Feeding Your Family With Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)

I know very few pastor’s wives who have an unlimited food budget. Correction, I don’t know any. Plus, I don’t know very many pastor’s wives who never feel like they’re scrambling to put a complete dinner on the table for their family.  When I started doing Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) 10 years ago, I was trying to survive as a SAHM on my husband’s semi-decent staff pastor’s salary, but was having a difficult time figuring out how to manage that on our new, slimmer budget.

There are many approaches to OAMC. Too may to fit in one post.  In fact, there are whole websites dedicated to this method. {In case you’re wondering, Tricia over at Once A Month Mom is awesome!}. And because of that, I know lots of people get overwhelmed and never launch into this. But I promise you anyone can do this! So let me tell you my approach.

First of all, I have set a budget. Ours is $250/month for our lovely little family of 5 [well, 6 if you're counting the dog. Hubs would. I'm not prone to honor the fuzzball with such recognition]. Now, I have to tell you this includes EVERYTHING: the extras like snacks (a lot of which I make from scratch), breakfasts, lunches, bathroom supplies, etc. I know others spend more, but I’m determined to keep this expense as low as possible.

Then I prepare a monthly menu. This usually happens in one sitting. Don’t let the plan become an albatross! You can download an example of one of mine Here. You’ll see that I utilize each column of a calendar to plan the primary entree type. (You might also recognize some of those recipes if you follow my blog regularly!) We don’t eat the  meals in this order. It helps me make sure I don’t get top-heavy in any one category which ensures a healthier, better balanced meal plan for the month.

Once the menu for the month is planned, I compare the recipes with my inventory in my pantry and freezer, and decide what I need to buy, making my grocery list as detailed as possible (3 potatoes,  1.5 lbs of cheddar cheese, 1 kiwi, etc.). And then I go shopping!

This is just my pantry! Check out my freezer!

That turkey is taking up so much room! But I got it for free, so I’m trying hard not to complain.

I don’t recommend trying to do your shopping and cooking on the same day. I promise you’ll get disillusioned! So plan another day very near to shopping day to begin cooking and assembling dishes.

You’ll notice on my menu, that I don’t make casseroles. They’re not my gig. And on top of that, I actually really enjoy cooking so I don’t want to completely remove it from my regular life. And on top of that, to pre-cook everything means no fresh fruits or vegetables and that’s not okay with me. SO, I don’t do an awful lot of complete prep. I mostly work to partially assemble as much of each meal as possible. Not all of your meals can or should be completely prepped and frozen. The point to me is to do as much pre-prep so when you do have that meal, there is minimal work prior to cooking and serving it. The best way to go about this is to plan your cooking schedule for the day: write out all the tasks that can be pre-done like chopping onions, browning hamburger, dicing chicken. (employ your kids or husband to help with this)

Then start cooking. Once you have all of that pre-dicing and pre-cooking done, you can begin assembling.

Put each completed meal, or prepped meal into a container and label with cooking instructions, or assembly instructions. Or even the title and page of the cookbook it’s found in, if you need to refresh your memory. Make sure you plan ahead for what containers you need. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself with a meal and no way to store it. I prefer using freezer bags as much as is possible. As you saw above I’m not abounding in freezer space, and these definitely take up the least amount of space of all of the options.

But it’s just not always possible, and when that’s the case, you need to be smart about how you pack everything into your freezer. Good thing I’ve got that uber-organized husband I was telling you about on Sunday!

(source)  Here’s a few tips:  If your menu item calls for marinated meat, all you need to do is put the marinade and meat into a bag to freeze. On the day you want to cook it, you can lay it out and it will marinate while it’s thawing. Another trick is to buy a whole chicken (for much less) rather than a bag of chicken breasts. Cook the whole chicken (save the broth!), and pull the meat off the bone to make several of your chicken dishes. And last, buy dry milk and reconstitute it for your baking needs. I never use my milk out of the fridge for my baking.

I should probably admit that I don’t actually cook/prep meals every month. But I always plan my month of meals and shop once a month. Even if I’m tired or too busy, I still always know what I can make for dinner. And better, I have saved the money by shopping within my budget.

Well, when I blogged that I was going to talk about this, someone mentioned looking forward to recipes. I hadn’t planned to post any, but since you asked, I deliver! At the bottom of the post you’ll see a few of the recipes from the example menu I provided.

So what do you say? Wanna give it a try? Do you have more questions? Let me know! You’ve got a whole month to get ready to do this! I think that’s doable!

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Chili Colorado
Found on Spark Recipes

2 lb round steak, cut into 1″ pieces     4 Tbsp Chili powder
3 Tbsp olive oil                                             1 tsp ground cumin
2-3 minced garlic cloves                        ½ tsp each ground coriander, cinnamon, oregano
1 C red wine                                                    1 bay leaf
1 C beef stock (or water)                           1 (or to taste) jalapeno pepper, minced

Brown 1″ cubes of meat in olive oil in a heavy pot, do not crowd pot. Remove meat from pot; add garlic and sauté until just fragrant. Add wine to deglaze pot, then return meat to pot, add stock, spices and jalapeno. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer until beef is tender and has absorbed most liquid. Season to taste with salt. Allow to cool enough to handle and put into a freezer bag. On day you will serve it, thaw and reheat. Serve with whole wheat tortillas, and taco fixings like lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheese, guacamole, and mexican rice.

Greek Chicken & Pitas
All You Magazine, Jan. 2011 issue

¼ C olive oil                                                1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced                           1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or some meat from that whole chicken you cooked!)
1 tsp grated lemon zest                           8 small pita breads

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large resealable plastic storage bag. Add chicken, seal, and toss to coat. Freeze until the day you serve it. On the day you will eat it, take it out and allow to thaw. Preheat broiler to medium. Place rack 4 inches from heat source. Slice chicken into thin strips and thread onto metal skewers. Place skewers on baking sheet and broil, turning once, until chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes total. Serve with pitas, cucumber salad, and marinated tomatoes.

Teriyaki Salmon Steaks
Source unknown

4 salmon steaks, 1 inch thick                               2 Tbsp soy sauce
¼ cup oil                                                                    ½ tsp dry mustard
2 Tbsp lemon juice                                                 ½ tsp ground ginger

Place salmon steaks in a freezer bag. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the steaks and freeze until the day you serve it. On the day you will eat it, take it out and allow to thaw, turning occasionally. Drain, reserving marinade. Place steaks on rack in broiling pan. Broil steaks for 5 minutes, turn and brush with marinade. Broil steaks for 5 minutes more, brushing occasionally with the sauce. Check for doneness (if it is pink, and flakes easily).

Related Posts:

I’m Going to Do Some Posts About Organization This Week, But First I Have to Confess Something…
Keeping a Family Organization Binder
Laundry Time Is Family Time