My Once A Month Cooking (OAMC): September 1, 2011

Thursday, September 1, 2011

September 1, 2011

I cannot believe that it is September 1st already. Where has this summer gone? Where has this year gone for that matter? Goodness

The canning process is in full swing! Between pickles, beans, jalapenos, okra, and zucchini...I'm beat! but the feeling of having a full pantry for this winter is well worth it.

I finally got my batch of sweet pickles canned. 7 qts of it! Got another batch soaking. Worked on the cinnamon pickles. got them in the sweet brine now. They will get canned tomorrow night. Plus I will have okra and jalapenos and beans to can. We are going to be gone on Saturday, so want to get done what I can tomorrow night. AND I will have all day Monday to do some canning and baking!

Tonight I also froze some cooked sausage. I had about 4 lbs of cooked sausage left over from my breakfast cooking from this past weekend. So decided to freeze it so I have it for my next cooking. Now I need to grind up some ham and make ham salad spread. Oh that is one of my favorites and it is something I can get down.

until next time.

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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.