Okay, so truth be told, I don't think that the way I do once-a-month cooking is the easiest option. It works for us, but I don't think it's as easy to replicate as some other methods. It does take a lot of time to plan all the meals, shop for them, prep the day before and then spend an entire day of cooking. However, here's why I do it.
1. More than anything, I really like spending the day with my two cooking friends!
2. We split up the labor (ie: I plan the menu and make the shopping list, the other two girls do the shopping and prep) so it's not so much on any one of us.
3. We save money. A lot of money. This past cooking day was our biggest yet, and we spent $130 each. Because we're buying in bulk, we don't have a lot of waste and we take advantage of bulk pricing.
4. As busy of a week as it becomes (I try to plan the menu the weekend before, do the shopping list by Monday or Tuesday and send it to the other girls for review. They shop on Thursday, prep on Friday and we cook on Saturday), it's DONE! For about 7-8 weeks, I don't have to think about what to cook, find time to cook it or make huge shopping trips. SOOOO worth it!
5. We get to try lots of new recipes.
6. As much as I'd love to think that I would do a little extra cooking each week, or something like that, chances are, I wouldn't make the time for it... and this makes me do it, and then enjoy the fruit of our labor for almost 2 months!
That being said, I'm starting to throw in a few extra things throughout the month. For example, this morning, I was going to make some pancakes from a Pumpkin Pancake mix I just got at Trader Joe's, but instead of just making enough for me and Josiah to eat this morning, I went ahead and made the whole box. So we had breakfast, I let the rest of them cool, and then I put them in a freezer bag, cleaned up the mess, and we can have pumpkin pancakes anytime we want! It might have taken an extra 10 minutes! Very easy!
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I have also made cookie dough and some healthy energy bites to have on hand.... again, super easy, just double the batch, eat what you want then, and freeze the rest.
Or if you see a super good sale on meat or something, buy a bunch, and just go ahead and season it and freeze it.
It doesn't have to be a big overwhelming cooking day, but having a 2 year old (or several little ones) and trying to plan, shop, prep, cook and clean up from dinner every single night was already plenty overwhelming to me.
:)
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