Once A Month Cooking Plans

[seesko]

Okay gang, I have long been in aw of oamc. I am throwing myself in with both feet. I don't have a lot of money right now, so most everything will have to be placed in ziplock bags. We are rebudgeting our groceries to 300-350 for a month for four. I don't know if it is possible. We spet 600 last month. Of course other things may of been bought at walmart and such.
Any and all advice would be appreciated. We have about 20 pounds of hamburger left from our cow purchase, so will be using a lot of that.

[Tish]

You can do it on that budget but it will be rough. Start with the ads and look carefully through to make it's worth taking the trip to several places or just to one. I buy bulk and hit the "ethnic" stores when I can along with picking up any loss leaders. Great that you have that much hamburger. It will definitely help your budget!

[Luv2cook#7]

I love OAMC cooking. When I was pregnant with my second child and was working a full-time job I knew that life was about to get more hectic than ever. I decided to load my freezer with OAMC recipes. I had good intentions but kept putting it off. So one day I told my husband that we had to do it that next day since he had off from work because the baby would soon be here. We went shopping that night and bought all the ingredients for the recipes I had already planned out. The next day we got up and made all these recipes and stocked the freezer. That night I went into labor!! Boy, was I glad to have a freezer full of meals to choose from when I came home from the hospital. I am planning to do this again as my son is now 2, my daughter 4, and life is VERY hectic for me. Thanks for all the great ideas and recipes. I needed a refresher. Recipezaar is the best! Long live Recipezaar!

[Luv2cook#7]

I have learned to never throw away any broth from cooking meat or leftover gravy that you have from your meals. If you have leftover broth you can use it to flavor soups or to make gravy sometime in the future. You can use the leftover gravy to thicken soups. It gives a nice thickness and a good flavor. I have even used leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soup depending on what kind it is. If you don't have a use for the broth or gravy at the moment just freeze it. Then pull it out, thaw, and use as desired. It's a great way to save money and not waste food. Also, another tip is if you are making a meal using cooked chicken and mashed potatoes don't throw away the chicken broth! I cook the potatoes in the chicken broth. And sometimes I'll even use some of the chicken broth in the mashed potatoes and just use less milk. This makes for some VERY tasty mashed potatoes! Hope these are helpful hints that help you save money and stick to your budget!

[Luv2cook#7]

seesko wrote:
Okay gang, I have long been in aw of oamc. I am throwing myself in with both feet. I don't have a lot of money right now, so most everything will have to be placed in ziplock bags. We are rebudgeting our groceries to 300-350 for a month for four. I don't know if it is possible. We spet 600 last month. Of course other things may of been bought at walmart and such.
Any and all advice would be appreciated. We have about 20 pounds of hamburger left from our cow purchase, so will be using a lot of that.

I have learned to never throw away any broth from cooking meat or leftover gravy that you have from your meals. If you have leftover broth you can use it to flavor soups or to make gravy sometime in the future. You can use the leftover gravy to thicken soups. It gives a nice thickness and a good flavor. I have even used leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soup depending on what kind it is. If you don't have a use for the broth or gravy at the moment just freeze it. Then pull it out, thaw, and use as desired. It's a great way to save money and not waste food. Also, another tip is if you are making a meal using cooked chicken and mashed potatoes don't throw away the chicken broth! I cook the potatoes in the chicken broth. And sometimes I'll even use some of the chicken broth in the mashed potatoes and just use less milk. This makes for some VERY tasty mashed potatoes! Hope these are helpful hints that help you save money and stick to your budget!

[ChrissyG1968]

This has definitely caught my eye. I've recently started back to work and with hockey season starting (3 kids and myself play and hubby coaches) this is our busy time. I'm going to put a plan together and see how it turns out. I'm hoping that ultimately this will also trim our food budget by buying more in bulk. Will post my finished plan when done

[Tish]

Can't wait to see what you come up with Chrissy

[seesko]

Thanks for all the help and advice. Just wondering can you search on zaar by the theme OAMC?

Also, wondering if there are limits to what freezes well. I see that most pasta dishes freeze well, but what about tortilla dishes like Creamy Burrito Casserole
Also, for those dishes that don't include OAMC directions. Do you usually cook the dish prior to freezing or simply assemple it. Sorry , if that is a dumb question.

[Tish]

seesko wrote:
Thanks for all the help and advice. Just wondering can you search on zaar by the theme OAMC?

Also, wondering if there are limits to what freezes well. I see that most pasta dishes freeze well, but what about tortilla dishes like Creamy Burrito Casserole
Also, for those dishes that don't include OAMC directions. Do you usually cook the dish prior to freezing or simply assemple it. Sorry , if that is a dumb question.

You can search OAMC recipes by:
1. Go to the Recipes tab
2. Open the Recipe Sifter Tool
3. Go to # of Servings and Hit the plus sign
4. Hit the OAMC/Freezer/Make Ahead button
5. Show Recipes

As for recipes that don't include directions...hate that but some I just assemble and freeze while others are cooked and frozen according to my knowledge of the recipe and what I'm doing with it....sorry I can't be exact but if you ever want to know about a specific recipe you can ask any time! HTH

[Erindipity]

seesko wrote:
Thanks for all the help and advice. Just wondering can you search on zaar by the theme OAMC?

Also, wondering if there are limits to what freezes well. I see that most pasta dishes freeze well, but what about tortilla dishes like Creamy Burrito Casserole
Also, for those dishes that don't include OAMC directions. Do you usually cook the dish prior to freezing or simply assemple it. Sorry , if that is a dumb question.

If I am unsure if a recipe will freeze or how to freeze it I will see if I can find a similar recipe with directions. If I can't then I usually ask on the forums.

As for Creamy Burrito Casserole, I have frozen a similar recipe before. My family did not care for it because the tortillas get mushy. That said, I know several others do not find the change in the tortilla texture to be bothersome and freeze tortillas with sauce all the time.

[seesko]

Thanks for all the help!

Yestereday I made and froze...(MY first time,.,,YIkes)

Sour Cream Enchiladas
Baked Spaghetti
corn dog muffins
brownies (cut up and put in individual bags for shool lunches)
apple pie (my mom makes pies and freezes them all the time,
then just pull out and bake, so we will see how it
goes.)

The kids were pretty annoyed with me for cooking all day. Today, I am making some breakfast sandwiches and french toast sticks.

[Tish]

You'll be so happy you spent the day doing it! Congratulations on a great start

[ChrissyG1968]

Ok so yesterday I did my big shop for my OAMC plan (scored a free turkey btw at the Real Canadian Superstore for spending over 250 dollars so Thanksgiving is taken care of but we have a hockey tournament that weekend so will do it a different weekend but I digress) and tonight I prep and plan out my schedule and tomorrow I cook. I'm actually pretty excited. My menu is as follows:
"Ground Beef Baked Beans OAMC"
"Cajun Chops"
"Mexican Stuffed Shells (Oamc)"
"Fannie Farmer's Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese"
"Bacon Wrapped Chicken (Oamc)"
"Hubby-Will-Inhale-Them Meatballs"
"Citrus Marinated Pork Chops (oamc)"
"Pizza Roll-Ups (Oamc)"
"All Purpose Ground Meat Mix"
"Perogy Lasagna (Oamc)"
"Crock Pot Cola Barbecue Pork Roast"
"Chicken Packets (Oamc)"
"Spaghetti / Pasta Sauce" doubled with no meat
When Im all done I'll post details of the cooking schedule etc.

[Tish]

Thanks for the update Chrissy

[Gabby LSW]

All of those sound like good choices. Will look forward to hearing how it all works out.

Gabby