If you
are like most moms around the world, there never seems to
be enough time or energy at the end of most days to prepare the
nice home cooked meal you would love to have ready made for your
family. Unfortunately, cooking a good family meal requires both
time and energy. A few wise moms have discovered a concept that
has become known as once a month or freezer cooking to assist in
those nights when time, energy, or both are in short supply.
The thought behind once a month cooking is that for one or two
days (if you prefer to spread the process out over a couple of
shorter days rather than one long day of cooking) of intense
culinary effort your family can dine well for an entire month.
Many women who have tried this have also discovered that not
only does it help by always having something nice and home
cooked for dinner, but also helps families stay within budget.
Far too many mother's will guiltily raise their hands when asked
whether or not they've ever resorted to fast food or junk food
meals simply because they were too tired to cook or were missing
one ingredient for a meal and did not feel up to running to the
grocery store in order to pick up the missing ingredient. This
practice can get expensive over time and rob your family of some
well-earned fun money.
There are some important things you must keep in mind if you are
considering once a month cooking as a way of life for your
family. The first thing you need to keep in mind is that
planning is the key. You will need to set aside a day (or two)
for the cooking when nothing else is on the calendar. It is
simply too difficult to see to all the details if you are
planning your cooking event around car pools, soccer games, or
dance practices. You need a full day that will be relatively
uninterrupted. If you have a spouse, partner, or family member
that can take the children for the day this will be the ideal
situation. Otherwise be sure to have plenty of distractions on
hand for the little ones or find a way to enlist their help with
any cutting, chopping, slicing, dicing, or peeling that may need
to be done.
You should also create a thorough menu followed by a list of
each and every ingredient you will need. Shopping needs to be
done on a day other than when you are planning to cook. This
means that you aren't likely to rush through the shopping trip
and forget something as a result. Bring your menu and your list
and get everything you need in one trip whenever possible. You
can also save money by planning your meals for the month
according to the sales circulars and coupons you have for the
week in order to stretch your budget a little further.
Finally, you need to make sure that you have all the supplies,
dishes, and containers you need in order to prepare and store
the meals you've prepared properly. You should also make sure
that the recipes you are using for your once a month cooking
marathon are recipes that freeze well. It is even better if you
have recipes that double well so that you can get twice the
results from the same effort.
You should also make sure you are mentally prepared for your
marathon cooking session. Beginning with a nice and tidy kitchen
is a great start. Folding card tables make an excellent flat
surface for storing things out of the way and freeing up
valuable counter space for preparing and assembling the foods
that will be prepared. You should also utilize as many
appliances in your kitchen as possible for maximum efficiency.
Don't limit all cooking to the oven. Find dishes that freeze
well and can be prepared in the crock pot or on the range top.
Once a month cooking is a challenge but many women will agree it
is well worth the effort on those nights when the thought of
cooking seems unbearable and the wallet has been stretched to
its limit.
