Trying Out A Variation on Once-a-Month Cooking
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I’ve been told that Once-a-Month Cooking is a great way to save money. The idea is you make 30 days of meals all at once and freeze them. That way you save time by cooking in bulk, and money because you plan your meals around what is on sale and you won’t feel inclined to eat out because you’ll have a freezer full of pre-prepared food. I’m trying out a variation on once-a-month cooking, whereby I’m building a stockpile of meals in our freezer over time.
The way I am doing this is pretty simple. I made a list of meals I like to eat on a fairly regular basis, and had my family member do the same. Then, I identified items on this list that were susceptible to freezing or that I could make components of ahead of time. For example, we had lasagna, taco’s, macaroni and meat, tortellini, meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs, cream of potato soup, cream of brocolli soup, beef stew, and pot roast on our list. All of these meals are meals that I make regularly, and that I can make ahead of time.
So, instead of spending a few days cooking all of these meals, I just wrote them all down on a list along with the ingredients required for each one. A lot of the ingredients overlap (for example, a lot of them use ground beef.)
When ground beef went on sale last week for a decent price, I bought about 25 pounds of it. I cooked 15 pounds of it up and froze the other 15 pounds. I decided I was going to make Lasagna. I also decided that I could make macaroni and meat, because this would require no additional work that wasn’t required for the lasagna, other than boiling up some macaroni noodles. Along the same lines, I also decided to separate some of the meat out and make taco’s, because all I had to do was add taco seasoning to some of the meat I had already cooked (I freeze the meat in a little snack bag, and the cheese in a little snack bag. Then, when someone wants a taco they just take out a fresh taco shell, lettuce and the bottle of salsa and taco sauce from the fridge, because these are staples we always have on hand anyway. They add the pre-cooked meat and cheese to the fresh ingredients from the fridge for a delicious easy meal).
When I did this cooking, I made 5 lasagna’s, a huge batch of mac & meat, a huge batch of the taco meat, and a huge batch of my homemade spaghetti sauce (in the slow cooker). This didn’t take me too much longer than making the one lasagna I would have made for dinner anyway (it took about an extra 30 minutes, once I factored in the time to put everything into freezer containers). I froze everything but the lasagna we ate for dinner, and now I have about 10 complete meals, plus the spaghetti sauce, that we can eat at any time. One of the extra lasagna’s I cooked and froze into pyrex containers for lunches for my fiance to take to work or for individual meals, in case the whole family isn’t eating.
Next week, I’m planning to make meatloaf. When I do that, I will probably also make the meatballs for the spaghetti and meatballs, which we will be having with the sauce I already froze last week. Instead of making just enough meatloaf/meatballs for dinner, I’ll make a whole bunch so I can freeze some. I flash freeze the meatballs (lay them out on a cookie sheet until they are frozen, then combine them in a bag so we can take out one or more at a time as needed). I’ll also probably make at least a few min-meatloafs in addition to a few big meatloafs (I make mini meatloafs by shaping the meat mixture into muffin tins instead of loaf pans) so those can be taken out as needed and also used for lunches. Then, I’ll have a bunch more meals.
I’ll continue to do this, each time I make one of the staple meals our family loves, making up at least 4-5 extra of each meal, instead of just cooking 1 batch. This way, I’ll build a stockpile of freezer meals over time which will give me a greater variety. I’ll also be able to take advantage of sales this way, more than if I cooked just once a month. It will also take me a lot less time (because I’m just cooking dinner, which I would do anyway), and I think allow me to have more variety.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Amazing! My freezer is always packed to bursting with pre-prepared dishes / stuff that was about to pass its best before date - but this takes it to a new level altogether!
My only worry is, I don’t think I’d be able to squeeze a month’s worth of meals into my freezer (3 drawers).
Also, will you let me know how you get on with the frozen lasagne? Whenever I make it in bulk for the freezer, the defrosted lasagnes are “waterlogged” once they come out of the oven. It’s really annoying, but I don’t know how to get round it.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:03 am
My tip for the frozen lasagna: I have found it to work much better if I freeze it in a dark metal pan (I have a Calphalon Baking Pan I use). I also line the bottom of the pan with foil before I put in the lasagna stuff. I then wrap the whole thing with foil, making sure that my foil on the bottom connects w/ the foil I put on top. As a finish, I usually take two Ziploc quart bags and put them around the pan so they meet in the middle. It has never tasted waterlogged at all and I’ve had no problem.
For my pre-cooked lasagna (I cook one up and divide it into lunch size portions for Fiance to take to work) I just make sure to use small Pyrex containers so they are completely full of lasagna, and we’ve never had a problem even when we cook direct from frozen.
As far as fitting everything into the freezer. When I lived in an apartment, with a small freezer, I actually took the little drawers out and used plastic storage bins instead. I found I could fit a lot more and was more organized. Also, I froze everything flat in Ziploc bags back then, because it took up a LOT less space. Now, I invested in a chest freezer, which I adore because it allows me to save so much money cooking and buying in bulk. When we lived in a small place, we actually kept our chest freezer in our dining room for lack of other room. We debated covering it with a tablecloth, or even with some pretty fabric or “wall-papering” it to make it look like a piece of furniture, but ultimately since we only lived their for a short time we lived with it. We also use an energy star model so it didn’t add much to our electricity bill.
Hope that helps!
August 12th, 2008 at 11:32 am
[...] Cooupon Artist presents Trying Out A Variation on Once-a-Month Cooking [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I make my lasagna with uncooked noodles and freeze. Then when it is cooked, the uncooked noodles will absorb any extra liquids. I make these ahead for birthdays and Christmas for my grown up and moved out kids - they still love Mom’s lasagna!
I freeze them in the 3 packs of freezer/to oven disposable 8×8 pans. The pans come with a plastic lid also - the ones in the yellow wrapping. Tho called disposable, they can be used over and over again. I cover the top with foil, for when it gets cooked. Place the plastic lid on, then cover with saran wrap. Works everytime
August 13th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Marci, do you use the “No-Bake” noodles then so they cook when they bake? I have never tried those, I always get the kind that have to be boiled first before they are added to the lasagna.
I will have to do this and see if that works better then my current method.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I like the idea of putting meatloaf in muffin tins - great idea for freezing for later - I think I will try that in my giant muffin tins
August 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
No to the No-Bake Noodles. I use the regular noodles and just put them in layers like I would if they had been boiled. I do this now whether I am fixing them to freeze, or to eat fresh. It’s just a little known fact that they do NOT have to be precooked/boiled ! What a difference that makes in making lasagna!. They are however a little ‘difficult’ to cut evenly to fit the pan
Actually I left out a step - I do bake the lasagna’s that are going into the freezer - but I only cook til ‘almost’ done… I take about 10-15 minutes off the cooking time. Then cool, foil, plastic lid, then saran wrap. If they are going to be in the freezer a very long time, or if I will be transporting them out of town (one kid is 2 hrs away) I’ll also slip them in ziplock bags (which can be re-used afterwards)
Hope that explains it better.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Wow, I never ever would have guessed that I didn’t have to pre-cook the noodles. You learn something new every day
August 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
[...] wrong- OOPS! My “O” key is broken & I didn’t double check the form!) on Once a Month Cooking was included in the Festival of Frugality at MoneyNing. [...]
August 16th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
This is how I think I am going to try filling my freezer. I have been thinking about this but just haven’t been able to implement yet. Thanks for the inspiration!
August 27th, 2008 at 11:34 am
[...] Try out Batch Cooking (Using food you got a good deal on) If you prepare a bunch of meals at once, you can use up items that you got a good deal on before you forget about them in the back of the freezer. Of course, with your organized stockpile you shouldn’t be forgetting too much anyway. Batch cooking can still save you money though, because on nights where you don’t feel like cooking you can pull something out of your own freezer instead of ordering/eating out. For a beginners guide to batch cooking, click here [...]
September 17th, 2008 at 8:18 am
[...] mentioned here that I was trying out a variation on once a month cooking in which I cook extra meals each time I [...]