April's Meal Plan

As I planned April's meals, I realized it was time to share the details of what this looks like for me. I have the OAMC How do you start? post, but I know it's also nice to see EXACTLY what one does and how it's accomplished.

So bare with me as I fumble through my memory to recall all my steps. :)

Before you begin:
I made sure the kitchen was clean. No one can think about prepping 24 meals in a dirty kitchen. Trust me here, it just makes it easier. 

I made sure all my measure cups, bowls, spoons, pans and gallon sized freezer bags were ready to go. Good rule of thumb is to have one WHOLE BOX of freezer/storage bags available when you do a whole month of meals. Because most of the time you want to bag your meal in a freezer bag, then put another on the outside. IF you are tricksy, the doubled bag on the outside can be reused next month. But trust me when I tell you it's needed, because if one of those bad boys spring a leak, holy buckets. Just don't trust a single bag with liquids.

Planning:
Now it's time for family involvement. Oh, I've done it without family input, but then I end up with a few meals that someone won't eat. Usually, I ask for what they're craving or what they liked from last month (because we nearly always have a new recipe) and what they hated. The Clam Chowder from last month was a big NO from the kids (that was only because they found out I made them eat clams). But at least we had some likes and cravings to go off of.

So I grabbed my pen and paper and wrote down the things they wanted.

Crock Pot Fajitas
Carna Asada

Kalua Pork

Italian Pork Chops
Corned Beef

You'd think with just five meals, it might be too hard to plan a whole month, but actually these are just your base starters. So I look at the fajitas and Carna Asada, and think, hummm peppers, onions, tortillas. Okay, what else has these ingredients?

Tatery Goodness has peppers and onions and it also has potatoes. So I should probably buy a big bag or potatoes and make a double batch because it's cheaper that way. And the corned beef will need potatoes.

Now what about the two pork meals. Well, buying a large pork loin from Costco for $20 will give me 2 Kalua Pork meals, 1 Italian Pork Chop, and what if I made Pork Fajitas too? Never had pork fajitas! Let's do it.

Now, let's jump back to the chicken fajitas. If I buy the large $20 pack of boneless skinless chicken at Costco, I can get 6 meals out of that. If I do two chicken fajitas instead of one, then that still gives me four portions of chicken.  But I also have tortillas that I need to use again. Ah! Mexican Chicken. Perfect.

And if I use two portions of chicken in Mexican Chicken, I'll have plenty of  left overs to make Enchiladas  which means I can buy the super big bag of corn tortillas and make my own taco shells too for tacos!

And it's been a while since we've had enchiladas, so I'll make two Mexican Chicken's and two enchiladas. Which takes care of all my Costco sized chicken.

Now, if I buy the ground beef for tacos at Costco, I will have taco meat left over for... OHH! Jill made us Taco Bake once... oh and Taco Soup! And Nachos!

Oh and I should probably make some more refried beans this month since I'm almost out. But that means I need bacon. What else can I do with bacon and I still have those other three chicken portions left in my freezer. Oh! Bacon Wrapped Chicken! And it's been a while since we've eaten the Chicken Caprese!

And with the last chicken portion in my freezer, I will make my Alfredo Bake (not a freezer meal) and then I can make some alfredo just for the kids because they love it.  SO to recap my meals:

Crock Pot Fajitas 2

Pork Fajitas 1
Kalua Pork 2

Italian Pork Chops 1
Tatery Goodness 2

Corned Beef 1
Carna Asada 1

Mexican Chicken 2

Tacos 3
Nachos 1

Enchiladas 2

Taco Bake 1

Taco Soup 1

Beans (large pot makes about 20 cups)

Bacon Wrapped Chicken 1

Chicken Caprese 1
Alfredo Bake 1
Alfredo Pasta 1

And there you have it. You've now spent an hour in my brain.

Time for shopping
I made a list of all the ingredients in excel and grouped them in two ways.

First by meal then under each meal I did ABC order ingredients That way when I looked at my list, I would be able to mark off each of the items quickly. I do precount my items and write on the first meal that needs onions: "onions 6" if I need six onions. The reason I keep them in MEAL order though, is for the unforeseen BUMP in the meal plan. If I can't find an ingredient or it's wayyyy more then I budgeted for, then I nix it. Just like today. The Carna Asada was 6.99 a pound. Ouch! I picked up Spareribs instead at half the price and just noted to buy more BBQ sauce.

Now it's prep time!
Write I write all my meal names on my gallon zip locks. It's important to do it now because sharpies don't like wet zip locks.

The corned beef just goes straight to the freezer. I don't have to deal with that until the day of. But I will need a bag of potatoes, carrots, and cabbage for that day. So all those will go in a bag next to the corned beef.

If you have any ingredients to prep (like cutting onion, peppers, etc..) do it  now, or have your minions. I only had onions and potatoes to cut this time around because I found already cut peppers in my freezer aisle.

When it comes to meat, I always deal with raw first. Since the spareribs are the easiest, I start there. And the meal is ready in 60 seconds with just BBQ sauce and onions in the bag.

Then, I separated the chicken in all their own bags with labels (except for the chicken bake and caprese, those were frozen in the freezer so I will have to do those later). I then added the peppers into all the appropriate bags. Then onion added where needed. Then while the husband and daughter cut potatoes,  I started adding broth and seasoning to the ones that were needed. Potatoes go into their meal bags and one for the corned beef with chunked carrots. I'll get cabbage the day before.

The Mexican Chicken is just taco seasoning, garlic, and enchilada sauce, so that meal is slapped together in the time it takes to open the can and seal the bag.

When all the chicken was taken care of, I cleaned the counter and took out my pork loin and cut it up. The side with the most fat will be the two Kalua porks and the side without will be my pork chops and my pork for the fajitas. Into the bags they went. I won't put the Liquid Smoke in at this point. I'll put it in the day of. So really the Kalua Pork is just meat in a bag.

I grab my Italian seasoning, throw it over the top of my pork chops and put the other pork into the last fajita bag.

At this point I've already made 10 meals(plus the two enchilada meals will be taken care of with the mexican chicken, so we could call that 12 since slapping enchiladas together is like buttering bread-- oh and we can't forget the corned beef--13.)! I double bag all the rest of these and send the kids to the freezer to get them off the counter.

Next I open my frozen veggies and put them into the bag for taco soup. Add in onions, seasonings, beans, broth and seal is up and send it out. No meat in this bad because I'll use left over WHATEVER I have :) Taco meat or chicken, it's a mystery ;)

Now that all my raw meat is out and packaged for meals, I brown the mongo thing of ground beef. It takes two 12 inch skillets to get it all done. While it's browning I whirr up my roasted red peppers for the Mock Spaghetti sauce I've just decided to create and add to my meal plan. I was thinking about Tex Mex Spaghetti, but knew I couldn't do tomatoes, so I'm trying it my way. Three jars of roasted red peppers, 3 cups of cooked taco meat, onions and some spices over corn pasta and topped with cheese, I think so. But I'll just package the sauce for now. Cook the pasta the day of.

When the meat is done, I package it in 4 cup portions (enough for tacos for three nights), the mock spaghetti sauce gets 3 cups of meat, and I have 4 cups of meat saved back for the taco bake I will make tomorrow.

That leaves only the Caprese Chicken (Which will have to be put together day of), the Bacon Wrapped Chicken (Which I have to make from scratch my own cream of chicken with no wheat or soy) and the Alfredo's to make. The taco bake will be made ahead and frozen (so I can see if it works as a freezer meal and put it on the blog) but the alfredo's might be saved for the day of. Mostly because Alfredo is an easy sauce to make and I can make it on the fly. And Nachos take the melting of cheese and the defrosting of meat, no assembly required.

So there you have it. My April Meal Plan. 24 meals (which gives my husband leftovers for lunch every day and us at least 5-6 days of left over meals-- specially when we have enchilada since it makes a ton).

And no, we don't plan for eat out meals ever. Since I have allergies the safest place for me to eat is at home.

I also purchased all my monthly breakfast meal items, lunch items, butter, veggie sides, quinoa, fruit,  non essential food stuffs (like chips, hummus, popcorn,  etc), some paper products (TP, Trashbags) and some treats (Jellybelly beans, aussie bites--it was a long day, don't judge me!)... I spent about $500 for a month of meals for a family of 5. Not bad. That is $100 a week per family or $14.29 a week per person. Broken down per day, that is $2.05 a day at around $.68 a meal.

This is a good system! It works! We eat smarter and healthier. Even if I wasn't allergic to the world, we would eat out less because when you take a meal out to defrost, you know it's ready for you. Or if you've already put it in the crockpot, you shouldn't have to stop anywhere because the meal is waiting at home.

I'm usually exhausted after my OAMC days... but it's so worth the effort to have a healthy family and a happy freezer!

Freezer Meals from the Stork

Have you ever wondered what to get a new mom who has everything?

FREEZER MEALS!

There are plenty of "Make and Take" meal preparation companies around the country and if you have the money, you should totally try one out. Basically its Once a Month Cooking for beginners. It's a fabulous way to get your mind wrapped around how this all should work. A few places to check in your area are:

• Dinner A'Fare - http://www.dinnerafare.com/
• Dream Dinners - http://dreamdinners.com/
• Super Suppers - http://www.supersuppers.com/ 

When you go to one of these facilities, they will have all the ingredients and tools ready for you to create meals in full or half sized portions, which is really amazing. It's definitely worth your money and the food is top notch!

However, after doing these food prep things, you come to realize everything they do, you can do. Yes, it's worth it's weight in gold to have someone else do the prepping and clean up, but when you have extra time to do it yourself, you really should!

If you are new to the Once a Month Cooking idea, be sure to read my post here - Once a Month Cooking: How do I Start? However if you are a veteran to this whole cooking in bulk thing, read on.

Parents, I'm sure you will be the first to chime in and agree with me that after having your first, second, or even third babies, sometimes meals are thrown to the take-out man (unless your church/family provides them hot for you right to your door). Today's idea stems from this very idea. Most new moms are tired after a long day and figuring out the baby's needs. Never mind the mamma's needs, it's all about baby. I remember forgetting to even EAT after I had my first child because I was just happy to sleep when the child slept. My husband would come home wondering what was for dinner and unfortunately some freezer tray processed food ended up winning almost every time in the first two months.

This is a travesty! New moms should NOT be eating that garbage and you can help!

My sister is having her first baby on November 11th (or thereabouts) and the best thing I can do for her is stock her freezer. So in the next two weeks, I will be trying and posting recipes that I am preparing for her freezer. Recipes that only require defrosting in the frig the night before and then into the crockpot or oven with no additional prep (a few might require minute rice prep or steam veggie prep, but this can be done in microwave). This will revolutionize her meal time (and probably spoil her rotten) post baby and provide her and the baby with the protein they need to stay healthy!

Do you know a pregnant mom who could benefit from a few meals prepped and ready to go in her freezer? I bet you do. You should bless her by stocking her freezer! I hope you'll try these recipes out with us!

To see the Stork Meals I've already posted, click here. 

Once a Month Cooking: How do you start?

I truly believe that Once a Month Cooking (or OAMC) can save hundreds of dollars when done right. People are shocked when they hear how much I spend in a single month on groceries for a family of 5 (with 3 extra visitors over every Wednesday for a meal). It's an easy concept to consider, but with it comes a lot of questions.

The first is: How do you start?

That answer is pretty easy: Just do it!

Use what you have and make it work for your family. You will need Gallon-sized bags and remind yourself that there will be days that plain old spaghetti will just have to cut it, and don't stress.

First thing you must do is figure out what type of meats your family enjoys. Pick two meats that you will use this month. Yes, only two. The reason, when you buy this meat in bulk at the SuperStores (Costco, Sam's, Walmart, etc) you save a ton and you will only need two!

For the sake of argument of what meat is best, I am going to pick two for you for this example.

Ground Beef
Pork

Now we need to make a list and this is a list you will want to keep handy for the future. I have spiral notebook for this. Make your paper two columns and write Ground Beef on the top of one and Pork on the other.

Now under each heading write as many meals as you can think of using these two meats. If you need help, Google "Ground Beef Recipes" and "Pork Recipes" and see what might work for your family.

Please note, most recipes can be converted to freezer meals but one's with PASTA have a bit of tinkering to do. Most cooked pasta doesn't retain it's texture after frozen, so you have to make the MIX for the freezer and label your meal with what pasta you need to MAKE the day you cook.

Now that you have your list of meals, it's time for a little review of recipes. If you have the time and resources, collect your recipes and evaluate. If you can print them from the computer, use markers or highlighters to highlight SAME ingredients (dont bother with pantry staples like olive oil, salt, or even the main meat or pasta). This is ultra important to keep your costs down. For instance, if four recipes need Rotel Tomatoes, it's sometimes much cheaper to buy the large can and separate. The objective is to find enough meals for the family while using the same general sets of ingredients.

If you are short of time and have a great mental capacity (unlike me) you can just take stock mentally... so that you can see what recipes use basically the same ingredients.

Now it's time to pick 10-12 recipes that you want to make... Note that you can pick 5-6 and just have duplicates of the same recipe. This is also a time saver and money saver if your family is cool with having the same meal in the month. It's awesome! OR you can get together with your good friend and swap dishes. ;) Also awesome.

When you choose, pay attention to how you need to cook the meats. For ground beef it's pretty easy. You brown the whole lot in batches and separate for the meals. For the pork, it can be more difficult, but just pay attention to how they are cooked (and with what spices) and you will be golden.

Okay so for the sake of argument, I am going to pick Ground Beef: Chili, crockpot Taco Meat, Baked Penne, Stroganoff, and Goulash. And for the Pork: BBQ Pork, Mexican Pork, pork stir fry, pork chops, Pork Enchiladas.

As long as each ingredient is used more then once, I am ready to shop. Note, pastas, rice and tortillas are usually cheap enough that you don't have to repeat the starch for that meal.

After I shop, it's time to plan out my assembly. You will need at least 2-3 hours to complete all these meals. But if you spend 2-3 hours TODAY on your meals for the month, do you realize how much time you are saving?! Ooodles!

So I am going to do the ground beef recipes first... All of the recipes call for ground beef with sauted onions. Upon looking, I realize one of them DOESN'T call for garlic but the rest do. Use an executive decision here and decide if this odd ball recipe would taste okay with some garlic. What doesn't taste good with garlic? Uhhh, nothing so it's a triple WIN! There goes my first time saving step, I will saute and brown all my meat in garlic and onions... win win win!

Now I mentioned above that my family (sans me and my husband) doesn't like onions... easy fix, onion powder and garlic powder. But sometimes, I just make them deal. You should too ;)

So I've browned all my meat time to separate into reciprocals. This time, I am lucky as a clam because all the meat can go into into already labeled gallon sized bags instead of any pans. Makes for a more organized freezer. Huzzah! Label the bags with meal name, size and location of recipe just in case.

Now it's time to add all the other ingredients to the bags. REMEMBER to leave out ALL PASTA or RICE! Instead you can write on the bag that you need 1 box of elbow noodles, 3 cups of Rice, etc.

In this months recipes, the Stroganoff calls for sour cream. Sometimes my recipes can be frozen with the sour cream, but I am going to leave this one out because it calls for it LAST in the recipe itself. If it would have called for it during cooking, then I would just add it here. Instead, I will write on the bag, Needs 1 cup sour cream during cooking. Also, my baked penne needs a ricotta cheese mixture, totally freezable, so I won't worry about that one.

When all my ingredients are in the bags, I seal and double bag. If you are worried about your husband making this meal when you aren't around, attach all recipes to the refrigerator and remind him. Same goes for the wife if the man is the cook ;)

Now you freeze and you are golden! You have meals ready for easy prep whenever you need them!

You can go the extra step if you want and actually COOK these meals and freeze. Then you just have to heat in microwave to serve... but I prefer no microwave methods when I am around, but my husband prefers it. So when I will be away, I make sure its cooked and microwavable (Labeling it with full instructions).

When in doubt about the freezer and your meal, google it. Google, "Is it safe to freeze ____?" Most of the time the answer is yes, but freezing does change the texture of most things. Not a bad thing, but its different then being fresh.

Now, it's time for the Pork. This one is more difficult. Because you have to work with some raw materials. So do it separate from your ground beef. It is MUCH cheaper to buy a large slab of pork shoulder or butt at Sam's and cut it yourself. You will save up to $2.00 a pound!

And if your meet is cooked before you freeze, also a huge time saver. SO we are going with that minus the pork chops and pork stir fry. I will buy a pork loin from Sam's and cut my own chops/pieces. Usually I get three or four meals out of this cut. So I would bag each of the chop-meals and add the marinade/spices to them, then straight into the freezer, raw. Because the Stir Fry requires me to brown the meat before I add everything together, I would bag the raw meat separate from the veggies or brown it up before I stick it together.

Now it's time to cook the rest of the meat for the other recipes. Cook the large hunk of meat with any seasonings you want really. I usually salt, pepper and garlic it, just to have some flavor outside of the recipe.

When it's done, I take it out and shred it into piles per meal. The enchiladas will be in a pan, but the rest will go into the gallon bags. Labeled of course. I make the enchiladas like I would if I was making it for today and freeze. Add all the other ingredients for the meals to bags with their ingredients. Seal and double bag and you are done!

Hopefully you made it this far and realize even with all this text/instructions, it really is easy! The hardest part is picking your recipes and that can be fun! Just try to keep to two meats... and you have already saved a ton!

I know this sounds daunting... but do it once or twice and you will be a pro.