Day of Cooking

Yesterday we cooked all of our meals from Once a Month Mom.  It definitely took a full day and our bodies hated us by the end, but none of the recipes were "hard."  It was easy to make and package, just a lot of work.  We did some chopping and prep the night before, and that combined with our work yesterday, minus breaks, equals about 7 hours of cooking.  14 man hours if you consider Chris and I were both working the whole time (except when I had to leave the kitchen to avoid puking from the smell of banana filling the room).

Everything fit in the freezer.  What you need to do is put the food in Ziplocs, then flatten it out as much as possible.  Our tiny side by side freezer fit everything with room to spare.

The labels are a must; with this much food in the freezer it's tough to remember everything you have.  They are quick to print out, and save tons of time with labeling.

The only bad thing about the meal plan is that it only allows for 8 breakfasts, 8 lunches, and 14 dinners.  She explains this in her blog, but we didn't read that until after we had cooked.  She says this is to allow for eating out.  That's a lot of eating out!!!! So basically, we only have enough food for about 2 weeks.  We are going to try it out, and if we like it then in 2 weeks we will just double up on everything and then have enough for a full month.  So, for example, we would type in 4 instead of 2 where it asks how many people you are cooking for.  Another thing we will do is make our own shopping list.  The grocery list and the recipes don't call for the same things.  For example, 2 medium carrots does not equal 4 cups.  Also, we like more meat in our meals than the recipes call for.  In addition, the recipes don't include side dishes or snacks, so that is an added expense and something that needs to be considered while planning out the month.  So, just like everything else in life, we will need to adjust the recipes and shopping lists to accommodate our needs.  But the basic concept is amazing, and we are super excited to eat all of the yummy foods!

I do want to add that everything we made looked and smelled delicious.  We tasted the egg rolls, waffles, and minestrone, and they were all yummy.  The hardest part of cooking was making a ton of food that we really wanted to eat, but weren't allowed to.  At least we have something to look forward to over the next couple of weeks!  We are excited to have different things to eat for breakfast and lunch, instead of cereal, sandwiches, and left overs all the time. 

Southwestern egg rolls, breakfast pizza, healthy breakfast cookies

I would definitely recommend trying this out if you are looking for a way to eat well and save time.  My advice is to take the time to make sure you have enough meals to cover the month, and to adjust the portions to fit your appetite.  Make sure you add in side dishes and snacks, and compare the shopping list to  the recipes so you don't have to run to the store in the middle of your day of cooking (like we did).  If you want to try this out, but have other questions or need some advice, let me know!