Once-a-month cooking - Tips

Based on my experience yesterday, I came up with a few tips for anyone looking to try it. Otherwise known as things I need to remember for next time:

1. No child at home. Toddlers need to be out of the house in order to reduce the time needed. Having daddy watch him doesn't work because obviously said child wants mommy time at the crucial moments.
2. Wear comfortable shoes. I don't normally wear shoes in the house, but after standing and walking in the kitchen for hours, I realized I should have worn running shoes.
3. Read the ingredient lists carefully. Otherwise you may buy 1 small can instead of 3 large cans.
4. Put all ingredients out before you start. This tip is listed in the book, and was a great time saver. I put everything on the back half of the table, and used the front for prep and bagging.
5. Wash all your dishes beforehand, and put them away. You will want the space, and the drain tray. I rinsed everything between every dish, and having a full drain tray limited my space to put the stuff I was using.
6. Read the recipes beforehand. This way you know what is coming. And won't rinse out the skillet and drippings that you are supposed to use to make the sauce.
7. If you plan to split some of the meals, make notes to yourself so you don't forget.
8. Type up and print handy cards with the instructions to finalize each dish. I created one for each meal, and placed mine on the fridge, so they not only tell what to do, they also let us know what we have left. And you don't destroy your book any further.

Once-a-month cooking - Take 1

I previously mentioned that I picked up a once-a-month cooking book, and intended to try it at least once. The book I have is Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.

I decided to try making the two-week cycle D. It is heavy on chicken dishes, and since my husband loves chicken, I thought this would be the best place to start. Familiar foods, but with some new flavours.

It took a really long time to do everything. Mostly because my son was "helping". We needed breaks to settle down for a nap, to have a snack, to play and hug for a bit. Overall, it took me 7 hours! But I'm sure it would have been more like 4, if my son wasn't there bothering me all the time.

I spent $200 on the ingredients. This includes all the spices, since I didn't have anything except oregano and thyme in my cupboard. I ended up with 18 dishes in the freezer. I split a few of them up since some served 8, and we really only need 4 servings to have supper and lunch the next day. There was one recipe (Meatball Sub Casserole) that I also should have split up, but I didn't realize it gets frozen in the baking dish until I started assembling. Otherwise, I would have used 2 small baking dishes instead of one big one. And I did not make the tilapia dish since neither my husband nor I care for fish.

I also had 3 small ingredient mishaps:

1. I had no eggs, and I needed 3. This is because we made scrambled eggs the other morning, and french toast this morning. And used all the eggs. Luckily, our friend in the building had some I could have.
2. I only got 1 small can of tomato soup instead of 3 large cans. This was a mistake I made reading the ingredients while making my shopping list. I substituted with a jar of spaghetti sauce, again borrowed from our friend.
3. The ingredient list included both dry basil, and fresh basil, so I bought both. But I never saw where to use the fresh basil, so I only used the dry version. Even going back through, I'm not sure when I was supposed to use which. So I have fresh basil in my fridge that I have no idea what to use it for.

So everything is in the freezer, labelled and ready to use. I typed up and printed little cards with the instructions on how to complete each dish. One card for each meal in the freezer. This way there is no flipping through the book, and no forgetting what we have. Just pull something out, follow the instructions, then throw out the card.

Hopefully we enjoy at least a few of the meals. I am glad I at least tried it. And now my sister wants to borrow the book to try a cycle. Let's hope the book can survive. It's looking pretty used after just one use. Water and sauce stained, one page is covered in crayon; it is pretty dogeared already. Like a good cookbook should be.