Once a Month Cooking – a good idea?

OK – I’ve finally cracked.
I’m going to have a go at Once a Month Cooking.

You will, no doubt, have come across at least some of the web-sites, books and foodie-blogs dedicated to the idea of once a month cooking – spend a day (or two) cooking and stock up your freezer with a WHOLE MONTH of meals.

I’ve never been convinced that this is for me – I mean, when do you ever have a whole day to give to this? Not to mention the day before, planning and buying all the food you need for your cooking marathon.

But on the other hand, the thought of all those meals sitting in the freezer waiting to be eaten has always been very tempting…

So when I suddenly realised that I had a whole Monday on my own at home, I thought I’ld finally give it a go.

Menu Planning for a Month

You might think that this would take ages, but in the end it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I’ve planned 6 evening meals a week – and as a guide tried to include

  • one vegetarian
  • some sort of fish dish
  • one meal good for using up leftovers eg pasta sauce / pizza etc.

Here then is a months menu planning!
(This is just what we eat – I’m not making claims to a balanced (or any other sort of) diet)

Four Week Menu Plan

Day WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4
Monday Chicken Satay Tuna, tomato and mascarpone pasta bake* Chicken Tikka* Chicken in Ginger and Lime*
Tuesday Chicken Tikka* Chicken in Ginger and Lime* Creamy pasta with Roast vegetables* Sausages with pasta and roast tomato and mascarpone sauce*
Wednesday Pork Schnitzels* with chilli tomato sauce Chicken stirfry with spring onion and oyster sauce* Roast pepper and Goats cheese tarts* Thai green chicken curry with rice*
Thursday Smoked Mackerel with warm potato salad Pork schnitzels* Lamb kebabs* with feta, salad and pitta breads Salmon with orange & watercress sauce, new potatoes and veg
Friday Four Cheese Pizza* Turkish Peppers and Eggs + cheesy flatbreads Trout with stirfry veg* in ginger and orange Piadinas
Saturday
Sunday Lamb kebabs* with Greek Pasta Salad Roast tomato and feta tart* Ham, Spring Onion and Cheese quiche* Cod in Roast tomato sauce*

To make this work I ‘only’ have to:

  • Prepare lamb kebabs (x2)
  • Make and parbake 4 pizza bases
  • Cook 1.6 liters of Roast tomato and red pepper sauce
  • Make enough marinade for 4 meals of chicken in ginger and lime (the cooked chicken in brilliant in stirfrys, currys etc so I usually plan to have leftovers)
  • Beat, flour, egg and herby-breadcrumb enough pork chops for 2 meals
  • Marinade 2 lots of chicken tikka
  • Chop bacon and veg for double quantities of Creamy pasta with roast veg
  • Chop enough variety of things to make up bags of stirfry veg (not sure how these will work as they might get too soggy when they’re defrosted, but I’ll let you know)
  • Make and bake blind 2 pastry cases
  • Wrap and freeze everything – clearly labelled!

Phew!

But that should mean that a large part of the preparation is done for 19 meals (starred).

I’ll let you know how I get on with the cooking later in the week.

Have a good week!

As usual I’m linking up to Mrs M’s Meal Planning Monday where you can find lots of other ideas.

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