THE MENU:
Turkey Tetrazzini (2)
Moroccan Stew (2)
Tortellini Chicken Cacciatore (3)
Chicken Divan Soup (2)
Spanish Chicken and Olives (3)
Lemon Chicken (3)
Chicken Potato Pie (2)
Spinach Pie (4)
Swiss Steak (2)
Spaghetti and Meatballs (2)
TOTAL: 25 meals!
Impressive, I know. I'll say before I start my big, long diatribe...totally worth it! I recommend this to anyone!!!
So for those of you who are curious to know how I got started, well let me tell you. I've been pondering this once-a-month cooking thing since January because I need more time and I hate that I spend lots of time preparing meals but at the same time, I can't live with the thought of sacrificing healthy dinners. This whole process does have a "start up fee". If you want to do this you MUST buy an extra freezer. Unless you don't have a single thing in the one in your kitchen it's not going to work without it! I bought a small, 15 cubic feet chest that's down in the basement that cost around $150. Then I spent about $75 on various cookware. For those of you who had a well endowed wedding registry or already have a fully stocked kitchen, you probably don't need too much. But I bought a couple extra cutting boards to cut down on washing them, two 5-quart skillets with covers which I have to say was a savior, I used them all day!! I also bought a couple extra sets of measuring cups and spoons which were definitely needed otherwise you're washing them every 5 seconds! My big food shopping day was Thursday night after the boys were in bed and I spent $155. Again, for those of you who've been cooking in the same kitchen for awhile you probably already have a whole array of spices. Sadly, when we moved I had to leave all mine behind so buying 6 or 7 spices adds up at $4.99 a pop!
Anyways, 12 hours (with a one hour break), 2 pounds of beef, 2 pounds of turkey, 9 pounds of chicken, 5 dirty dish towels, and lots of dirty dishes later, I made 21 meals on Sunday!! I didn't get to the Swiss Steak or Spaghetti and Meatballs but I cooked them today along with a baked ziti and sundried tomato and parmesan bread which I froze too! So technically I now have 26 meals frozen. You'd think we would have eaten one of those meals tonight but we didn't. We're going to try the Lemon Chicken tomorrow...so then we'll really see how well this all works out!
The experience: I woke up at the normal 7am time on Sunday and immediately thought, OH S#@T! Daylight's savings time, it's 8 o'clock! I had hoped to be cooking by 8am but nope, just getting up with two boys STILL sleeping. Bad omen? Maybe I should have given up right then but I motored on. Quick breakfast and in the kitchen. Couldn't get much done until daddy got out the door with the boys at 8:45am. Yes, my children can be dressed, fed, and in a car in 45 mins and that's the truth! Daddy took them on an ALL morning adventure to Chuck E Cheese....more on that later :)
By 1:30pm, I only had 3 recipes made and I was thinking uh oh, this is next to impossible. Now for anyone who's ever seen me crack an egg to use in cooking, you know that I'm anal retentive about getting out every last little white stringy gross thing so you can imagine how long it took me to trim all that freakin' meat! All the nasty fat and bloody parts has to come off even if I take good chicken with it!! I will say, it was beyond thrilling when I finally put my first one in the freezer, the Turkey Tetrazzini. There was a loud "YES!" complete with arm pump and all. So there was some encouragement there. The Turkey Tetrazzini and the Moroccan Stew also were NOT recipes from the OAM cookbook so that may be why they took a little longer too. They were the first two recipes I made.
Now the books say, "Oh do this and this and then make a cup of coffee, sit down, and relax". Ummm...are you kidding me? No, don't kid yourself, if you want to get this stuff made, there's no break taking. I ate my lunch standing up as I was cooking and I only sat down ONCE all day to eat a quick dinner - take out, of course, at least I followed that advice! It was definitely a crazy day. Exhaustion doesn't even begin to describe how I felt at 8:45pm when I finally finished. My whole body ached, my hands were raw and sore from the 8 million dishes I washed, which by the way, easily takes up at least an hour of the whole day, just washing dishes and counter space in between the cooking!! Again, I guess if you aren't as psyscho as I am about kitchen and food safety then maybe you won't need to immediately wash cutting boards, knifes, other cooking utensils, counters, or your hands after they touch raw meat but I HAVE to.
It's GREAT to know that I have all those meals just waiting for me in the freezer. Almost so I good I don't want to use them, I just want to keep them in there forever, but I guess that misses the point! Ahhh...once a Jackson pack-rat, always a Jackson pack-rat at least I resist the urge the most in the family!!
Here's a picture of my Moroccan Stew sitting in an ice bath. They recommend this to cool the food faster and it does cool it much faster than the refrigerator would, believe me. This is a must-do if you ever try this.
Also, it is a MUST if you have children, for them NOT to be in the house most of the day. Daddy did an exceptional job keeping them at bay. Like I said they arrived at Chuck E for the 9am opening, the first ones there! And they stayed to eat lunch, only arriving home for naps at 1pm. Ben was so completely wiped out from his 3 1/2 hour play time at Chuck E that he slept for 3 straight hours no prob! Cal was a little messed up from daylight's savings time so his nap wasn't so great, if at all. Then the boys got to go to the library in the afternoon and back home for a bath and dinner.So that's that! Again, I definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a time-saving solution to prepping meals!! The hardest part was getting the stuff into the freezer bags, sometimes very messy. It might be fun to do with a friend but I found that would make it harder for me. More mess, you'd need a lot of space, and you'd have to agree on the cooking menu. But you'd have someone to talk to all day and you wouldn't have to chop up 3 bags of onions all on your own like I did!! It's also a money saver. If you don't count all the start up stuff like the cost of the freezer and cookware and just go on food alone...I spent about $6 per meal and that's to feed a 4-person family!! Not bad!
2 comments:
Have you thought about a slow-cooker. I hear they are great. Put all the ingredients in the slow-cooker and then bam you have dinner!! We would buy one but we don't have enough room.
Have you thought about a slow-cooker. I hear they are great. Put all the ingredients in the slow-cooker and then bam you have dinner!! We would buy one but we don't have enough room.
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