What is Once a Month Cooking?
Once-a-month Cooking (OAM) is an approach to preparing 28-35 meals for freezing and eating over the course of a month. In the words of Daniel Smeltzer, it is "an approach to cooking various meals through a strategically planned prep and freezing/labeling process."
How Does It Work?
OAM cooking is not a series of casseroles night after night. It is not frozen dinner after frozen dinner. Each entree is prepared only enough for freezing. It is baked, grilled, toasted, boiled, scrambled or roasted fresh on eating day. Convinced you should give this a try? What could you do with those 26 extra hours in your month? Maybe that's the extra day you been wishing for - when time stops and you can catch up!
What Are the Perks?
This method allows you to buy in bulk which usually saves money. It reduces your kitchen time by 2/3 over the course of a month (see below). It reduces the daily mess of cooking a meal as so much of the "dirty work" is done ahead. And it reduces the last minute, "let's go out" again solution as you simply pull a meal out of the freezer in the morning and come home to put the finishing touches on it.