The Grand Experiment Begins

During one of my many web-surfing episodes, I stumbled upon a website called OnceAMonthMom (www.onceamonthmom.com) The two moms who run this little blog have designed a system in which they only cook once a month. That's right, one day out of the whole month. I read their info with great interest and decided "I'm going to try this!"

The cool thing about this system is that all of the planning has been done for you. You view the menus and recipes, and a grocery list is generated that combines all of the ingredients for all of the food. It is even organized by section of the store! You print the list, print the recipes, and then print the schedule. The schedule outlines how to most efficiently prepare all of this food in just one day.

My motivation: Why do all this? Is it that hard to make dinner? No, it isn't that hard to make dinner if you want to eat frozen pizza or veggie burgers every night. But if you want something more, it takes more time. And the time is in the planning, not so much in the actual cooking. I'm also tired of making separate dinner for Annie every night, so I needed some easy meals that are good for her, too.

Some downfalls: The system is designed for two people. I didn't invite anyone to be my partner this time, figuring it would be best to try it alone first in case it was a total flop. So I had to go through and halve all of the amounts on the grocery list, since I'd be cooking for one family, not two. Also, the plan includes recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I decided to omit a few breakfast options and both lunch plans because they don't work for us--neither Sam nor I were interested in microwaving individual breakfast burritos each morning or eating boatloads of soup for lunch each day. So I went through the grocery list again and removed items that were not needed for us.

Now, I had to read through all of the information multiple times before it all made sense. I read, read, and re-read to make sure I understood exactly what I was buying and cooking. That's why we didn't start the February Menu until halfway through the month! It is a bit confusing and overwhelming at first, but hang in there with me!

This weekend began the actual food procurement and preparation. Anne and I ventured to the grocery store on Saturday morning. I was armed with a detailed list and ready to shop. I bought all of the necessary food, as well as some foil pans and gallon-size Ziploc bags to store it all. (Side note: Never take Anne to the store without a snack. She gets grumpy and unpleasant! Last time we went I broke into a box of Cheddar Bunnies right there in the cracker aisle.) One supposed effect of this once-a-month plan is that you spend less on groceries. I'm not very good at tracking how much we spend on food, but a good rule of thumb at Walmart is $2 per item. If you count the items in your cart as you put them on the conveyer belt, then double it, that's about what the bill should be. I was a little bit under the $2 Rule this week, and I am hoping to create a whole lot of meals from that food. I did notice that I bought fewer "convenience" items like frozen pizza or snack-y things like chips and crackers. Those usually cost more and drive up the bill. Anyway, we bought our food, packed it up, and brought it home. Anne went down for a nap and I put the food away.

I decided to tackle the non-cooking recipes first. There was a chicken and rice hotdish recipe that required no cooking to assemble--mix dry rice with assorted wet things, lay chicken on top, and freeze. Easy enough. Then I moved on to lasagna, assembling them quickly, labeling, and freezing. I finished the nap-time work with a baked pasta dish that required a bit of cooking, but not much. All in all I had at least 5 dinners in the freezer, less than one sinkful of dishes, and a smug sense of satisfaction with my work.

Before Anne got up I managed to put a chicken in the CrockPot. Now, this was my first time working with a whole chicken (I bought two of them) and it was interesting. I have many thoughts on them and their impact on my life, but perhaps I'll share those another time. I'll just say now that you haven't lived until you've picked apart a chicken's spinal column.

Yesterday I baked 4 dozen banana-chocolate chip muffins and froze most of them. These are quite yummy and I brought two in my lunch today.

To summarize: I have 4 frozen dinners in my freezer right now and 2 huge bags of muffins for snacking. We made one lasagna last night and it was awesome. Sam will be having the leftovers for lunch today and probably dinner again tonight. The Once-A-Month system is helpful in that it does all of the planning for you and provides recipes that are freezer-safe. They also provide directions for re-heating the meals. I am happy to know that after only a few hours worth of work I do not have to think "Crap! I didn't thaw any meat!" for several days.

More info to come as more food is made and eaten!