Once A Month Cooking Intro...

Let me be honest...I DESPISE the hour before dinner time. Its not that I dislike to cook, its just for some reason at 4PM each day I am scrambling to figure out what I can throw together to feed my family. I have tried meal planning (fail), started a Pinterest "Meal Plan" board (fail)....nothing seems to work for me!! I think I have found my solution...ONCE A MONTH COOKING. Once a month?? Who doesn't like the sound of that?? Now that I have your attention, read on ladies...

Kim Parrish (beautiful lady in the photo below) is a freezer meal guru and has offered to provide us moms with some tips on freezer meal cooking and some yummy recipes. Kim gets together with one of her best friends and once a month (one day people) they each prep and freeze 17 meals for EACH of their families!! Once a week, I will be featuring one of Kim's yummy freezer friendly recipes on our blog. Please be sure to check back each week :)

Kim Parrish

I love Once a Month Cooking!!  

 I am going to list a few things you need to consider before you begin.

 

***** These instructions are for days when we made each family 17 meals.  You can start a lot smaller.  Don’t be intimidated.  Years ago I had a club with friends where we each made one meal 3 times. One meal to keep and two to exchange.  We met on Sunday night for coffee and brought home our meal and two others. There are many ways to make this work for your families. 

• Girlfriends: It is best to do with a girlfriend maybe two but no more (kitchens are too small).  You really need to be selective when choosing a friend to cook with.  Both of your families need to have similar likes and dislikes, when it come to food.  Are you/they willing to buy no name brand items to save money? Do they like to cook or are they at least willing to be “happy” about it?
• Kitchen: You need a kitchen that has descent counter space and a table.  We always used my kitchen table and we also set up a craft table.
• Prep: Together review your families’ favorite meals.  See what recipies would work well for both families. *** To save extra money you can plan meals around the “loss leader” meats that Kroger and Publix have listed.  (ie; Chicken on sale $1.99)

BEFORE YOU SHOP:

• Make a shopping list. (must write down amounts need of each item) Recipes we know we love we would always make it twice for each family.
• Check pantries to see what you may already have on hand.
• Organize shopping list in the same order as the store. This is not a fun day of shopping without kids, you are on a missions!!! :)  But to plan for a treat to reward your hard efforts  

SHOPPING DAY : 

• Where to shop.  Sam’s or Costco are great but you will have to also go to a grocery store for additional items. 
• Shopping Rules – no kids, where tennis shoes, eat before you shop. 
• Make plans to eat out this night.  We always ordered pizza and ate together.
• Deliver groceries to the house you will cook at the next day.
• Prep work- One of us took home all the beef and browned it and one of us stuck the chicken in a crock-pot and shredded it. 

 **Plan for containers.  We used a lot of Gallon sized freezer bags, they take up less room in the freezer. 

 WORK DAY: 

(** there really is no cooking today, just mixing) 

• Have activities planned for the kids, easy things that they can do without you. 
• Plan the lunch and have it ready.  You will not want to have to stop and make this. 
• Make an index card for each meal and what is needed.   
• Make piles on your tables for each meal.  
• Write on your container: meal name and cooking instructions. 
• Mix together ingredients and place in container.  
• HAVE FUN!!!!