There is no doubt that the key to sticking to a real food diet is planning ahead. I like to call it “making your own convenience food.” Just imagine all those busy weeknights out at a late dance class or nighttime soccer practice and not having to worry about dinner (or resorting to the drive through) because you planned ahead. That’s what it’s all about!
But what if you could eat real food and only cook once a month? Yep, today I am here to introduce you to the Once a Month Mom (OAMM) website, which has taken planning ahead to a whole new level.
OAMM offers meal plans where you can literally spend one day a month cooking and have enough food for weeks to come. We didn’t want to just take their word for it though so Kiran from our 100 Days of Real Food Team – who has 4 kids ages 9 and under by the way! – agreed to put the OAMM plan to the test for this sponsored post today.
So I am super excited to share with you everything you could ever want to know from our very own first-hand “freezer cooking” experience!
By Kiran Dodeja Smith, 100 Days of Real Food Team
When Once a Month Mom was introduced to me, I was intrigued, to say the least. Cook just once a month and have your meals freezer ready for 4 weeks? It sounded too good to be true.
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After signing up for a month, I watched this video in hopes that it would give me some insight as to how I would proceed. I then chose between 7 different plans; my choice was Whole Foods (not to be confused with the store – no correlation, actually, it’s just a plan with whole foods incorporated within).
How It Works
The directions seemed fairly straightforward: You get Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner recipes to last throughout the month. When it’s all said and done, I’d have 6-10 breakfasts, 8 lunches and 14 dinners. Sure; still sounded good to me. But what about the cooking part?
I started by looking at the menu for the month I was signed up for. In all honesty, while I’m open to new recipes, my kids are somewhat creatures of nature. Knowing them, I know that I can get away with different breakfast foods on the weekend but serving up something completely different during the week may not fly for them.
So I opted to slightly tailor the menu by making the suggested Quinoa Carrot Breakfast Bars (a breakfast dish) to send to school in their lunches. I also made the Sun-dried Tomato and Sausage Egg Cupcakes (a breakfast) for use as lunch as opposed to the Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole Cups (a lunch). And last I decided not to make one of the suggested breakfasts (Slow Cooker Apple Pie Steel Cut Oats).
For me, tailoring it to what I think will work for us and also trying to add some newness is key. To sum it up, with my changes I had 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch (I opted out of 3 others), 6 dinners and 5 “Add Ons” on the forefront to cook all in one day. Yikes.
Next I dove into some of the incredibly organized resources on OAMM by going over to the Recipe Cards. Members can adjust servings per meal (needed in my case) and also get directions for freezing (also needed for me).
The directions are outstanding. You are told exactly what to do the day before (chopping), if meat is needed to be cooked/thawed, etc. But never having done this before I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was feeling so overwhelmed with what was up and coming.
Cooking Day
The big day arrived and I was ready to roll. I had already planned to split my cooking into two days. I got geared up and was cooking and cleaning from 1 – 5:30 p.m. I was lucky enough to have a friend come to visit during this time; I put her to work and we knocked out half of the meals. My husband came home towards the end and helped with cleanup. Side note: we went out to dinner that night.
Day Two was much easier. Some meals are, as in real life, harder than others to cook. I specifically chose the harder ones for Day One to get those out of the way. I have to say that I was more than thrilled when I put the finishing touches on my final meal but even more so when I looked at my stocked freezer. OK, I really wanted to do cartwheels, that’s how happy I was. But of course I was too tired to do them!
The Results
As luck would have it, I got the flu the week after I cooked my meals. I couldn’t have been any more thankful to have prepared meals in the freezer that I could simply pull out and defrost.
I was recovering from being sick and simply pulled out (the pictured) Garlic Lime Chicken the morning we were going to eat it and let it defrost. I stuck it in my slow cooker to cook and already had the brown rice, which I had also prepared and cooked on my big cooking day. I pulled out some broccoli and roasted it (yes, my kids eat it) and dinner was served.
Anyone who has had the flu this year knows that it’s not a quick thing to recover from, so I was again thankful to have more meals to rely on that same week. We enjoyed a yummy Shepard’s Pie, which my husband was really nuts about.
While I was worried about the breakfasts being a hit with my kids, the few that I had made (Sun-dried Tomato and Sausage Egg Cupcakes and Carrot Quinoa Bars) ended up being some different and much appreciated changes in our routine. I stand corrected! They were also super simple to just pull out of the freezer and to have ready.
Since I didn’t have the meals every single night in a row, they lasted me for the full 4 weeks, which was FANTASTIC. I ended up cooking about once during the week otherwise and had leftovers which I love to have on hand.
In Summary and Tips
If you’ve ever been frustrated with not knowing what to cook, feeling like you need to cook each night or not having time to prepare what you really want to make, I would suggest watching this video to get a better feel for what this can mean for you.
Yes, the cooking day is a lot, but if you are prepared for it, it’s a small price to pay for having the meals on hand for the rest of the month. With that being said, here are a few of my tips for prep day:
1) Mentally prepare to either spend a full day cooking or to split it into two.
2) If at all possible, do it while your kids are in school/with friends/family.
3) Having a friend (or spouse if they will help!) assist with the dishes can be a great help.
4) Do the prep work as suggested; it really will help!
5) Don’t plan to cook something for dinner on your big cooking day. You’ll be really mad at yourself if you do.
6) Be open to something new. After having success with meals I wasn’t initially so sure about, I was kicking myself for opting out of a few meals that I did. I guess there’s always next month!
We hope learning about our experience helps you decide if “Once a Month Mom” cooking is right for you. All new members who sign up for their monthly menus also get access to menus (past and current) and resources which include recipe cards, grocery lists, step-by-step cooking day instructions, labels and two OAMM ebooks (Survive Before 5 Toddler Meals and a Holiday Meals). Just think how happy you will be once you are stocked up with all those wholesome DIY- freezer meals!
Do any of you already do “freezer cooking” on a regular basis? If so, please share the details in the comments below.
Recently we hosted a Facebook LIVE Real Food Freezer Menu Assembly with our friends at Once A Month Meals. Check it out!
yOu know how sometimes when you freezer cook, the reheated version is not up to par from fresh out of the oven…can be drier or dense up as it freezes…did you feel this was the case with any of the meals you tried?
Out of everything, the only thing that didn’t heat up as good as it was fresh were the egg “cupcakes”. The rest were really good, though.
HTH!
I’ve used 30-Day Gourmet Big Book of Freezer cooking to make some great freezer meals. I haven’t ever done it for a whole month, but have been able to stock up on some of our favorites by making 6-8 of the same meals to freeze. It was such a blessing to be able to do that while pregnant to stock the freezer for those times after delivery that I just didn’t want to cook, but wanted something made from scratch.
When you become a member, do you have access to multiple menus? For instance, I like the whole foods menu option, but have a baby too…can I also access the baby food menus? I looked through the site and didnt come across an answer. Thanks!
I am a member and I can see all of the menus and archives.
Thanks for chiming in our part and helping out potential readers, we greatly appreciate it!
Yep, you can see all of the menus – so you can actually mix and match if you really wanted to.
My mom and I used to do this back in the late 70’s when my mom had to return to work. We loaded up on fresh food that we could cook up for the month and then we separated the food into individual plates. My brother and I loved that we could come home from school and pop them into the oven and in a few minutes we had dinner! What a savings and blessing. I still cook like that for my family and really love having good food on the run!
Thank you for trying it before promoting it and sharing the details of your experience!
You are so welcome! I really did enjoy the fruits of my labor! :)
Hope you try it out.
Kiran
I have done the once a month cooking day and found it was a little too exhaustive for me. I have twin 3 year olds and a 5 month old… and couldn’t find enough time for someone to watch them to include shopping and cooking. HOWEVER, I still use the OAMM site a lot because I love to get new ideas of recpies that freeze well. I usually try to make at least two meals on the weekend that I can double and freeze half and then one more during the week. That give me 3 extra meals a week usually… So I end up only cooking half the time and using freezer meals the other half the time…which are great when you get sick or just have a busy week. I also love it because if I have a friend that has a baby I always have something ready. Thanks for the great post!
This sounds so great. But my husband is so picky, and between us wanting to avoid meat, and him hating tomatoes (in all forms, sauce etc.), I never find meal plans to work well for us. Is there any way to exclude certain ingredients?
In addition to the Whole Foods menu they have a vegetarian menu. We just did the same batch of OAMM on Saturday and omitted mushrooms because I don’t like them. Tomatoes would be harder but I think you could work around it. It’s definitely worth looking at.
Because insurance rates went up with my husband’s work, we have tightened our belts, and he’s taken on another job a few nights a week. Actually, he works full-time at his main job, and teaches for two different colleges four nights a week, in addition to working on his doctorate, and trying to be husband and daddy. As a result, meals at home have suffered! My two-year-old will at least try new things, but he has a basic menu he tends to pull from. I haven’t really cooked a whole lot just for me, and because my husband is gone 12 or more hours those four days, he tends to grab something on his way to class. I’ve seen lots of posts on Facebook about once a month cooking, but didn’t think it would work for us. This is really making me reconsider! I actually love to cook, but this crazy schedule has put a damper on that. I’m curious though, do you only get so many meals a month, or do you just double up on certain meals to have a couple of times? Thanks for your review!!
Hi Julie,
The way that it works is that you can adjust for your family’s size which will increase your qty (if need be). However, the meals that you have you basically get two of. So you will have the same dinner (or lunches/bf’s) twice during a month. Obviously you can space them out so that they aren’t right on top of each other. In your case, I’d definitely suggest trying to cook on a day when he is home and can help with your little one. Keep us posted if you end up trying it! :)
Another resource I have used is make a mix books. They give several versatile mixes and basic foods with several options of recipes to make up with them. Either way,having already made ready to go meals from scratch makes cooking on busy nights( or any other night) much nicer,especially since by making them myself I can control what’s in them.
Hello how do I get a plan started for this? I’m really interested in this idea. I think it is great idea.
Thanks
Hi Candace,
You can sign up on the site. Please let us know if you don’t see the link!
While I haven’t ever actually followed through with an entire OAMC cooking day, I have applied the thinking and planning to the cooking I do do on a regular basis. It is very easy to double up the cooking of recipes and freeze half for another day. Just be sure to label it, don’t depend on your memory. Beef, chicken and pork entrees, lasagna, spaghetti/pasta sauces, burritos, breakfast muffins, tortilla fillings, chili, soups and stew, etc. Another tip is to prep your vegetables as soon as you can after shopping day. Wash your veg and fruit, precut to what you need for the week. Dice and slice the peppers and onions, grate cabbage and carrots, cut brocolli or cauliflower into florets, etc. While this does mean you have to have foodsafe containers to keep all the cut up produce in the fridge, just this step done in advance makes a healthy supper so much easier every single day.
This is very similar to what I do … when we have lasagna, I just make a bit more and freeze portions, then when I need dinner for just me, or a quick lunch, it’s easy to grab and reheat. My family of 3 has different dietary needs (my mom is borderline diabetic despite good diet control, I am gluten intolerant, my son is peanut and tree nut allergic). It is SO hard to make one meal that suits us all, so we tend to eat different meals at the same time, and then freeze the extras so most nights only one of us needs the kitchen to cook something up. Even pizza can be made ahead, and frozen flat in slices and placed in a ziplock baggie – then the kids can grab a slice and microwave or stick it in the toaster oven whenever – or you can thaw and send cold for school lunch. I make one or two pizzas a month, and we never have to opt for frozen or delivery pizza – just freeze the leftovers. This absolutely works, and no need to wear yourself out cooking all day … I like cooking, so to make it a chore takes all the fun out of it.
I looked at the March menu from OAMC and it looks like there are only 6 dinners. Do more show after you sign up?
I had exactly the same question! It’s not a month of meals with only six dinners…
When you tell the spreadsheet to cook for a family of 4, it calculates the recipe and containers to feed 8 people in 2 portions (2 spreadsheets, 1 for recipes the other for the grocery list). You are effectively doubling the recipe. So in one month you will eat the same recipe 2 times. 6 dinner recipes = 12 meals. Usually a menu is 3-4 breakfast, 5 lunches and 7 dinners, all doubled to be eaten twice.
Also they tell you that with leftovers and eating out, being at church or other activities you would not cook 30 dinners in a month, so their experience is that 14 or so dinners is enough for a month.
I cook very close to every day of every month. My husband eats the leftovers for evening snacks and morning snacks (crazy fast metabolism). But we are traditionalists for breakfast and dinner so we could possible adapt those recipes for dinner. 6 dinner recipes doesn’t sound like much of a favor.
I too cook almost everyday of the month. I plan out my own dinners a week at a time. Lunch is leftovers and breakfast is something made right then like eggs or a muffin reheated from the freezer. I occasionally repeat popular dinners throughout the month like homemade pizza, but not more than 2 times a month. My husband is big on variety so 14 dinners and in all actuality 7 dinners repeated would leave me with half the month or more to go.
I am completely unaware of the results in the LA food banks because they are productive as far as I have seen. Thanks for sharing.
Being in the ministry my work schedule is not a “traditional” schedule. I have to work several nights a week and always on Sundays. Some days I have to pack my lunch, supper, and snacks to take with me! I always cook ahead and am so thankful when I can pull something out of the freezer on weeks like this one where I have something late each night and a conference all weekend. I will definately watch the video to get some tips. Thanks!
Some of the moms I work with were just talking about prepping a lot of meals at one time and voila!! Here is your article!! Sure gives me something to think about. I would definitely love to try this!
I tried freezer cooking one month and I was way too exhausted! I now cook a weeks worth of meals at a time and find that to be much more manageable.
On their site I previewed the whole-foods and diet menus for March. I like bits of both. Do you know if you can mix and match recipes or do you have to commit to one plan?
Emily, at this time you can’t mix and match easily without doing some work yourself (http://onceamonthmom.com/get-started-creating-a-custom-grocery-list/). We will have that functionality by the end of the year though.
Oh, I”m so excited to hear that! My husband and I did our first OAMM day on Sunday and we wishing for that ability!
Deborah,
SAHM or WAHM or work away from home mom, it doesn’t matter which kids don’t discriminate about wanting time and attention during the dinner prep hour. Freezer cooking is so helpful in those tight situations, or any situation.
We used to have businesses in town that had everything pre-prepped for you and you just had to go measure out the ingredients and bag or put in containers…they’re now out of business and I seriously miss them. I’m cooking for me and my daughter though, so is there a smaller meal plan available? My friends in Columbia have a “freezer club” and they do something similar to this, but each person makes 6-7 of the same dish, then they meet and swap out. Just another way to make it work. I love having things in the freezer or fridge to take to work and to reheat up on our busy weeknights! Let me know about smaller portions and I will give it a go!
Julie,
Whatever menu you would choose you get to pick the number of servings that your family needs. In your case, you would pick two. And the recipes will adjust quantities so you know how much to make for you. There are also mini menus that would work for smaller cooking days. (And yes we encourage group meal swaps). http://onceamonthmom.com/menus/mini/
I was getting ready to sign up but have a couple more questions:
If I choose two servings, will that give us leftovers or just one meals worth?
If I want to try gluten free this month and switch to whole foods, I can do that no problem, right? Or make the mini menu in addition to the other? For that matter, can I use some meals from each menu or I’m I sticking to one menu per month?
That is a lot more questions. :) We do have a FAQ’s page you might want to visit that will help too – http://onceamonthmom.com/membership/faqs/. For an immediate answer, that will not give you leftovers, for leftovers we suggest adding a serving or 2. You get access to ALL menu types, current and those that come out when you are a member and all the past ones. That is 100’s of menus. And yes, that includes mini menus too. Everything.
We don’t have an easy way to mix and match right now but we will be the end of the year. For now we suggest doing them as is or using this work around – http://onceamonthmom.com/get-started-creating-a-custom-grocery-list/.
Feel free to ask more questions here or on our FB page, we love helping people be able to cook for their family.
THANKS – I just got signed up and will give it a go!
As a SAHM who works out of the house, I can’t wait to try this! I actually enjoy cooking, especially when I have the time set aside and everything I need. I do like the idea of cooking with a friend, just because it would be fun and productive. I also appreciate the options of meals, as other once a month plans are full of casseroles and things that we really wouldn’t choose to eat. Thanks for sharing!
We have tried a couple of times, but I always get “stuck” on what will freeze well. I desperately don’t want to make something that will get ruined in the freezing process (I’m thinking rice dishes). So at this time, we buy our meats in bulk, if I make a meatloaf, I will make 3-4 of them for the weeks ahead, and the same for pasta sauce, and some soups. We keep fresh fruits and veggies for the side dishes and snacks. It’s great enough having all the food on hand for a month, having it ready to go in the freezer would be heaven.
If you don’t have a whole day to dedicate to cooking another good way to stock your freezer is just make 2 or 3 times the recipe you’re having for dinner. 1 goes on the table, another goes in the freezer. You will find it doesn’t take that much more time to make the additional quantities and then you have future dinners ready!
This is great! I would love to try it. I do make big batches of soup and beans so that I can freeze half, but this method would take it to the next level.
Lauren – I am sure Kiran can answer personally but each month we ask our test cooks to estimate their cost for freezer cooking days (45-60 meals depending) and they report these as averages – http://onceamonthmom.com/get-started-budgeting-for-your-once-a-month-cooking-day/.
Love the concept! The sponsor link at the end of the article is broken. Thanks!
Hi!
I have two daughters with different food allergies. Are your me s adaptable to be gluten and egg free? I love the idea of making enough meals for a month! Thanks so much!
Is there a whole foods and vegetarian option?
Hi Susan. Both of those are options. ~Amy
Hi, I am confused – how is 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch (I opted out of 3 others), 6 dinners and 5 “Add Ons†enough food for a month? Or are you cooking massive amounts of each recipe? Maybe I am missing something? Thanks!!
Hi Melissa,
I did make sure to adjust for my family of 6. And since I opted out of the 2 breakfasts and 3 lunches, I simply made my own things for those meals. Dinner was taken care of. Of course this was my choice, and if you follow it like it’s written you will definitely have enough for the month. HTH! :)
I have been doing this for years!! Maybe not all organic foods but once a month nonetheless.. Trying to do it all “clean” might be a challenge but willing to try it!
I have a group of good friends who swap freezer meals every couple of months. Once we know how many ladies are attending we prepare ONE meal (x number of times) then get together, swap and go home with all different meals. This makes the grocery shopping and prep much easier since you are only preparing one meal, just repeating it X number of times. We love it and it fills our freezers with a great variety!
I’ve got a good friend that does this in Columbia, MO and a group of folks I know in Wichita, KS get together and prep things at a church kitchen so the social interaction can happen too.
If the thought or the space required of a monthly freezer cooking session frightens you, Money Saving Mom (http://www.moneysavingmom.com) does a Freezer Cooking in an Hour series, where it’s just a small cooking session focusing on few recipes each week.
I need to get back into the habit of freezer cooking.
If you don’t mind sharing, how much was your grocery bill for the month?
Hi Lauren,
This is a tricky question … first off, I left out a couple of lunches. Then I also used spices that I had on hand (as I’d assume most would do). I also had 1 lb. of ground beef in the freezer that I used. And I also shopped at Trader Joes and Earth Fare and got all organic products which some won’t do or even have access to. My total for my shopping trips was $119 with all of those factors involved. I should also note that I am not a couponer; I know that I should but I just can’t quite get it together in that area:). I’m sure you can get it much cheaper if you watch sales/coupon or even try CostCo/etc.!
You only spent $119 the whole month? My weekly grocery bill, family of 4 – me, husband kids 4 and 2 – is on average $120. I use coupons when applicable (which is not often with real foods) and I use my stores shopper card. I don’t buy packaged crap and try to stick with organics for produce, diry and meat. What am I doing wrong budget-wise?
You’re not doing anything wrong! I am sure that $119 did not cover every meal/snack/drink that was required for the month. That was probably the total for the 15 or so meals she made for the freezer.
One thing I’ve learned in my couponing and budgeting days is to never compare to others! I could never save 40% or more on my grocery bill! That’s because I buy lots of produce and Organics andnot many packaged, coupon friendly items. ,If that budget works for your family that’s all that counts! Ours is about $100-$120 for 2 adults and 3, 5 and under. Less if I am strict to a menu each week.
Jen,
I have seen that a lot of people do it with a friend. It definitely helps with the cleanup as well as making things quicker. Maybe that would help? I honestly can’t tell you how nice it’s been to have choices in the freezer, ready to go. Once you get into it it is way worth it! :)
Wow I can’t imagine having my dinners for a month made! That is one long day of cooking, though. I should try this sometime. I think it would be great in the summer when we’re so busy outside I never feel like coming inside to cook.
Jessica – we just put out a toddler menu too – it isn’t all whole foods but definitely a move in the right direction (and you can choose not to do the ones that have ingredients that don’t fit) – http://onceamonthmom.com/toddler-mini-march-2013-menu/.
I have tried and tried to do the once a month cooking and find myself exhausted! Now every week or 2 I do a big batch of something (chicken chili on the stove right now!!!) We have dinner tonight, a few lunches this week and a few dinners worth in the fridge!!! next big batch is baked ziti…
This post is just in time! I went grocery shopping with my 10 month old and was just EXHAUSTED from reading all these damn labels and FRUSTRATED that there is nothing pre-packaged that I feel OK with feeding him (we are moving to finger foods and I don’t know why this frustrates me more than the purées I make). As I was leaving (with a pre-pakaged “toddler meal”), I thought, “I am overreacting, everyone feeds their kids crap, why should I stress over it?”
When I got home and saw the amount of sodium in this “food appropriate for babies,” it went straight in the trash. It’s not like it’s hard to steam veggies, etc. But you are right, planning ahead makes chips, crackers, etc. Seem ridiculous when you have healthy choices that require just as much work as opening a bag of of artificial ingregients.
So, thanks for posting, I feel better about my choices, I just need to make posts and plan ahead so I don’t get caught in a moment of exhaustion/ weakness.
Thank you!!
Christina we also had a reader do a post on using her apartment freezer (can’t get smaller than that) that you might like to check out – http://onceamonthmom.com/get-started-using-an-apartment-refrigerator-freezer-for-once-a-month-cooking/. It is possible. :)
Great thanks Kiran and Tricia! My freezer is bigger than an apartment freezer, but not by much, haha!
Hi Christina,
The pic in the post was that of my freezer … honestly, with the 8 x 8 pans suggested along with the use of freezer bags, I think it should be possible. Of course if you are super good at packing (and Tetris!) you may find it easier but I think it should work for you! Good luck! :)
I’ve been wanting to do this, but I have an incredibly small freezer so I am not sure if I’ll be able to fit meals for 4 weeks for my family of 4 in there. Do you need to have a larger freezer in order to make this work, or can you use a small freezer and hope that you are (or know someone that is) really good at Tetris?
I have a really small freezer (just the top of the fridge kind) and I am able to fit about 8 of the 8×8 dishes and quite a few ziploc bags. I have done the freezer cooking twice (I just completed my 2nd month yesterday) and it has worked out great and the portions are the perfect amount for my family (2 small boys and 1 hungry husband). I haven’t yet had an issue with size, you definitely have to arrange everything nicely, but it has all fit in mine :)