OAMC plans

[acerast]

Well, I'm finally going to try to do a session. We spent every evening during the entire month of December at one of the children's choir rehearsals or performances - a few times we had to be in two places at once! Although I used the crock pot a great deal (we're sick of soup), we also ate boxed mac and cheese (my DS is an expert at boiling water) and even some fast food since I was at work all day and out all evening.

My neighbor suggested I go to one of those new family meal prep places (Dinner Thyme or My Girlfriend's Kitchen) but she paid $119 for 6 meals and her family has turned their noses up at a few of them. With your guidance it looks like I could do it for a lot less and it will be food my family enjoys!

I'm looking over the wonderful menus and recipes that you've included here. Do you have any advice or suggestions for me? (Family of 5 - with two teenage boys who can eat quite a bit!)

Thanks - acerast (Amy)

[* Pamela *]

Hi Amy!
There are some great ideas in this thread
http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=104549&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

and if you have any questions be sure and ask! Someone is sure to have some advice for you!

[acerast]

* Pamela * wrote:
Hi Amy!
There are some great ideas in this thread
http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=104549&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

and if you have any questions be sure and ask! Someone is sure to have some advice for you!

Thanks *Pamela* - looks like I posted in the wrong spot Sorry about that. I'll enjoy reading the info in the thread you suggested!

[TryAnythingOnce]

I have done OAMC once before when I was pregnant, and now as a SAHM I'm ready to do it again. These recipes are awesome and I'm so happy I've found ya'll. I'm going shopping tomorrow and plan to spread my cooking out over 2 days (one day chicken, one day other stuff). Here's my problem, a lot of my recipes are meats or meat casseroles, so what about side dishes? I see the twice baked potatoes and plan to do those, but any good veggies sides? Thanks so much for all your hard work because you've made this process so much easier for me!

[Tish]

There are some great sides to add to your OAMC plan. Let's have you start a new topic so we can get some suggestions!

[JillAZ]

Chicken Little – OAMC Mini Plan

A “mini” cooking day is a great way to easily stock your freezer without a full day commitment. This is a good way to “try out” once a month cooking and see if it might be for you. I find that when our schedule is really hectic, this is a way for me to still make and serve my family delicious, homemade meals. It’s also a great way to take advantage of a great sale at the market!

I’ve started with boneless, skinless chicken breasts as this is what is on sale this week in my area and is what my family enjoys. Of course, substitute whatever kind of chicken your family prefers! Let’s get started!

Instructions:
Print out and read through all recipes and directions thoroughly. This way there will be no surprises on cooking day.
Make a master list by adding all the recipes to your shopping list. Go through your pantry and refrigerator and check off any items you already have.
Make sure you have the appropriate containers and freezer bags.
Print out the revised list and go shopping!
Perform all preparations tasks on the task list the night before.
Most importantly – Have Fun!

The Recipes:
Crockpot Chicken Taco Meat- make a triple batch of this
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Pineapple "dump" Chicken
BBQ Chicken Calzones
Sweet Salsa Dump Chicken - OAMC
Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto
I have included 5 meals plus, if you triple the taco meat, you will have some extra to freeze on its own.

Containers needed:
3 gallon sized Zipper freezer bags
2 sheets of foil to wrap calzones
9 x 13 pan
1 quart sized zipper freezer bag
Lg. rigid freezer container or 1 more gallon sized bag for pasta
Plastic wrap

Kitchen tools needed:
Crockpot – if you don’t have this you could always roast the chicken until tender and then shred.
Large pasta pot
Colander
Large skillet
Large baking sheet
Large saucepan
Food processor – helpful but not necessary

Task List: Remember – do this the night before!
I like to hang my recipes on the fronts of my cabinets for easy reference when cooking. Place all ingredients in labeled zipper type bags and place in fridge overnight. Makes for easy assembly the next day!
Place chicken for Crockpot Chicken Taco Meat in crock-pot before you go to bed. It will be ready to use in the morning. Alternatively, do this the day before and refrigerate until you need it the next day.
Chop 2 onions. Put ½ cup in a baggie for Pineapple "dump" Chicken. Put ½ cup in a baggie for BBQ Chicken Calzones. Put the rest in a baggie for Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
Chop 2 T. cilantro and put in baggie for BBQ Chicken Calzones.
Shred 1 cup mozzarella cheese and place in baggie for BBQ Chicken Calzones.
Slice 1 red bell pepper into strips and place in baggie for Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto.
Grate 10 oz. cheese and place in baggie for Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
Grate 1/3 cup parmesan and place in baggie for Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto.
Wash broccoli and cut into bite-sized florets (4 c. worth) and place into a large zipper baggie for Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto.
Cut 1 lb. of chicken breast into strips and place in baggie for Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto.
Lay out all the containers and equipment you will need for tomorrow.
It also helps to have any canned goods and spices on the counter grouped by recipe.

Cooking Day:
Shred crock-pot chicken taco meat. Reserve 1/3 for Chicken Enchilada Casserole and 1/3 for BBQ Chicken Calzones. Package the remaining 1/3 in a quart sized zipper bag. Seal, label and place the final 1/3 in fridge to chill. When cool, freeze.

Preheat oven and assemble BBQ Chicken Calzones using 1/3 of the chicken taco meat. Bake and allow to cool. Once cool, wrap in foil and place inside a large zipper bag. Seal, label and freeze.

Assemble Chicken Enchilada Casserole using 1/3 of the crock-pot chicken taco meat. Cover dish well with plastic wrap and then foil. Label and freeze.

Assemble Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto. Freeze in a rigid freezer container or a large zipper bag. Seal, label and freeze.

Assemble Sweet Salsa Dump Chicken - OAMC, placing in a zipper bag. Seal, label and freeze.

Assemble Pineapple "dump" Chicken, placing in a zipper bag. Seal, label and freeze.

Labels: I like to use the bigger 2” x 4” labels. Avery makes them and calls them shipping labels. I used comic sans 12 pt font.


BBQ Chicken Calzones
Date:
Thaw in fridge. Reheat in 400 degree oven
until warmed through.


Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Date:
Thaw in fridge. Let sit at room temperature for
about 20 minutes before placing in oven. Bake
at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly
and hot.


Crockpot Chicken Taco Meat
Date:
Thaw in fridge. Use in any recipe calling for
cooked chicken. Or, use for tacos, burritos,
taco salad, etc.


Chicken and Broccoli Pasta With Pesto
Date:
Thaw in fridge or microwave. Bake in a 9 x 13
pan or casserole dish at 350 for 30-35 minutes
until heated through. Sprinkle with extra
parmesan if desired.


Sweet Salsa Dump Chicken - OAMC
Date:
Thaw in fridge. Dump thawed chicken into a
large baking dish and bake at 350 degrees
until juices run clear. 45-60 minutes for
pieces or 20-30 minutes for breasts.


Pineapple "dump" Chicken
Date:
Thaw in fridge. Dump thawed chicken into large
baking dish and bake at 350 until juices run clear.

Stand back and admire all your hard work

[* Pamela *]

Awesome plan Jill!!!! What a great idea to do al all chicken plan!! Thanks for sharing!

[rilee101]

this is probably a really dumb question but do you cook all of the freezer meals like the chicken and breads etc..?? I am always alittle paraniod about freezing things and thawing them because I am afraid that they won't be as good. So what do you all think, are freezer meals good?? I am a full time college student and I try to make all the meals and snacks that we eat because I feel it is just healthier but geez ....this semester is kicking my butt. I just don't seem to have time to be Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart and I feel like I am cheating my son. I guess I just need some tips on freezing meals, snacks, and desserts or anything you all can think of.

Thanks so much!!
rilee101

[redplaid huf]

i followed the mini plan today and I had some success, not total. Its not the plan's fault, just the way things worked out for me.

this is only the second plan I have tried. I liked this one because it was small, a little bigger then the first one I did, yet smaller than a full month's worth. With this plan I really felt I was benefiting - I saved money because I only bought what I needed, I'll save time in the coming week.

To save even more I chose to make some things from scratch like BBQ sauce (#62141), turned out great, and pizza dough, not so great. It was tough. I don't think I let it raise enough. I discovered this morning i was short one can of cream soup so i made a white sauce and put a chicken cube in it. That worked out fine but all this extra cooking made the process longer and more energy consuming - I'm talking about my energy. So I will think twice next time I think "oh, i'll just make that".

I also discovered I forgot freezer bags and ketchup. I messaged my husband about them but he forgot on his way home so the dump recipes are still undone.

So at the end of the day I have 3 recipes in the freezer, enough for at least 4 meals, maybe 5 (they're big for us), some chicken breasts still in the freezer (i bought them frozen) and one (the Calzones) in our tummies. (We had to eat something for supper)

And what a big mess in the kitchen. I am lousy at cleaning while I cook. Any advise for that?

The Calzones were not great. The pizza dough was tough, the filling was dry and I put to much cilanto in. If I do them again I'll use more liquid (stock from the crockpot) and sauce to make sure the chicken is very moist. I'll put more cheese in and something for crunch or texture variety, like green peppers. And less cilantro.

We ate a bit of the broccoli pasta for lunch and it is great! I all most didn't have parm. cheese because it is so expense here but found the fresh grated, but dry kind on sale. That stuff usually has less flavour so I doubled it. I added sautéd, grated carrots that I cooked before adding the chicken and peppers to the pan and threw in some fresh, chopped basil at the end. Awesome!

so a lot of lessons learned, meals in the freezer, more to be made tomorrow and at least 6-7 days of meals taken care of. AND my wonderful DH just finished cleaning up the kitchen. What do I have to complain about? nothing.

thanks for the plan Jill!

[JillAZ]

You're welcome! I'm glad it worked for you. I've learned that if I want to make things from scratch such as pizza dough, etc, to do it the day before my cooking day. Makes the actual cooking day go much smoother. The dough could be kept in the fridge overnight no problem.

[MuddyMommaPottery]

WOW!! i've jsut started to experiment w/ OAMC cooking and was having a hard time trying to figure out how to squeeze all that cooking into one day. i've just been cooking an extra batch or two a few nights a week when i make dinner and freezing the extras as i go. but these planse are great!! thanks so much for the step by step info, it's HUGE help! i can't wait to try my first plan. you guys rock!!

[redplaid huf]

JillAZ wrote:
You're welcome! I'm glad it worked for you. I've learned that if I want to make things from scratch such as pizza dough, etc, to do it the day before my cooking day. Makes the actual cooking day go much smoother. The dough could be kept in the fridge overnight no problem.

good advice. thanks Jill, next time i'll try that.

kellie

[HeatherFeather]

Wow this is such an incredible thread! I have been on my own trying to put together small OAMC type plans after being inspired by the tv show Quick Fix (which is kind of an OAWC concept, the W being week.

I am looking forward to trying some of these plans out once I move and get settled..right now I am trying to use up food, not stock up. But what a wonderful concept! Thank you for sharing your ideas!

[dividend]

I wanted to post my OAMC plan that I did over this last weekend. Everything I did was geared towards stocking my freezer with single servings, and I spread this over 2 days to make it easier.

The recipes:
A chicken fajita kit idea I had while I was at Costco the other day. You do it on a per chicken breast half, and you basically just cut it into small fajita sized peices, season it with your favorite seasoning mix, and flash freeze the seasoned meat peices. Then per pile of you meat, you cut up 1/2 each of green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, plus 1/2 an onion. I sealed kits of chicken plus veggies in two connected foodsaver bags. When I was done I had 8 kits, so I used 4 of each of the veggies and 8 chicken breast halves. Each kit makes 2-3 servings. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.
Double batch of Potato Chip Chicken, with the chicken peices cut into fingers. When I make this for the freezer, I do a dip into seasoned flour, a dip into an egg wash, and then a dip into the chip coating, I find it adheres better.
Double batch of Microwave Meatloaf.
Double batch of Macaroni & Cheese.
Meatballs for Spaghetti Sauce [freezer].

So you need the ingredients for the above recipes, sheet pans and waxed paper for flash freezing, and a ton of foodsaver bags or freezer paper.

So my order went like this, over two days, with long pauses while I waited for something to flash freeze.

Prep the chicken for the fajita kits and the potato chip chicken and let them flash freeze.
Make the meatloaves and the mac and cheese. Let them cool.
Chop all the peppers and onions for the fajita kits.
Bag the chicken fingers. I did them in packs of 5.
Bag the fajita kits. I made back to back food saver bags by sealing a large bag down the middle.
Divide the meatloaf and the mac and cheese into serving sizes, and flash freeze. I did 8 slices per meatloaf, and 8 wedges from each round mac and cheese.
Make the lasgagna. Let it cool.
Bag the meatloaf and the mac and cheese. Again, mine were done as single servings.
Divide the lasagna into 12 3X4 peices, and flash freeze.
Make the meatballs.
Bag the lasagna. Flash freeze the meatballs.
Seal the meatballs.
DONE! You have between 40 and 50 single servings in your freezer!

I know it looks skimpy compared to some other plans, but what a lot of vacuum sealing! Plus this makes me feel so good. I keep wanting to open my freezer. I thought people might like to see a single person plan.

[Tish]

Awesome! This is especially great for those people who need the 1-2 serving sizes. I like you kit idea. Thanks for posting