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Meet Ellisa

Meet OAMM member Ellisa. She tried our free mini menu and was hooked! She loves combining the Whole Foods, Paleo, and GFDF to provide her family with wholesome meals.

How long have you been once a month cooking? How did you discover OAMM?

I’ve been doing once a month cooking since April of this year.  I discovered OAMM online when searching for ways to organize once a month cooking.  I was trying to help a friend who is a very busy single mom and doesn’t really like to cook, BUT eating out of a box or the drive thru was catching up with her health.  I figured we could hold each other accountable this way.  I knew it would simplify my family life as well.

What circumstance pushed you to give once a month cooking a try? How has choosing to OAMC benefited you and your family?

Working outside of the home, having a commute longer than an hour a day, and trying to find time to exercise and better my health is what drove me to try once a month cooking.  I was involved in a run clinic twice a week, and I was running around the house (no pun intended) those evenings trying to give out instructions for dinner to my mom, my 15 year old, and my husband.  OAMM has made this process soooooo much easier!  My family pulls the meal out of the fridge and heats it up per instructions left for them!  I don’t feel pulled in a million directions!

What is your favorite OAMM resource?

I don’t have a favorite recipe just YET, but I LOVE that I can pick from some great menu sources like Paleo, Whole Foods, Gluten Free/Dairy Free.  This is how I WANT to feed my family, and the recipes come from a few blogs I’ve searched before…OAMM keeps them all in one place!

Give us a brief introduction to your kitchen.

At the time of this interview, I’ve only done the mini menu you can try before committing and one big cooking day.  My kitchen is small to medium. I have quite a bit of counter space, an island, and kitchen table nearby.  Having the dishes cleaned and counters and island cleared was very helpful! I think the next big cooking day, I’ll have measuring spoons and cups, mixing bowls, extra ingredients and such set out ahead of time. AND I would like to find a different way to store meals other than zip bags. We’re trying to move from plastic, but storage with glass or metal containers take up a lot of freezer space. I’ll find a way.
It does take up a little more space, but check out our tips on freezing in glass containers!

What is the number one tip that you would give to a first timer?

Start small and build up.  Start with cooking 1-2 weeks worth of meals first.  Learn what to do better and what not to do.  Build your endurance.  Then you won’t feel like a failure if you only get half your menu done.
As Ellisa mentioned, you can start out with a free mini-menu of your choosing to give freezer cooking a try. Just sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page. 

Tell us about a time when you experienced an OAMC or cooking fail.

Even though this is my first month, I had a fail!  I picked this recipe for blueberry streusel cups. It required a lot of eggs, oatmeal, blueberries, etc.  The point was to put the mix in a coffee mug and microwave for breakfast. Thought I would try it out before I stored and froze it.  It was awful! It was so egg-y, and I knew my kids wouldn’t eat it. I wouldn’t eat it. I had to quickly improvise. The ingredients had a Paleo base to them, so I added some extra ingredients and kept testing my progress. Finally, I got something that tasted good enough for us. Instead of storing the batter, I baked it up in 2 9×13 pans, cut those up into single servings, and froze those. They turned out to be a big hit with my family! So glad I tested it out because it was a LOT of batter that would have been wasted.

Do you involve other people when you OAMC?

Our family does everything together.  There are some great tips OAMC has sent me about involving a friend/spouse, getting a sitter for the kids, etc. But I realize this is not realistic always. So I tried to involve all 4 of my kids (15, 13, 3, and 1 year old), my mom who lives with us, and my husband.  The teenagers and my mom manage the little ones, but sometimes they need mom’s attention. So they come in and help me for a little bit, then go back to play. My husband is just supportive verbally. And my mom complimented me on being innovative as a mom by preparing these meals.  That meant a lot to me. If I had a friend doing this with me, it probably would make it fun! My friend I had in mind when I started hasn’t quite jumped on board, YET!

How is OAMC hard? How does it make your life easy?

The only thing I have found hard about OAMC is completing the full months worth of meals in one day.  I did not fully prepare all of our meals. I have 2 or 3 left from my menu, but I did end up with about 2-3 weeks worth of meals! I felt accomplished either way! The only hard part about dinner now is deciding which meal we want to move from the freezer to the fridge for dinner the next day!