It felt so good to be back doing once a month cooking again! It has been nearly 6 months folks. And if you have just started with us while you are pregnant, let me tell you that cooking a month’s worth of meals is SO MUCH better when you aren’t pregnant.
Wow, I couldn’t believe the difference. Of course I was still tired at the end of the day but not nearly as tired as I was after 5 minutes when I was pregnant. That and I actually had to stop myself from eating the food all day long opposed to being sickened by the smells. All in all, it was a glorious day! And now my freezer is full again! There were a few other changes in store for me this month other than not being pregnant.
First, I acquired a new cooking partner in my aunt. She had been toying around with the idea of doing this for her college age/young adult children but wasn’t sure if it would be worth it. I was out to prove to her it was. She also has a HUGE kitchen! Especially when you compare it to my kitchen (more on that later). [Side Note: She will be super happy to see that I didn’t include the one vlog we took, I just didn’t like it, sorry folks. I always have these great intentions of vlogging my cooking days but get so busy and just want to get done that I forget. Oops. Maybe next month! 🙂 ] At one point my uncle brought us lunch and he commented that I looked like I was having a good time. I was having a grand time just dancing around that kitchen cooking up a storm and not worrying about stepping on my cooking partner.
Okay, enough about the big kitchen. On to the food, that’s what you really want to hear about, right? Really, it all went pretty much like clock work. She was person B doing the baking and was making delicious breakfast items and Beef Empanadas. I was over at the stove cooking up a storm. I was also cooking up my fair share of mistakes. I told you cooking days aren’t without their adventures.
After I had made Sue Sue’s Casserole and found that it made 6 dishes instead of 4 I realized that I had used all the pasta in that dish instead of saving some for the Tuna Noodle Casserole. Oops! Good thing there was some pasta in the pantry; I definitely had to make more. So the Sue Sue’s Casserole won’t exactly be as creamy as it is suppose to be, but oh well. And our grand total for our 60 meals? $171.90! I suppose it helped that I found beef on manager’s special and that chicken was only $1.68/lb. That makes each entree approximately $2.87 and that feeds a family of 4. Just add a few sides and you have a very inexpensive meal. That is a record for me, I’ve never spent that little on our cooking day food materials. I was so impressed with myself. Especially, since I bought some higher cost cooking pans (more details on this later) that were included in the overall price.
If you look at my grocery list you will notice that the items highlighted in yellow are items that I already had on hand, or that my cooking partner did. I didn’t add a cost in for these because the way I figure they have been added into other months’ totals. And I put the total cost of an item bought that month even if we don’t use all of it. For example, if we use only 2 lbs of a 5 lb bag of flour, I don’t divide and put the cost for only 2 lbs. I figure the entire amount because I had to buy it. That may mean that my costs are higher every other month that I have to buy some supplies. But that is how I like to figure my costs. I am so glad to have gotten back into cooking again. I hope you are too.