I have done this kind of the same way you have. About a month ago I made double recipes of chili, spaghetti w/o noodles and goulash w/o noodles. I don't do this enough. It is sooo nice to not have to cook every night or when you come in late and are trying to find a quick meal w/o going out you have one ready to eat.
I'd love to make enough spaghetti sauce, soups & cooked meat all frozen into portions for 4ppl for 2wks to a month but my dad is opposed to it and as soon as I made it and froze it, he'd be thawing it for dinner the next day until its all gone. I don't think he understands the concept of me making our own hm frozen dinners lol. I mean we'd only have to make pasta, rice or salad to go with the frozen item!
To those of you who are able to do this - I'm envious.
I was into this for a short time. Well not true OAMC but more like mini sessions.
I made soups, pasta dishes, twice baked potatoes, and muffins. It was a lot of work but it did pay off. I loved seeing the freezer filled and just being able to grab and go.
I always keep telling myself that I need to get back to this, but never do.
We freeze 3/4 cooked boiled potatoes here. We leave them on a dish on the counter to thaw out then either continue boiling them for either boiled taters or mashed taters. No problems if you're doing it this way.
I freeze for breakfast alot. Waffles, muffins, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches. My DH hates "frozen" food so I tend not to do dinner type stuff. But it saves a ton of time in the morning.
I freeze soups, spaghetti sauce, chili, muffins. I usually try to have one week out of every month be spontaneous, to use up leftovers etc. so I work on a three week plan.
Palooka-very interesting. We do mashed potatoes. smooshed flat in a gallon bag. you can break off chunk,defrost and add butter.
I did oamc modified. Lately,not. The key for me was a list of what meals I had and a menu plan. Frying up about 10# of ground beef is good. I make nachos,chili,soup w/ a handful of hamb. thrown in.
This is a really great idea!! I dont know if I could be organized enough to do it all at once. Then I dont have freezer space to store it. It would be great though!!
I'm thinking of trying some of the oamc recipes when I got back to work in a couple of weeks. I work three 12 hr shifts a month, so having something to pull out of the freezer would really help my husband prepare dinner on my work days!
These are the things we do in huge batches and freeze:
meatloaf (we do 20 meatloaves at one time)
pizza - I par bake the crusts, add toppings, the put in 2 gallon zip lock bags. We bought a bunch of pizza pans at the Dollar Store, specifically for this purpose)
I DO pretty much cook AT LEAST a double batch of most anything and then put the extra in the fridge or freezer for later use. That way I always have quick and easy home cooked food when I don't have the time or aren't in the mood to cook. It is very little extra work, but the rewards are priceless!
Doing OAMC has always been a goal or mini goal at least, but have never gotten fully into the swing of it - have done it here or there, but never with the zest and enthusiasm and planning that I think it requires.
Perhaps it would be helpful if some would post some of their recipes or processes that they use. Freezer size is also a consideration.
Glad that you brought this us jas, I'm going to see how I can adjust his to our lives - even if it's for a two week period.
I would love to do OAMC, but would need to do smaller batches for just DH and me. Freezer space is a concern here, too! I know tater tot casserole will freeze well unbaked and so will tuna noodle casserole if you undercook the noodles. My grandmother freezes entire bags of spaghetti, including the noodles, and I assume she undercooks hers, too, because it always defrosts well.
Here is one resource I have read through a lot that may give some ideas:
I have a way that I cook chicken with salsa, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder that might freeze well, and it's very versatile -- I've used it on top of salads, in quesadillas, enchiladas, open faced tacos, would probably also be good on baked potatoes, so maybe I could give that a try.
ETA: sunshine, how long do you "par-bake" the pizza crusts? I would really like to try this! I have also heard you can freeze pizza dough in bags and thaw when needed. Anyone know anything about this?
I do all kinds of stuff.. just depends on the mood.
>frozen pbj rounds (store them each in a sandwich bag and then in an ice buckey)
>frozen single serving deserts
>jello cups (24 at a time these go in fridge)
>pulled pork and divide in bags and put all in one big bag (freeze)
>sloppy joe (freeeze)
>turkey stuffing in smaller bags and then in a big bag to pull out and put on plate (freezer)
>Ham > re-portion and freeze
>personal pizzas - pitas all made like pizza and frozen separately and then when frozen layered with a piece of wax paper in between in a ice cream bucket
> potatoe skins- bake potatoes- scoop out and cut skins in half-lay on sheet pan and freeze- when frozen-I rebag about 24 in each and put inside an icecream tub
these are just some of the things i do..
I am going to look into the seal a meals and saw somewhere you can boil in the bag. that would be a quick for spagetti and homemade spagettios..
I make the pizza dough -- pat it out to the size we want. . . and bake for about 10 minutes. . . just so the top is starting to brown. . . take out, add topping and freeze. . . then take the frozen pizza and bake. . .
We are slowly cleaning out the freezer and I am going to start planning for cooking for more than one meal - son't think I'll get to the real OAMC yet, but I want to build up to it!! Will let you know what I decide to make and how it goes!!
About 12 yrs ago, I took a short course offered by the local community about 'cooking once a month', I bought that receipe book from & by that instructor. Very interesting, I tried out that OAMC, a lot of menu planning, then prepare a shopping list, then use a good part of a day to do shopping, & the next day to cook from scratch (chopping, dicing, etc). The freezer needed to be cleaned out or at least 90% of it. Need containers/bags for freezer.
The most important part is how to cool down the cooked food quick enough & freeze immediately to minimize chance of spoilt/contaminated food.
I had trouble with the last part, my kitchen counter top & fridge space was all used up, the fridge temp was higher because of all the 'just cooked' food. Lots of pots & pans to clean, labeling containers & such. I did that OAMC one time, couldn't bring myself to do it again. I remembered I was so tired & so sick of looking at the food I cooked, that we went out to eat.
But I like the receipes in that cookbook, because it mentioned where to stop & freeze, then defrost & finish cooking & adding some final touches before serving.
I do a lot of 'triple the portion & freeze 2 portions' kind of cooking.
Just bookmarked this site! I can't thank you enough for posting it, it looks amazing and I think it will save my life since I am going back to work after my maternity leave next week. I work 12 hr shifts and don't get home until almost 8 pm, so my husband will really appreciate having meals that he just has to pop in the oven!
Prolly in 3 weeks I am gonna try this...if it works out I may do this for the rest of my life. I love cooking and don't mind cooking all day but after work.whew I am beat!
I tend to buy lots of a product, and make meals from it OAMC style. Last time i started with chicken and made
chicken soup
Buffalo Chicken Dip
pasta/chicken/broccoli/cheese sauce chicken meal
hunter stew
It works similarly with beef...
When I try to do too much at a time I get discouraged, but 2-3 hours doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice for meals when I need them.
I haven't tried this yet but I want to. Not sure I want to do all the dishes afterwards...lol...but the end result of having a freezer full of pre-cooked meals sounds very appealing!
And that's the beauty of it! I loved to pull out my hm healthy muffins from the freezer for breakfast and my Italian low fat soup for lunch. Yep, it was a lot of work but it really paid off.
I need to start slowly back into it.
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