I don’t really like cooking, I mean, I don’t hate it but it’s not at the top of my list of things I want to do after working all day. I’m always looking for shortcuts and ways to make dinner easier without resorting to packaged foods or fast food.
Once a month cooking takes care of all of those things. The idea behind once a month cooking is that you do all your cooking in one day, package your meals for the freezer and then you have dinner with minimal prep work.
There are many websites that will do most of the work for you, everything but the shopping and cooking. The provide a complete menu for the month, a shopping list and instructions to get you going. There are once a month meal plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I only use the dinner one, we are all at work all day so no one eats breakfast or lunch at home. Although I may try the lunch one so I can have healthy, homemade lunches instead of stuff from the frozen foods section of the grocery store.
At first this can seem a little overwhelming, that’s a lot of food to cook in one day, but when you don’t have to cook the rest of the month, it’s totally worth it.
There are so many different recipes to choose from online or you can take your favorites and make double and triple batches to freezer.
Once a month cooking will also save you money by letting you buy things in bulk and keeping you out of the grocery store. Every time I run to the store for just one thing I need to make dinner I wind up buying a lot more than one thing.
If once a month seems too intimidating there are also plans for ten day cooking. This lets you try doing all the cooking at once but for a smaller time frame. This is also good if you don’t have the freezer space for thirty meals.
Break out the apron and spend the day cooking, you’ll be glad you did.