I am a big fan of Volume and OAMC (Once a Month) Cooking. I will be using these terms quite a bit. \u00a0If you are not familiar, here\u2019s a little tutorial:<\/p>\n
Volume Cooking Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) This is an recap from\u00a0when I did the OAMC in 2008:<\/p>\n I bought the book, \u201cOnce a Month Cooking\u201d by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg, and completed one month of cooking yesterday. \u00a0Here is how it breaks down:<\/em><\/p>\n -Wednesday: I looked over the book and got the general idea of what needed to be done. Made a plan. Total grocery bill: $350.00 (food for the meals only)<\/em><\/p>\n Three loads of dish washing during cooking day..<\/em><\/p>\n It was a great experience and something I’d do again, but I would want an extra freezer. \u00a0I was able to fit it all in my current fridge freezer, but I had to take everything out and re-organize about three times to make it fit. \u00a0I will probably do twice a month cooking next month and see if it does not tax the freezer as much.<\/em><\/p>\n During the process, I kept wondering if it was worth it, and there were times I was tired during the cooking day, but having a freezer full of meals feels really good. \u00a0Yes, it was worth the effort.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am a big fan of Volume and OAMC (Once a Month) Cooking. I will be using these terms quite a bit. \u00a0If you are not familiar, here\u2019s a little tutorial: Volume Cooking Creating multiple entrees of the same recipe. This type of cooking makes it convenient to purchase in bulk. \u00a0You can serve one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-785204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-kitchen"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785205,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785204\/revisions\/785205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Creating multiple entrees of the same recipe. This type of cooking makes it convenient to purchase in bulk. \u00a0You can serve one entree for dinner, entertain by using multiple batches, freeze the remaining entrees for later, or give away as needed. \u00a0The pros:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s just as easy to double a recipe, and not much more difficult to increase the batches to three or four. You can save money by buying in bulk. \u00a0You can organize a swap with friends who have also created their own entrees, cutting down the amount of time you are in the kitchen. Terrific to have on hand for unexpected or last minute guests. \u00a0The cons:\u00a0<\/strong>If you are limited in freezer space, you will need to limit how many of the same entrees you make, (unless, of course, your family loves the same beef stroganoff every night!) On occasion, we have discovered a \u201cdud\u201d of a recipe where no one in our family likes it. \u00a0Unfortunately, we would still have multiple batches left in the freezer.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>OAMC covers one to three days. \u00a0The first day is the planning of the menu for a full month and creating the shopping list. \u00a0There are cookbooks available that will actually do this for you, if you are new to this! \u00a0If you are savvy with comparison shopping, you can also use this day to decide which stores have the best prices for which ingredients. \u00a0The second day is shopping day. \u00a0This could be one store or multiple stores. \u00a0The third day is the big cooking day! Cooking 30 full entrees in one day! I have only done this once, and cooking day took 12 hours. \u00a0I felt like I had been hit by a truck by the time I finished, but the sense of accomplishment and a (very) full freezer made it worthwhile and I look forward to doing this again.\u00a0The pros<\/strong>: A month full of different meals in the freezer! \u00a0Actually, between leftovers, visiting friends\/family for dinner, and the occasional eating out, this month can stretch to six weeks. The shopping bill can feel a bit high, but it balances out to a decent savings if you consider over the month. \u00a0The Cons: \u00a0<\/strong>This method calls for creating multiple single entrees, limiting options for unexpected guests. It does take extra time and effort up front in planning, and shopping, but this balances out over the month, when all you need to buy are perishables. \u00a0There is an increased physical demand in cooking for a full day, and if this is something that is not an ideal option, you can divide it to Twice a Month cooking, or Once a Week cooking. \u00a0I actually have done Twice a Month cooking quite a few times.<\/p>\n
\n-Thursday: Shopping, part 1. It took about 1.5 hours.
\n-Friday: Shopping, part 2. 1.5 hours, pre-prep: 2 hours.
\n-Saturday:\u00a012\u00a0<\/strong>hours making\u00a027<\/strong>\u00a0meals, all different (3 ham dishes, 10 chicken, 12 beef dishes, 1 fish, 1 vegetarian)<\/em><\/p>\n