I have had some interest in knowing what all goes on with Once A Month Cooking(OAMC). First, let me say, almost all of my meals come out of the freezer. With 4 very active kids, laundry, the dog, a Wonderful Husband, I don't have a lot of spare time to cook good meals. Pulling them out of the freezer is a great way to have good meals cooked at home with the convenience of fast food. I try to keep the meals interesting. Casseroles are the best way to get all of your food groups in one easy convenient meal. But, sometimes casseroles get boring. I try to spice it up a little sometimes. So far the complaints have been few. Here is how to get started.
1)
Find a person to coordinate cooking day.
This person should be the one who decides the meals, does the shopping or designates the shopping to someone. She would also decide location and be responsible for clean up.
2)
Find some friends who would love to participate.
These can be anyone. If your family has special dietary needs, find some moms who also have these needs. If you have 15 people you feed every night, finds some other super heroes to cook with.
3)
Pick and day and time then stick with it
Once you have all of these, you are ready to start your OAMC.
Prep- decide on the menu. I like to cook between 10-15 meals including at least one breakfast item.
Email- send your recipes to your group. Include in this the Meat list Since meat is a tricky item to bulk buy, and some people are picky, I always have my group buy their meat and prepare it at home. If the recipe calls for browned beef, or cooked chicken, I have them do this at home. I also try to include any pans that might be needed. It is easier to place items in ziploc style bags, but occasionally, there are items that won't fit.
Also have your group RSVP. It is very important. You don't want to buy too much or to
little. If you say you are coming and don't you still owe me for the ingredients.
Shopping- once you have the count of your group you can go shopping. I buy all of the indigents except meat. I take the recipe and multiply by the number cooking. I keep the receipts divide the cost by the number cooking. This keeps the cost down. I have a stock of
ingredients that we frequently use, like spices, this keeps the cost down as well.
Cooking- have each person bring with them: cooler, bowls, measuring cups and spoons, knives
any other kitchen item you might not have enough of. It is also nice to have things like
a food processor, electric skillets, mixer, lots of dish towels. These items are nice but not necessary.
Pair up into teams of two if possible. Pick a recipe and make it for each person in the group. If you have 8 people and are making meatloaf, you and your partner would take each persons meat and prepare 8 meatloaves. If the recipe is Honey lime chicken then you would make 8 of these. Repeat process until all recipes are done. Try completing the more difficult recipes first. Like chicken nuggets. These need to be started early or you will be waiting on them when all else is done, because they need to be cooked in the oven for 10 min.
Clean up- clean up as you go, and make sure you mop the floor when you are done. It will be a
mess.
Take home- fill coolers and send them home. I split any left over ingredients that probably
won't be used soon, and send them home.
Collect- don't forget to collect the money from your group. I have a fund that is used for the
shopping. This way, I don't use my family food money to buy the groceries for cooking
club. It makes it easier to separate and keep the books balanced.
Enjoy- go home place food in freezer. Set out meal for tomorrow, take a break.
Any comments or questions?? Clear as mud right. Just let me know, I will try to answer any questions you might have.
This have really been a blessing in my life. I hope it can be in yours too.
