Once-a-month-cooking, or OAMC for short, is an idea for busy families (or singles) that want fresh, home-cooked meals without having to spend hours cooking every day. By intelligently planning meals, spending one full day cooking, then freezing meals in appropriate portions, you can enjoy meals all month long. Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough is a book that goes into depth about OAMC.
Meal Planning and Shopping
Taylor-Hough's plan includes a lot of preparation. If you plan out your shopping trip exactly, you can make sure to get everything you need, and not spend a lot of money on extraneous things. Taylor-Hough says she has 6 meal plans, each for one month, so that each plan is only repeated twice each year. Each month you do repeat meals a few times, or you could design your own plan where you don't repeat any meals.
By using common ingredients, for example ground beef in meatloaf and meatballs, you can save money by buying in bulk. Frozen Assets includes a few sample meal plans, complete with shopping list. You should go through your pantry to make sure you don't already have some of the ingredients. Make sure to pick up lots of freezer bags, foil, and and plastic containers
Cooking for one Day
About six to seven hours is all it takes to cook the food for a month, according to Frozen Assets. With practice, the author has developed a routine of cooking and preparing foods without wasting time. While chicken is on the stove boiling, you can chop vegetables and brown ground meat. By keeping your sink full of warm soapy water you can wash utensils as you go. When cooking, write up note cards withcooking directions so you can package them along with the meal.
OAMC is really about saving time. If you have a strenuous job, a big family, or other demands, your time is valuable and you don't want to waste it. A little bit of advance planning can make your month go much smoother. Taylor-Hough teaches you how to do all this.
Eating Delicious, Fresh Meals
Now that the food is cooked, all it takes for a home-baked meal is to defrost it and cook it. Not only do you save time during the week, but you can also save money by buying in bulk. Just follow the monthly plan, and defrost meals when necessary. Pop the frozen meal into a pan and follow directions. Some meals require you to prepare fresh components, such as pasta or rice.
Frozen Assets is a great entry into the world of once-a-month-cooking. Deborah Taylor-Hough has written a great book that not only summarizes the principals of OAMC, but also gives shopping lists, recipes, and meal plans.
Frozen Assets was published by Sourcebooks, Inc. on April 1, 2000. Its ISBN is 1891400614 and its ISBN-13 is 978-1891400612.
Allison Russo - Allison Russo holds a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Most recently she ...
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