Once a month cooking?

I found an interesting book at the library the other day: Once A Month Cooking. The premise is that you shop for all the food you need for two weeks or a month, then spend part of a day cooking and freezing so all you have to do is heat up the prepared meal each night. Thought it was worth a try!

Yesterday, I went grocery shopping. Spent more than I usually do but this is for two weeks, right? Got it home but then had to go to Awana so couldn't do any prep last night. Though I did clean out my freezer and spice cabinet to make room (and they needed it anyway.)

This morning I started. First lots of cutting. Carrots, onions, green onions, celery, green pepper, red pepper, kielbasa, chicken, flank steak. Then the prep. First was a baked jambalaya. Combined ingredients and put them into a freezer bag. One down. Next was supposed to be stuffed pork chops. Oops, forgot the mozzarella cheese. Skip that recipe for now.

Then a curry. Had to cook the chicken and add other ingredients. Then into the freezer bag and the freezer. Then three different chicken recipes - one with a soy sauce marinade, one with a barbeque marinade, and one with a cranberry sauce and onion soup marinade. All done. Then Chili Burgers. Mix, form, freeze. By now the kitchen is full of dishes and I am almost out of time before I need to leave for work. So one more...a roast in the crock pot. It is supposed to be mixed with the sauce, then frozen. Thaw out when you need it. I skipped the freeze/thaw step and just made it now for tonight's dinner. And yes, I remembered to make sure the crock pot was turned on. Last week I put chicken in it, and forgot to make sure it was turned on before I left for the day. No dinner when I got home, just a mess of thawed out chicken.

I still have a few more dishes to make: goulash, a shrimp dish, and another dish or two whose names escape me at the moment.

My hope is that this "plan" will at least remove some of the work in cooking, definitely remove the "what should I make for dinner tonight" anguish, and feed my family a bit better. Too much reliance on convenience foods lately.

I'll let you know what happens.