iso oamc tips

**Sara Noel** · 10-18-2002, 08:55 PM

I am always looking for oamc tips. Looking for some strategies because soon the little baby will be here and I am going to really need to organize meals a bit better.

Any suggestions, session plans, etc welcome.

Sara

**MJsLady** · 10-18-2002, 08:58 PM

Well I have not done this yet, I need a freezer first.
BUT my advice would be to do it with a friend. Share the work and the product!

It would be fun and not as tiring, as I recall being PG is plenty tiring on its own! Although I may be wrong its been a little while....

**mustang80** · 10-18-2002, 09:10 PM

Lasagna is a great OAMC item! I made one up for the freezer last year when I was due with DD (Nov.). It really came in handy, especially after a c-section.

**bmiltimore** · 10-18-2002, 09:28 PM

I do OAMC but I do certain meats at once. Like several types of ground beef items, chicken items, etc. That way I can do a few small cooking days but it fills up the freezer quickly.

Check out www.30daygourmet.com for more great tips!

**SewCrafty** · 10-26-2002, 06:54 PM

Thank you for the great website Betsy!

I have always hated having to stop what I'm doing in the middle of the day to start dinner. Now I hope to start next weekend, a 2 day marathon, and put enough dinners in the freezer so I can enjoy the holidays without having to stop and think about "What's for dinner" every night.

**sixfreds** · 10-26-2002, 07:18 PM

this is what I do and is easier for me I make double or triplet of a dishe, eat one that day and freeze the others..

I have wanted to try cooking all the meals in a day but I htink I would be just too tired at the end..

But the freezer does fillup fast is you just make what you usually make and make double or even triplet..

Good Luck getting some meals made befoer the baby comes...
Eileen

**dozymom** · 10-30-2002, 04:20 PM

Because of my exhaustion problems I can no longer do big sessions for OAMC so I've learnt to break it into mini sessions. I do several of those per pay day (dh gets paid every 2 weeks)

I'll try and list some helpful stuff here that I've used over the years.

First consider doing one "meat" at a time, whether chicken or beans or dairy (eggs and cheese dishes)

I divide my beef plans into:
Spaghetti sauce stuff which starts with the sauce and turns into Lasagna, pizza and more

Regular crumbles (I boil ground beef and freeze in 2 to 2-1/2 cup amounts, I'll explain later) Each pack equals a lb of browned ground beef and can be used as such in any recipe calling for that.

and
Meatloaf/Meatball/Meatpatty mixture. Mix up 10 or 15 lbs of lean gr. beef or turkey and freeze raw patties in bulk, freeze the amount for each meatloaf in it's own ziplock bag (flat for easier and safer freezing and thawing) then use a cookie scoop to make dozens of meatballs which you oven bake, and tray freeze then bag later.

Chicken is made with
Breast meat which is cooked and turned into things with sauces to be served over rice such as Curry or Sweet and Sour

and
Leg and thigh, back attached (super cheap) which I either marinade and freeze in a bag OR I oven frybake it crispy eat one, then tray freeze the leftovers and reheat in BBQ sauce or Pineabpple sweet adn sour.

I don't like Pork, but I will buy and freeze chops which I thaw and either bake or fry plain or put sauces on top (sauces can be frozen ahead)./

Fish I do fresh except for tuna melts.

OAMC isn't always about doing a bunch of casseroles but in my place it's also about planning meals ahead, then picking out a nice meal and not having to do a lot of prep even if it's just pulling a tray of chops out to thaw or mixing up tuna melt mixture with frozen grated cheddar cheese (which I freeze in 2 cup portions).

**dozymom** · 10-30-2002, 04:27 PM

One of the ways I handle a "meat plan" is to gather a bunch of my freezer friendly recipes and pick out a few to make.

Here are some great sources for recipes:
30 day gourmet, which has newsletters, free recipes and a discussion area where new recipes are batted around. I think it is the best source http://www.30daygourmet.com/

OAMC 101 is an excellent short course on traditional OAMC methods at http://www.mindspring.com/~debv/OAMC_101.htm

and Friendly Freezer: http://snider.mardox.com/index.html where you will find everything organized by meat plan

I am extremely fond of the book Frozen Assets by Deb Taylor Hough but even better is the 30 Day Gourmet manual. If you can get either or both from the library, it isn't just the recipes, it's the methods, the tips that are so good, and in the case of the 30 DG, the helpful charts.

And finally http://organizedhome.com/freezercook/index.shtml where Organized Home has a few good recipes and lots of good tips.

**dozymom** · 10-30-2002, 04:41 PM

Every payday I menu plan. This helps me see what I have ready to use in the freezer, what I'm low on, what's on sale this week.

SO maybe I'm low on chicken, and they are cheap this week.

I plan a chicken plan (which incidently when I get the car on Friday, I am doing. Coopers store has a super sale on legs and thighs so I'm going to do a freezer marinade session plus an oven crispy fried chicken session).

I use a lasagne for the ground beef night, or maybe meatballs in sauce --They are in the freezer from previous OAMC sessions.

There was a special on ham last week, so I bought one to cook, part to eat fresh, part for a few recipes for the freezer. One the night I cook it, or the day after I will process it into several other ham recipes for the freezer for later.

I want to make a cheese and sweet onion and garlic pizza one night, and I'm getting low on my frozen grated cheddar plus I am 3/4 of the way thru the 5 lb block that I buy cheddar in at
Costco

sooooo
I will buy a new block of cheese on Friday and I will haul out my food processor, and chop the rest of the old cheese and freeze it in 2 cup portions (my mac and cheese, my pizza recipe and cheese biscuits all call for 2 cups). I froze 5 lbs of cheese in a big bag once. VERY BIG MISTAKE! (chipping off frozen cheese is not a fun task)

UMMMMM PLEASE TAKE NOTE: I HATE fiddling with my food pro so I find using the chop blade to chop into little cheese crumbs is just as efficient as grating and way way faster!

The leftovers of the pizza will get frozen if they last that long, for quick snack food around here.

I kind of combine whatever I'm cooking with several more meals for the freezer.

Its not really make one and freeze 4, although it is, because I make one, then make 2 to 4 DIFFERNT things out of it or I make a GIGANTIC batch of one thing that can be turned into differetn stuff.

eg the meatballs. Pre cooked ready to go. Last time I did them I made 12 dozen of them which is about 5 or 6 meals. (I also did 10 dozen raw burgers and 2 or 3 meatloaf mixtures at that time).

The meatballs will come in several different forms. BBQ, sweet and sour, stroganoff, stew to name a few.

**dozymom** · 10-30-2002, 04:53 PM

Boiling Ground Beef. I know it sounds AWFUL but it's the only way I do it now, here is why, then I'll explain the HOW

Why?
Cheaper! I can take the most gosh awful fatty cheap hamburger and turn it into extra lean. or leaner.

Healthier! I get rid of WAY more fat than browning then rinsing in boiling water which is how I used to do it.

EASIER! than getting all splattered with browning fat spattering up at me.

Quicker than browning, quicker clean ups too!

OK the million dollar Question????? Does it taste the same????

YUP!!!!!

NO WAY YOU SAY??? HOW CAN IT TASTE THE SAME????

Because I don't use a lot of water to boil it.

I put a couple of inches max on the bottom of my big stock pot, then dump in 5 to 7 lbs of ground beef, stir well and bring to boil, then stir to keep it broken up, and to keep from sticking on the bottom (I stir about 3 or 4 times total).

Simmer till the pink is gone.

Strain. I pour it into a steel colandar over my other soup pot, to catch the wonderful concentrated beef broth which I use in ANY RECIPE calling for canned beef broth. It will jelly up in my fridge, the fat will rise to the top and get peeled off.

BTW for the soap makers this is good beef tallow so if you want soap fat, here you go. I don't make soap YET so I throw it out, but I'm planning on starting so I will be freezing this fresh sweet smelling fat in the freezer for later soap sessions.

Cool the crumbles quickly by laying them out on a cookie sheet and either putting a fan to blow on them for 5 minutes or stick them in a cold porch.

1 lb EQUALs 2 to 2-1/2 cups of crumbles and fits perfectly in a no name ziplock sandwich bag.

I freeze them flat on a cookie sheet, and they freeze and thaw fast that way. They don't take a lot of room in the freezer and are ready for about 9 or 10 recipes I have that call for a lb of ground, browned.

**dozymom** · 10-30-2002, 04:57 PM

About those no name zip lock sandwich baggies:

They hold 2 to 2-1/2 cups of:

grated cheese

ground beef crumbles or ground anything-- pork, ham, turkey etc etc

cooked ready to use beans (which will save a lot of last minute chefs if you have your cheap dried beans ready cooked and drained in such handy dandy little baggies all premeasured too!!!)

and if you worry about freezer burn, then double bag in a grocery bag once frozen. I've not had any problem but I use it up fast and I have a chest freezer of the manual defrost type which doesn't burn food as fast.

**QuilterMom** · 02-05-2003, 12:11 PM

**Ellise** · 02-05-2003, 06:57 PM

I do about the same as Dozymom, except that we also do pork roast, boil, ,cool then pull for BBQ sandwiches, Marinated pork chops, quick & easy for grilling or baking somethimes I even pre-bake,flash freeze, bag and toss in the freezer. Flash freezing keeps things from sticking together. I'm doing a bread session this weekend, doing fruited muffins, tortilla,pitas,Cheddar Crackers,Cowbot bread,Grill dough,lavosh which is great with soup,Roomali Roti it's from Inda and is also a flat bread, Biscuits,and Protein Bars. May even try a few desserts for the family like chocolate cobbler, apple Dumplings, creampuffs etc...Also you can freeze Eggs!! make sure you crak them in a bowl and break them up a little, great to use when baking muffins and the like. I also do Hamburger Steaks, all you do is kinda firmly slam the fresh meat into the shape you want (i usually do meatloaf shape) broil, flash freeze,bag, freezer, I add a pkg of whatever sauce I plan on using taped to the outer bag. really comes in handy. Again You can do the chicken the same way,just fix the recipes you guys like and freeze. Of course you can't freeze everything, lots of veggies don't freeze well unless par-boiledI've had trouble with, Lettuce,tomatoes,asparagus,artichoke pretty much if it contains a lot of water It won't look or taste so great after the freezer.

**learning** · 02-05-2003, 09:39 PM

Dozy, Great advice! and Ellise, wow! Again great advice.

Those links are great!

**doodlebug** · 04-22-2003, 08:49 PM

I'd like to begin OAMC, but I have a question. Do all of you have a chest freezer or do you use your refrigerator freezer? Is this something that I can do if I don't have a chest freezer???
Thanks!