Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) is an easy, cost-effective way to prepare meals, and eliminates the temptation to stop at fast-food restaurants on the way home from an exhausting day. With a little bit of planning, and two days devoted to buying food and cooking, the rest of the month is left to enjoy the time that would otherwise be spent figuring out what to eat and cooking.
Save Time by Cooking Ahead
Take the morning to plan a menu for the month, and create a spreadsheet with the ingredients to be bought. That afternoon, go shopping at the local warehouse store for bulk items, and the grocery store for the rest. The next day will be spent doing the food preparation; after that, all that is left is to defrost the meals and put them in the Crock Pot, oven, or grill when they’re ready to be eaten.
Save Money and Reduce Wasted Food
Perhaps the best money-saving technique of OAMC is that shoppers only buy what is needed, so food will not go to waste; everything is prepared in advance and frozen. Preparing the menu in advance helps shoppers look for coupons and sales, and to shop around. Some stores will match prices if proof of the lower price from another store is provided. Buying in bulk from warehouses is great if the grocers are unable to beat the price of bulk food and ingredients.
Eliminate Excuses for Eating Out
Knowing an entire meal is waiting at home will reduce the impulse to pull into a fast-food drive-thru. Many recipes can be modified slightly to go into the Crock Pot in the morning before work, and all that is left is to put the food onto plates and enjoy. But other recipes take less than an hour in the oven—most of them less than that. Preparing food at home ensures quality of ingredients, provides the power to modify foods for many nutritional situations, and ensures healthy portion sizes are served. Leftovers can be saved and taken to work the next day, which will further eliminate the need for eating out.
Getting started with Once a Month Cooking is simple. Several authoritative books and websites are available, which contain guidelines, recipes, and other tips for maximizing the results of OAMC. After a few months of trying this method, recipes that aren’t specifically for OAMC can be modified.
Once a Month Cooking is a great way to reduce stress by saving time and money, and making healthier, nutritious choices.
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