Once A Month Cooking

The idea is you set aside one or two days a month and cook till you drop. Throw it all in the freezer (properly labeled of course!) and pull out what you need as you need it. No more scurrying around at the last minute to prepare meals and less of a reason to buy fast-food or pre-packaged foods.

My dear friend Yibbit does this quite successfully and I've been wanting to try it for a while now. I've been told that the best way to do it is to mix in some fast/quick/easy meals a few nights a week so you're not eating casseroles all the time.

I picked up the Taste of Home "best of" magazine at the grocery store. It might as well be a cookbook!! I've always loved Taste of Home but haven't had it for many years. This "best of" edition is my new best friend! Here are the recipes I'm going to try for my OAMC session this weekend:

Ham & Bean Chowder (double batch)
Marinated Pork Strips (will freeze raw since they're a fast cook)
Sausage Calzones (make the mix and freeze, use pizza dough from fridge aisle to make them up as needed. I'll portion out the meat mixture into small portions for freezing.)
Breakfast sausage patties (cooked; freeze w/ wax paper between each patty; take out as needed and pop in microwave)
Sausage Florentine Bake (it's like lasagna) (double batch)
Sausage Quiche Squares (after baking, cut into bite size cubes then freeze; take out as needed)
Spicy Cheeseburger Soup (double batch)
Chicken in Basil Cream (double batch; freeze cooked chicken and sauce separately)
Frosted Brownie Pizza (make up a few and pull out for parties, Bunko or when we want dessert)
Sausage Potato Lasagna (double batch)
Bacon Broccoli Cheese Roll (make three; freeze for Bunko nights or friends over)
Bacon Potato Pancakes (double batch; freeze same as sausage patties)
Parmesean Onion Bake (double batch)


Man there's a lotta pork in that list!

It's a huge list but I figure I won't double most of them and some I'll be using for Storking. I have a grocery list bigger than Texas!