My Once A Month Cooking (OAMC): Prep night

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Prep night

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 5, 2011, is our cooking day! Tonight we did our shopping and our prep. I want to stress to plan your groceries according to aisles in the store. That way you aren't doing any back tracking. Seemed I did a lot of that tonight. List wasn't organized at all. I'll do better next month! As far as the prep work, I got my part done! shredded the chicken, chopped the onions, cooked the sausage. I laid out all my ingredients with the respective recipe, with the exception of the meats and the refrigerated items. In the refrigerator I have them split up according to recipe! I have my containers lined up with the ingredients. All the utensils and the knifes are lined up. My counters are cleaned off...no toaster, no can opener, no jars. Nothing! So I think we are ready!

Oh yes....we are not making the salmon dish as WalMart was out of salmon. So trying to decide what to prepare in it's stead. maybe Souper Burgers!?!?! Mmmm

I'll let you know.

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Introduction

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by deciding what to prepare for a meal? I know I have. Many times. Especially our evening meal when our three children were growing up. Then one day I stumbled across a program called "Once A Month Cooking" (OAMC) and thought I'd give it a try. It was a lifesaver and I loved it. I did it for years, from the time my youngest was in preschool until he was in the 8th grade. I don't remember why I quit, just that I did. When I was doing the OAMC back then I prepared a lot of full, complete meals and froze them, entree, side, and dessert. The only thing I had to actually prepare for the meal was the vegetable or the potatoes. For those of you not familiar with the OAMC program, I will try to explain it to you here. This blog is to try to help you see what it takes, how to do itm give you ideas and how much fun you can actually have. OAMC is the ultimate do-ahead dinner preparation technique. The secret of the OAMC technique is that you cook all your dinner main dishes for a month (or two weeks or even a week) in one day, freeze them, and enjoy eating tasty food, every night without the hassle of lengthy meal preparation. In this blog, I will try to provide the menu we use, shopping lists and recipes. You do not have to have organizational skills, nor do you have to be a good cook to successfully accomplish OAMC. What you need to expect and plan to is: Take a longer-than usual shopping trip, preferably the day or night before your cooking day. Spend the bulk of your month's food budget on this shopping trip (saving money over the course of the month) Cook with a partner or two or three, like I do, for maximum fun and efficiency. Cook half a day for a two week cycle, a full day for a month cycle. Love the freedom and possibilities this will bring to mealtimes. Enjoy family building times around the table and like us, the time we cook together. Take the stress out of having company for dinner I suggest for the first few time you do the OAMC to try to do the two week cycle. Then when you get the feel of the "system" advance on the full month if that is what you want and have room for the food. Also in this blog I will frequently give you suggestions of what to serve with a certain recipe. Please feel free to email me with any suggestions and question syou might have. Even leave a comment here on the blog.