with my menus, organization, and prior experience, she had actually made all of her own meals.

Round 2 came and this time we had only 3 families participating, and one of them new to our group. One was recovering from surgery so that left two of us to prepare all the meals for the 3 families. We were still done by noon. This time we made 18 meals for each family and our cost was about $120. I figured as we got the process down we could add a few meals each time until we got to what we wanted.

Round 2 was great and we started looking to round 3. This time 4 families participated and 20 meals were planned. Due to a miscalculation on my part, we were short a bit of chicken and cut out one of the meals, but we had 19 meals per family done by about 11:30 and were done with clean up and they were out the door by 12:30. Round 3 cost each family about $150 and that breaks down to about $8 per meal. This month we made 76 dinners in about 3.5 hours.

We are now set on a schedule to get together to cook the second Thursday every month. I am working on our 4th menu right now and am very excited for the future of meals doing group once a month cooking.

Instead of spending 1-1.5 hours daily in meal preparation, I now spend perhaps 5 minutes to determine which meal to take out of the freezer each morning and then 5-10 minutes each evening to prepare the meal and side dishes. We have a home cooked meal nearly every night and I feel fulfilled in my role as chef.

Being the mother of 5 children with a husband who travels out of town Monday through Friday most weeks, my time is invaluable. Every minute counts when I am trying to help 4 kids with homework, manage bath times and bed times, not to mention sports schedules, school events, and church activities that happen in the evenings as well.

When I have my freezer full of meals we eat more healthy foods as they are homemade instead of prepackaged frozen meals, canned foods or take out. I save at least $400 a month off my grocery expenses, and I have so much more time to spend doing the things that are truly important.

By adding the element of doing this with my friends, the savings of both time and money are greater, I have the opportunity to help other families, and I get to hang out with my friends while we are preparing our meals. It's GREAT!!!

My Introduction to Once a Month Cooking

2008-09-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

Several years back as I was recovering from one of my several recent surgeries, a friend was over to help me with the kiddos. When she came in the house she brought with her a pyrex dish.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Oh, I brought you dinner from my freezer."

"Dinner from your freezer?"

"Yea, I do Once a month cooking so I have a freezer full of dinners."

"Once a month what?" I asked very curious.

She went on to tell me very briefly about the concept of once a month cooking. My immediate response was "whoever came up with this concept is a genius."

Later I hit the Internet in search of more information and the next day hit the library in search of books. I found this great book and brought it home to study. It was a great resource. It wasn't long before I was confident enough in my research to attempt my first day of OAMC.

My first very long day produced about 23 meals and I felt very satisfied with my labors. Over the course of that first month I saved myself many many hours in the kitchen and cut my grocery bill just about in half.

Over time, I have perfected my processes, created my own recipes, converted some of our family favorites and collected over 6 months worth of unrepeated recipes. I have taught a couple of classes for the women at church and shared my ideas and my recipe compilation with countless others.

In the last six months I have found an even better way to do my OAMC cooking. I save even more money, several hours of labor time, and have a ton more fun with the whole process. I will write about this in my next post.