Any OAMC (Once A Month Cooking) folk here?

[booker81]

I'm getting ready to do a "run" and figured I'd see what other folks like - I'll post some of my favorite recipies here, as long as my computer cooperates (power supply is dying).

ETA: If you don't know, OAMC is the best darned thing since sliced bread, especially for dual-income families that are stuck with no time, and still want a home meal - not fast food, not ordering out. Both DH and I work a regular shift, get home at 5:30, are hungry for something filling, healthy, and easy. THe premise is you spend one weekend getting supplies and cooking, and one month of pulling food from the freezer, putting it in the fridge to thaw in the morning, and coming home and tossing it in the oven for dinner, all done! Some things are also recipes for crock pots

You buy a month's worth of food at once, but then you only buy fresh stuff during the week, so it evens out.

 

[DuckLady]

I don't do that on a set schedule, but I try to make double or triple recipes of soups, stews, stock and other freezables.

It has minimized my cooking time, yet gives us good nutritious home cooked meals.

It is an awesome way to go! I look forward to following this thread!

 

[booker81]

This is a big favorite here - you can buy foil casserole pans, or line you pan with foil, freeze the dish, then remove from your pan and put the foil wrapped food back in the freezer. When you want to eat, just plop it back in the casserole dish, thaw and cook!

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

1 package frozen broccoli
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup may0
1 cup of milk
3/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
1 small can sliced mushrooms chopped
1 cup shredded cheese, cheddar, colby, whatever
3 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp salt
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or, if you have extra chicken, about 2 cups of cooked boneless chicken)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbs butter
2 cups cooked rice (we use white because I can't get DH to eat brown).

These are all kinda guestimates, alter as you wish.

Cook the broccoli. In a bowl, mix the soup, mayo, milk, parm cheese, mushrooms, lemon juice and salt. Take about half, mix with the rice and put on the bottom of a foil lined casserole dish, or a foil casserole pan (13x9x2"). Mix the other half with the broccoli and chicken. Put that on top of the rice mix. Top with the cheddar cheese. Melt butter in a bowl, toss the breadcrumbs, and sprinkle on top of the cheese. Cover with foil, label and freeze.

To eat, thaw the casserole, bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until cooked through.

 

[booker81]

Another one that is yummy, easy, and my DH likes a lot. My DH is a meat and potatoes guy, not into "fancy" food. He also works a very physical job, so eats about 3x what "normal" folk eat, so BIG portions are important to me - for him (I of course, get to watch my weight, so making sure I can portion small for me is important!).

Calzones

You can either make your own bread dough, or cheat, and buy the frozen bread dough in the freezer section of the grocery store.
For each "lump" of frozen dough, I get about 4-6 calzones. Thaw the dough and let rise. Knead it down, and separate into fist sized balls. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into about a 12" circle or a little larger.

On one half, leaving about one inch or more to spare, place your favorite pizza or other toppings.
Ideas:
Ham, pineapple and mozz cheese
Pepperoni, mushroom and mozz cheese
Spinach (drained well) and ricotta cheese

Whatever you desire! Go easy on any sauces, but you can put them in too. You want about a cup or less of filling.

Fold the top half over, and roll and crimp the edges. Poke a hole in the top for steam. Place on a cookie sheet and into the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can put them in a labeled baggie and pull out whenever you want.

Bake from frozen at about 350 for 30 mins, then brush with butter (or cheat and spray with Pam) and sprinkle parm cheese, or garlic salt and italian seasoning on top, bake for an addition 15 mins, until golden brown.

 

[ksukristin]

I've been wanting to give it a try, but I'd be a first timer so I'm a bit nervous! I just bought my first house last year, so I don't even have a really well stocked pantry, I'm a bit ashamed to admit it!

but my b/f and I both work 50-60 hours a week and I would LOVE to try and do something like this to get us eating healthier and still fit into our busy schedules.

I was actually getting online today to search for some crock pot recipes- but had to check out this thread! booker81 it sound like you and your DH are a lot like me and my b/f

thanks for sharing these recipes- I will be very excited to follow this thread!

 

[redhen]

Good idea!

 

[ImStillMags]

Quote:
Since it's just me now and I don't have a house full of people, it's hard to cook for one. I still cook like I'm cooking for an army!!! So if I make a pot of soup or braise a stew I always portion it out into those ziplock containers and label and freeze. It's nice to have stuff in the freezer so I can
have a hot meal ready in no time when I get home from work.

I love keeping chili, navy bean soup, beef and barley, etc., in the feezer. It's so good and so easy to just pop the soup into a sauce pot on low and
it's ready by the time I've done stuff around the house after work.

 

[booker81]

There's a lot of sites and recipes out there. If you go to food.com and type "OAMC" you get a lot.

There's also a lot of books, my absolute, by far favorite is the "Once-A-Month-Cooking Family Favorites" book - LOTS of recipes, and most of which are simple family foods that most folks enjoy - especially my meat n potatoes husband. There are some "fancy" meals, but the majority are nice yummy dishes.

A lot of things that one might already make freeze well, and then you don't have to deal with making them during the week - just heat, or thaw and heat! Lasagna is a big one here, I just make my normal meat and cheese lasagna, freeze it, take it out when we want it, thaw and cool. Meatballs freeze well, and I make homemade minced chicken nuggets for my daughter that rival McD's

I do a lot of "snacks" too - taquitos, jalapeno poppers etc. - those are nice to either take out and heat in the oven, or even just microwave for a minute!

 

[ImStillMags]

Quote:
It really makes sense if you are trying to feed your family more healthy foods rather than pre packaged salt laden crap that is in the stores these days. You can cook healthy meals with vegetables and meats you know are fresh and good and have much more confidence that your family is being fed in a pro health way.

 

[booker81]

Quote:
Exactly! Just by spending a weekend prepping and cooking and packing, you can have meals that are ready in a crockpot, or ready with about half hour of cooking - you just did all the hard part all in one day.

Sometimes I do mini sessions - when pork loin goes on sale, and I can find a few decent looking ones, I'll cut some up into chops, bag them in a sauce or marinade and freeze, cut some into roasts, bag with marinade, sauce or veggies and freeze, and cut some up into strips for stirfry, freeze with veggies and the sauce in a separate baggie. Whenever we want pork for dinner, just have to pull one of the bags out, which ever one suits our taste that night! All of them just need to be thawed, dumped in a dish and cooked! (The roasts go in the crock pot). No weird preservatives or crazy stuff I don't know about (I make a lot of my sauces from scratch).