Once-a-month cooking is something that has me intrigued, but I haven’t yet delved into it. Yet. Have you tried it? I guess I’ve just always loved the excuse that cooking gives me. Can’t sweep… busy cooking. Can’t dust… busy cooking. Can’t {fill in the blank}… busy cooking.
While cooking and baking do rank high on my “favorites” list, I have other responsibilities. And challenges. And a photo album to make for my baby because she keeps asking “When you making my book, Mom?” Oh, the guilt!
I can’t spend lots of time in the kitchen every day.
Tricia to the rescue! To celebrate the 1st Anniversary of Once a Month Mom, she’s holding a Once a Month Mom Cook-Off, complete with prizes… and you know how I love my prizes! I figure this is the perfect time to jump in and reap the benefits of doing much of my cooking for the month all in a day (or two).
Want to join me? Tricia will have more info posted soon, but here’s what I know about the Cook-Off rules:
Once A Month Mom Cook-Off Rules
1. You have until Monday, March 8th to complete the criteria for this contest.
2. You must complete all or part of the FEBRUARY 2010 Once A Month Mom Menu.
3. You must write about your experience either on your blog as a post OR by sending an email to info @ onceamonthmom.com. If you write a blog post you MUST link up to the post in the linky that will be posted on February 1st at onceamonthmom.com. Email submissions may be used as guest posts at onceamonthmom.com or amysfinerthings.com. Your write up needs to contain the following:
- A summary of your experience.
- A report on your spending – needs to include total amount spent and # of meals made. (You can use the published February 2010 OAMM Grocery List – available February 1st – to make that easier or adapt based on your cooking plan.)
- If sending an email – a 2-3 sentence biography about yourself.
- If sending an email – attach any pictures that you have from the day.
- (Pending: Submit a picture of the X recipe)
Helpful Links:
Something I learned when I was chatting with Tricia earlier this week is that you look at the menu and grocery list (she provides recipes, grocery list, everything!) throughout February to purchase ingredients as they are on sale. Then the actual cooking is done in March. Brilliant!
Planning ahead, saving on the grocery budget, reducing time in the kitchen… sounds like a Finer Thing to me!
Be sure to watch for details over at Once a Month Mom, and do let me know if you’ll be joining us. I’d love to have a few cooking partners!
What Finer Things are you celebrating this week? Link up and let us know. Remember to link to your post and not your homepage; also, leave a link back here so others can join the fun.
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I don’t do Once a Month cooking exactly, but I do often make 3 or 4 meals at the same time (like buying chicken breasts in bulk and putting them in ziploc bags with different marinades) and freezing them. Also, I double recipes a lot and freeze the extra batch. I love having meals ready to be thawed and cooked in my freezer!
That’s my norm, too. Thought it might be fun to delve in a little further, and free up more time for other projects.
Sounds like fun. I wasn’t able to do my usual big batch of cooking and our grocery bill shows it.
Do it with us Micha! We can have a twitter party of sorts while we’re cooking.
Hello!
It’s my first time to join Finer Things Friday but I plan to be back.
I’ve been “admiring” you through twitter and the blogosphere but finally took the step to say hello.
Although my blog is small, I will be at Blissdom b/c I just couldn’t pass up such a fun opportunity! I hope to greet you in person next week. God Bless!
So glad you stopped to say hi! PLEASE, if you see me next week, shout out. I don’t want to miss anybody!
I do freezer cooking, but I usually can’t do it on a schedule (I’m always the rebel!)
The challenge sounds like fun though!
This might be the motivation/small-step approach I’ve been looking for to get myself into OAMC. My mom did it when we were growing up, and I love the idea of not having to think about what’s for dinner. I’ll have to follow along and try to keep up!
You’ll do great, Ashley! I’m a newbie too, but I think it will be fun.
while I have never cooked for once a month I have shopped once a month and planned a monthly menu for a long time
I hae been doing her menus since September of last year and love it. I don’t think I will ever stop now
You are going to be sore and tired on your cooking day but it will be well worth it.
I can’t wait to give it a try!
Oooh, I’m totally going to do this. We’ve done OAMC once (and a few other mini time) and I LOVE it.
Yay! Let’s try to do it on the same day and have a OAMC twitter conversation throughout.
Sounds like a great challenge. If we were not about to pack up and drive back to TX for an extended stay with family, for February, I would join in.
I am looking forward to your outcome.
Enjoy your time in Texas! Maybe you can join in another month.
I do bulk cooking approximately 4 times a year, and make enough meals to last for 3 months (5 meals per week, so 60-ish meals at a time). It is a lot of work, but so worth it! When I was younger, I used to be able to accomplish it all in a couple of days, but now it takes me a little longer (that might be a product of kids, rather than age, now that I think of it…). I will totally check out her website, because I am always on the hunt for new recipes!
That is amazing! I’m not quite ready to plan that far ahead.
I love Tricia over at OAMM! I’m excited for this contest, despite the fact that I’m still learning the art of cooking! I’ve tried OAMC a few times, and can’t wait to try Feb’s menu!
I do lots of OAMC. I do enjoy Tricia’s website as well. I was just wanting to clarify – do we have to use the February menu or may we make our own menu? I rather enjoy making my own.
I’m pretty sure for the contest Tricia would like for all of use to use at least part of her menu, but she understands that most people will need to adapt some of it.
What a neat challenge!
I think this sounds like a ton of fun! I need to get some extra meals in the freezer anyway to get prepared for our upcoming addition.
I’ve done Tricia’s Sept 2009 menu. It was great but I need to scale down for a family of 2 adults and 2 young kids. I still had beef stew for a few months! Not that I’m complaining, it was great to find more food and less cooking for me. I’m also signing up for Life As Moms Freezer Cooking Day in early February. I didn’t know about OAM mom’s so I’ll check it out too!
PS Thanks for visiting my blog. That was way too cool to see your comment there!