freezer cooking

Whew! Erik & I have recently completed our second round of once a month cooking. It is A LOT of work but it is so worth it to have a freezer full of food that will last us at least through the end of the year with all of the holidays and such. I have purchased a membership to Once A Month Meals & here's why I love it & am willing to pay $10/month for the service. (P.S. This is my opinion and I'm not getting anything for saying these fantastic things)

• They give you EVERYTHING! A grocery list, a prep list for chopping, instructions on how to efficiently prepare the meals, a list of all of the meals with day of prep and they answer questions really quickly. I couldn't imagine coming up with a menu, making a shopping list & trying to prepare all of those meals. The original plan includes something like 3 breakfasts, 5 lunches & 8 dinners. The menu has you double everything so you end up with 6/10/16. Add in leftovers & other meals and we got through 6 weeks with a few things still left. We try to save the freezer meals for work days & on days when I'm home I will sometimes cook something instead of using from the freezer stash. But if I don't want to cook - easy freezer meal to the rescue!
• They have recently upgraded their whole service so now pro members can swap out meals from their massive recipe database! Since I joined before the upgrade I get to use the swappable menus for a lower price. After the first month we realized we didn't really like the breakfast options (frozen eggs aren't our thing) so this time we swapped out the breakfasts for additional dinners. There were also a few things we made last time we really liked (or other recipes from the site we have tried) that we substituted in for things we wanted.
• They have menu options for any lifestyle: traditional, diet, whole foods, paleo, vegetarian, dairy & gluten free. They also do mini menus for special events. So awesome.
• I think they do a great job planning menus based on the season. For example, the fall menus have been loaded with fall vegetables, soups, turkey, etc. If you think a menu is too heavy on something, you can swap them out, leave them out, or usually substitute too.
• Since starting this, we have been eating mostly paleo. There is no way we could do this without having meals ready. We have both lost weight & feel great.
• All of us have tried so many new foods--mainly vegetables.
• When we get home meals are ready quickly. The boys do not like waiting for their supper. We do still have to prepare some sides but it takes out so much planning time. Some things are cooked in the crockpot, some things need the oven/stove, others just need to be reheated by your preferred method. I usually take out food for the next day the night before so it can unthaw in the refrigerator.
• Our expenses have went down big time. At first we weren't sure if changing our eating habits would save us money but it has. We eat out less, we're not eating processed food & we do one big shopping trip every few weeks. Besides that big trip, we only have to run to the store for fruits, veggies, eggs, and other perishable stuff. We are paying for a membership but I figure if it saves only one of us eating one less lunch out a month - it's paying for itself.

So, yeah. They're not kidding when they say to shop the day prior & to do some prep (chopping, browning meat, etc) the night before. I think they also say to expect a 12 hour day of cooking. For the paleo menu it's probably not as much because a lot of those will be throwing things together. Since we have beef & pork in our freezer I don't unthaw, put together & refreeze--but we will throw together whatever is supposed to go with it and freeze that. I am a slow chopper and it probably takes 2 hours just to do all of that! We have usually went shopping in the morning & then worked on chopping while the kids are napping. Once everything is prepped it's pretty quick to throw things together. Charlie also likes to help in the kitchen so it's nice for him to help as well. We haven't actually completed everything in one day either. This time we bought & cooked a 15# turkey and that took a day to thaw & a day to cook so after bedtime on the second night I threw those meals together.

The one downside is at first you're likely trying all new things. We have had a couple of duds -- I think there was 1 thing in October (bacon acorn squash patties) that nobody liked & we made a squash & tomato soup that Erik likes but the rest of us didn't care for. But hey, that's not bad for how many new things we made either. I've also had a few recipes I haven't been able to find stuff for but like I said the people running the website are quick to offer suggestions for good substitutes too.

The other downside is that we end up with pretty much every bowl, pot, pan, measuring cup, spoon, etc dirty & the kitchen is a disaster. But it's one massive clean up at the end. It's just not something I really WANT to do ever, let alone after a cooking marathon.

As I was unloading groceries last weekend I just kept thinking about how much I was dreading cooking.  Luckily, Erik & I work well together and switch off, plus the whole system is pretty fool proof. It's a lot of work in a couple of days, but it's so worth it for days & weeks ahead.

If you're curious as to what we're eating, here's the November menu that we made. Like I said, we did swap out the breakfasts for more dinners & made a few other changes. (You can see the menus & links to all of the recipes but you have to have a membership to access the lists and everything else.) If you're looking to lighten the stress in your evenings - give it a try, you can buy a single month membership & try a full menu or just try one of their mini menus first!