I’m fairly new to once a month cooking, having started this past summer while I was on maternity leave with my now-8-month-old daughter. I heard a friend mention Once a Month Meals, and was DELIGHTED when I came to the site and saw all the awesome resources, including a gluten free dairy free menu. At the suggestion of my doctor, I was giving gluten free dairy free a try to see if and/or how it affected my rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have much of an impact, but the silver lining is that not only did I find Once a Month Meals, but my husband and I loved all the recipes we tried so much that we were instantly hooked on freezer cooking! (I think the Flank Steak with Lime Marinade from the June 2011 Gluten Free Dairy Free menu might have had something to do with that–yum!)
Although I didn’t continue a gluten free dairy free diet, I did continue once a month cooking, modifying many of the traditional and whole foods recipes to lighter versions to help me lose the baby weight (and then some). Now that I’m back in the swing of working full-time and taking care of a baby, we rely on those freezer meals more than ever. We only have a side-by-side refrigerator freezer, so I’m yet to make an entire menu’s worth of meals, but I’ve found that I can fit a LOT of OAMM meals in there, if I stick to things that fit in freezer bags (and can be smooshed), as opposed to those in foil baking pans or more-rigid containers. Check out my video to see how I tackle my big cooking day!
http://youtu.be/wghG2yOlHtU