Many dedicated mothers often dont find time to cook healthy and tasty dishes after a tiring day, even if they struggle to make a few for their family. However, a few of the wiser moms invented the idea of once a month cooking which is also known as freezer cooking. This helps them during those evenings when they have very little time and energy to dedicate.
The main idea of once a month cooking is to cook your family dishes in a day or two and then store it so that your family can relish the dishes for a month or so. It would be a good idea to extend the cooking process to 2-3 days which will ease the burden of cooking variety dishes unlike cooking it all in a single day. Those women who have given once a month cooking a try were very happy to find that this not only gave them something good and homely to eat but also saved a lot of money in the long run.
Many of us would instantly look for an alternate in the fast food or junk food meal section and then later feel guilty about eating unhealthy food and also spending a lot on outside foods. This generally happens when they are too tired after a long and stressful day or have an ingredient or two out of stock and are not in a position to quickly go to the nearest grocer shop to find new ones. The idea of buying food from outside will ultimately eat most of your money which could have been used wisely for a weekend vacation.
Nevertheless, once a month cooking needs its own planning and here are a few things that should be taken care of when opting for this idea.
1. Plan well ahead. Make a list of dishes you wish to prepare and calculate how long the process of cooking would take. Block your dates and prepare yourself well in advance not to club any other activity on the marked dates.
2. Make other arrangements like postponing other insignificant tasks to another day, keeping your children occupied with a babysitter. You can also request your partner or spouse to help you with the cooking cutting, chopping, slicing, dicing, or peeling for the whole day.
3. Prepare a menu for the once a month cooking day. Make a list of all those dishes you wish to prepare and also enlist the ingredients and the quantity needed for your cooking. Preparing a menu that has dishes depending on the season can help you save a lot of money and time.
4. Shopping for the ingredients and other stuffs should be done a few days beforehand so that just incase you miss on some product you can get it from the grocer or replace the dish with another one in the menu.
5. Check a day or two in advance for the supplies, dishes and containers that will help you complete your process on time. Choose recipes that are not too sophisticated and the ones that can is durable even after storing it in a freezer. You can even choose those recipes that give an output double the effort and ingredients you put in.
6. Set your mind for the once a month cooking process. A clean and orderly kitchen can give you a mental boost to start your cooking session. Keep the folding card tables ready for they provide a good surface to gather the cooked dishes. Try to make the optimum use of all the kitchen appliances. Dont overload one or two of the appliance.
Even though once a month cooking can be too demanding but with all the tips given above should make your dishes comfortably.