Once a Month Meals Member Robin gave our free Mini Menu a try and now she is hooked on freezer cooking! Her membership makes searching for kosher recipes super easy.
How long have you been once a month cooking? How did you discover OAMM?
I discovered OAMM about two months ago while Googling for recipes. I was tired of my same old recipes and had absolutely no inspiration to cook anymore. I found cooking every night time consuming. Even when I had basic ingredients on hand, I still had to search for recipes, check reviews, prep and cook – every night. I was bored and tired of it.
What circumstance pushed you to give once a month cooking a try?
I thought the OAMM idea was good in theory: it would be really nice to have the meals already made, so I could just thaw, cook, and serve. However, I did not want to spend any money if the recipes were not good, or if they did not fit my family’s needs, or if they had too many hard-to-find ingredients. I saw the “live chat” option and asked a ton of questions. The staff’s responses were extremely helpful. I was directed to the free Mini Menu to try. It took me two weeks to get my act together to cook that Mini Menu, but once I did, I never looked back!
How has choosing to OAMC benefited you and your family?
We eat really different, really yummy meals, and I do not have to cook every night! I am way less stressed. I go to the store much less often. I spend way less money. I guarantee that my yearly membership already paid for itself, and it’s only the second month. It also has meant that my kitchen stays so much cleaner during the week. Plus, I get to use all my fancy kitchen tools because cleaning them once when I’m prepping/cooking is a lot easier than dragging them out to use every night. Also, because I am a math/science tutor in the afternoon. I cook dinner in the oven or the crockpot, leaving my kitchen table/counter is completely clean where I tutor. And this means dinner is ready the second my students leave the house. It has really been fantastic! I feel so much freer!
What is your favorite OAMM recipe?
So far we have all been big fans of the One Pot Italian Chicken. Amazingly delicious! Truthfully, at least 3 of the 4 of us have absolutely loved all of the dishes we have made. And if there is one who isn’t in love with it, they just simply likes it well enough. That’s amazingly rare for our family! Not a single recipe we’ve tried so far has anyone not liked at all (not so with my previous attempts at internet recipes – even ones with good reviews!)
Give us a brief introduction to your kitchen.
I keep a kosher kitchen. Typically we eat meat dinners, so Paleo recipes work well for us in that regard. We simply substitute all pork Paleo recipes for chicken, and that has worked out totally fine. MenuBuilder allows me to search for “kosher” tags in recipes. I have a really nice Cuisinart food processor and George Foreman grill, but other than that, nothing fancy.
Our kitchen is fairly large but has multiple uses. The large kitchen island is also our kitchen table. This is where I prep, cook, eat, and tutor (just not all at the same time!)
Robin’s family in the kitchen, getting ready to eat some freezer meals.
What is the number one tip that you would give to a first timer?
Just try it. You cannot imagine how much of a time and money saver this system is, particularly for families who eat in often, who have special dietary needs, or who are just tired of deciding what to eat every night.
Tell us about a time when you experienced an OAMC or cooking fail.
I made the biggest mistake the very first time I gave the Mini Menu a try and not only shopped, but prepped and cooked all in the same day. I was utterly exhausted. But, for the next two weeks where I thawed, cooked, and served, and did not have to make a single decision about “what’s for dinner?” I was ecstatic! I learned when I signed up for a membership that it is far better to shop, prep and cook on different days. Live and learn!
So, the second time I made a Mini Menu, it was a breeze. When I went to the store to pick up items for school lunches and such during the week, I grabbed items on my list for the menus. On Friday afternoon, I prepped everything, which took no time at all (maybe 30 minutes?) On Saturday night I cooked. I was done in 2 hours flat (including cleaning dishes and putting everything away), and I had a really fun time doing it. It was MUCH easier to divide up the tasks, but still it can totally be done all at once – just not recommended!
Do you involve other people when you OAMC?
I actually don’t involve anyone else. It’s just easier for me to get it all done myself. I may recruit the kids to clean up the dishes next time, but we’ll see! They clean up after dinner every night, and my husband cleans up on the weekend, so it seems only fair for me to do it “once a month”!
How is OAMC hard? How does it make your life easy?
OAMC is NOT hard. I thought it would be, which is why I put off cooking the free mini menu for two weeks after I printed it out. However, it is WAY easier than cooking every night. I have been editing a menu for big month’s worth of dinners but have not made it yet. With my membership, I remove all the breakfast and lunch foods from the menus and swap in more dinner options. However, I find the Mini Menus much less daunting, easier to shop for, and very quickly made, so I’ve been making those every 2 weeks or so. I’ve done an entire mini menu of sides, so I don’t have to think about side dishes either. But truthfully, the main meals are so delicious, quick sides for us have often just been steamed veggies or some homemade soup or salad.
To try a free mini menu of your choice like Robin, sign up at the bottom of this page.
1 Comment
Join the discussionHi Robin! So glad you have found something so helpful in combinging family and work! Your enthusiasm is infectious too 🙂 Yes, you’re right, when doing a lot of prep it’s more likely one pulls out their kitchen gadgets to play with them and prep a lot than to pull out the food processor just for one night’s meal. I too was daunted by cooking large quantities at first and had the same experience of family turning up their noses at recipes from cookbooks, the internet, etc. but a general consensus with liking OAMM recipes. I ended up simplifying the menus by deleting a recipe or two here and there to whittle down the cooking to something more doable as I have three young children (including a baby). I love baking the breakfast muffin recipes by prepping on a separate day and freezing in mini muffin silicon trays to bake on serving day. My pro membership paid for itself very quickly too, and is even less expensive than the basic membership because I can shop the sales easily. I also cook special meals as a vegetarian, and like you I just sub in a (veggie) ingredient on some traditional recipes. Nice to meet you, Robyn, and lots of success to you!!