If you are a Bargain Briana Facebook Fan, you may have been following along to my cooking day. I decided to take a stab at the Once a Month Mom September Menu all by myself. After this long day, I know why Tricia recommends finding a cooking partner!
I shopped.
Prepped the night before by cooking the meat….
Chopped the veggies…
Shopped my pantry and set out all my pantry items…
Followed Once a Month Mom’s detailed instructions. Well, I tried too anyway. I highly suggest crossing off the items as you go or you will get to the end and wonder why the instructions have you cook the penne pasta so soon before using it. I actually skipped around 4 recipes somehow and ended up doing them at the very end. It all worked out but had me really confused!
My work station was ready to go.
I started the morning off with the Apple Baked Oatmeal, which are very tasty! It was a quick and easy way to start off the day!
As you know, I don’t eat meat anymore but the rest of my family does. So this meant I had to make a few variations or leave the meat out to be added later.
Something new I’m trying is the Morningstar Crumbles. I’m kind of grossed out by the items that are suppose to resemble meat but aren’t meat but thought I would try these as a substitute for the ground beef/sausage in a few recipes.
Below is the Pizza Soup (meatless variety), which I froze in a few individual containers.
I set aside a few cups of the Down Home spaghetti sauce before I added the meat and meatballs.
The pizza croissant are going to be a huge hit! Though, I highly recommend reheating these in the oven and not the microwave. Otherwise, they are a little mushy from the oven.
The meatless variety I deleted the pepperoni and added spinach instead.
These are quick and easy to make and is a easy way to make use of all those Pillsbury refrigerated bread deals we find!
The Baked Pasta Eggplant is going to be a new favorite too! The meatless variety just omitted the sausage.
I now have a freezer full of meals!
I made all the meals plus a few extra (not pictured) except the California Sushi Rolls. I decided no one in the household would be eating them especially if they had crab meat. There are a few meals I’m concerned that the entire family might not like. However, it isn’t going to hurt them to try something new.
We started Sunday off with the Down Home Lasagna. My oldest son has some freakish aversion to red sauce so he wasn’t too hip on it but the two little ones were almost surprised themselves that they actually liked it. I didn’t make a meatless variety of the Down Home Lasagna. Though, if I did, I would have used Eggplant or spinach instead of the meat. This meant it actually made two meals for the family instead of one meal. One meal down, many more to go!
I didn’t track my hours but I would guess I spent 2 full days shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning. This is probably why a partner is recommended. Already I have the satisfaction of having meals in the freezer and discovered a few new favorite recipes already – my son loves the breakfast burritos! My husband did complain that most of the meals take too long to cook so we will have to still do some pre-planning of our meals.
I will let you know at the end of the month if it was worth it.
Stay tuned for more follow up!
My sister Karrie told me to check out this post. I am going to be having a baby and soon and I think this would be awesome. No cooking for a month!? Are you kidding me? I would love this. Now to see if I can get enough energy to spend a whole day in the kitchen while 8 months pregnant……
I have been wanting to try this forever! I love how organized you were with the prep. You make it look easy. I am curious as to how it worked out for you and if when all is said and done you think it was worth it. I have a sister that is going to be having a baby in about 6 weeks and something like this would be so helpful for her. She is going to love this post! ps- ummm.. your freezer is beautiful! Just looking at your pictures makes me want to clean mine. Thanks Briana!
I’ve been doing something similiar to OAMM meals for years except instead of a month, I do two weeks. But I saw the OAMM link on your site the other day so I’ve considering trying it the first chance I have to cook for a full day. Thanks for writing up how this is working for you.
I have been eating no meat, just salmon or cod, since 10th grade now. I have moved from relying solely on meat substitutes to sticking to whole grains and veggies. I tried to eat vegan for about 3 years but that was difficult. Now we buy organic dairy products. I do like the crumbles by Morningstar every now and then but we have been using TVP and seasoning it. Here is one thing we use if for:
http://longwaitforisabella.blogspot.com/2010/09/vegetarian-tacos.html
I just wanted to let you know about a yummy fake pepperoni that you can buy. It is called Lighlife Smart Deli Pepperoni. It is beyond wonderful. I am able to buy it in the produce area of my grocery store with the rest of the tofu and organic products.
I have been a vegetarian for 20 years now and this is probably one of my favorite fake meat products. I put in on pizza, eat in from the package and put it in pasta salads.
1 gram fat for 13 slices (a serving)
9 grams protein per serving
2 grams of carbs per serving
50 calories per serving
So as you can see you can eat it with no worries!!
Thanks for taking the time to write and take pictures of this experiment. Definitely something I will have to look into further, esp when I go back to work (fingers crossed). Please keep us updated to how it’s going.
Nice work, gotta try the baked past eggplant! I stole your peaches idea, I have quite a few bags stored now, so thanks. Also wanted to say that zuchinni makes a nice meat substitute in red sauce. Peppers too which also freeze very nice, just chopped or sliced.
My sister and I want to try something similar next week…thanks for sharing!
Wow that is amazing!! I wish I had your energy; and your freeer is so neat and organized! wow!!
Well, that’s really only because the controls went out last month and I had to toss almost everything! :(
I do get in my moods where I have alot of energy but days like today…I’m very unproductive! :) Nice to have a freezer full of dinners, though!