A new round of cooking only 1 1/2 hrs at the store, 2 hours to assemble!! $125 for 14 meals!

I published my book the other day and decided to do a month of cooking to get us through the holidays.
I went to the grocery store and bought all the stuff for month 4. The cost was less than $125 for 14 meals (actually we ended up with more meals because of the amount of chicken left over).

Above is my menu for the month (this is actually month 4 from my book)

My actual receipt - $124.22 for all the meat and sauce makings for 14 meals! - no coupons used!

Look at how long the receipt is! Yes it took me about an hour and a half to do the shopping.

The grocery list

The other half of the shopping list

Sauteeing the onions

Cutting chicken in to 4 oz pieces

Bags all labeled and ready to fill!

My helper, Jilli! We're holding a #10 can

Inside the can

Bag in a can

Chicken in a bag in the can!

one frozen meal - Cilantro lime steak

This is what my freezer looks like with 14 meals on one shelf. It doesn't take up much room at all

 Now you can see the basics of how this all works! Save yourself some time and money and try my book!!

5 Fast & Easy Freezer Dinners

Just read another freezer cooking blog and it reminded me of some really fast and easy freezer meals that you can throw together to have on hand. You won't need to do much more shopping than normal and there is little to no prep with these.
Most freezer meals don't need any precooking. The only ones in my book that require any precooking is if the meat needs to be cooked before putting in a casserole.
Once a month cooking or Freezer cooking does not need to be hard or super time consuming, if you have a map! Check out my book, which has the exact shopping list for each month, set up by grocery store sections - meat, dairy, canned and dry goods, spices etc. Also, my book has exact step by step instructions for assembling each meal, so you can do it all in the space of a couple of hours!!!

*Balsamic Chicken
*Chicken a la Sheila
*Best Crock Pot Roast Ever
*BBQ shredded pork
*5 Bean Vegetarian chili


Balsamic Chicken
6 chicken breasts or thighs - bone in, skin on
1 bottle Balsamic salad dressing

Place chicken in 1 gallon freezer bag, pour salad dressing over chicken. Seal bag and massage to combine. Freeze.
When ready to use, defrost in the refrigerator over night. Place contents of bag in slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours.
Serve with steamed rice

Chicken a la Sheila
6 chicken breasts or thighs - bone in, skin on
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 package onion soup mix
1 bottle Catalina or French salad dressing

Place chicken in 1 gallon freezer bag. In separate bowl, mix cranberry sauce, onion soup mix and salad dressing; pour over chicken. Seal bag and massage to combine. Freeze.
When ready to use, defrost in the refrigerator over night. Place contents of bag in slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours.
Serve with steamed rice and green beans

Best Crock Pot Roast Ever
2-3 lb chuck or crock pot roast
1 package brown gravy mix
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup butter
4-5 pieces pepperoncini peppers

Place roast in 1 gallon freezer bag. Place all other ingredients in bag. Seal bag and freeze.
When ready to use, defrost in refrigerator over night. Place contents of bag in slow cooker. Add 1-2 cups of water, if desired, but not necessary. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove meat from slow cooker, allow to rest. Pour gravy from slow cooker in to sauce pan. Mix 2 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup water, then add to gravy and cook to thicken.
Serve with mashed potatoes and salad

BBQ shredded pork
3-4 pound pork shoulder roast
1 bottle bbq sauce (your choice of flavor)

Place roast in 1 gallon freezer bag. Pour bbq sauce over roast. If desired, add about 1/4 cup water to bbq bottle and shake, then pour remaining amount over roast. Seal bag and freeze.
When ready to use, defrost in refrigerator over night. Place contents of bag in slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Remove meat from slow cooker, allow to rest then shred and return to slow cooker.
Serve with buns and cole slaw

5 Bean Vegetarian chili
1 16 oz can black beans
1 16 oz can garbanzo (or chick pea) beans
1 16 oz can white beans (or Great Northern)
1 16 oz can kidney beans
1 16 oz can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
2 cans chopped canned tomatoes - with or without green chilis
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp powdered garlic
1 TSBP sugar

Open and rinse each can of bean. Place beans in 1 gallon freezer bag, add tomatoes and seasonings. Seal bag and massage to combine. Freeze.
When ready to use, defrost in the refrigerator over night. Place contents of bag in large sauce pan and cook 20-30 minutes or until hot and ready. Add seasonings as desired.
Serve with corn bread

WOW long time no post! sides ideas!

Well it has been awhile since I have posted or blogged or whatever all this computer stuff is called... Trying to get back up and going now that my book has been published - to buy it go to Amazon.com and search for Cooking the Once a Month Way or for my name - Jamiee Wade. I am happy to autograph your copy or even help you understand how to do the cooking!
So here's a quick once a month cooking tip. This may be a reminder, but could be new information!
Instead of making rice each time you want to cook it - and cooking for 40 minutes each time, cook 3 or 4 times the amount you need and then package in 2 cup increments in sandwich size zipper freezer bags. Add some chicken broth or water to the rice when you freeze, then it won't dry out.
When you are ready to use it, take out of freezer, defrost a little and place in a bowl with a little more water or broth and reheat in the microwave!!!

New Year, New Goal

So I noticed that I haven't published in over a year. My new goal this year is to publish weekly. How can my type of cooking help others, if I never publish any recipes or information??
Wish me luck!
Hamburger is an inexpensive, flexible protein. One of my favorite cooking approaches is to purchase quantity of hamburger when it is on sale and cooking up a bunch of different meals and putting them in the freezer. Yes this may sound boring, but it sure does make my life easier on busy days!
After browning, 1 pound of hamburger is approximately 2 cups of cooked meat. So if you have more than 1 or 2 pounds of hamburger and brown it, just cool and separate it in to 2 cup batches and freeze or add seasonings, like taco seasoning, and then freeze.
You can also freeze the 2 cups of meat with only salt and pepper on it, so you have it available for a casserole or spaghetti sauce.
I like to make up 5 or more pounds of taco meat at a time and freeze it in 2 cup increments, then I can quickly defrost in the microwave and have a fast easy dinner!
One of our favorite, different uses for taco meat is taco potatoes - basically cook potatoes in the microwave, or oven, cut open and top with taco meat, cheese and salsa. Delicious, fast and lower calorie than tacos!

Sides part 2 - side dish casseroles

In my last post, I discussed cooking and freezing 2 of the most popular sides that we eat at our house - pasta and rice. What about side dishes that are more of the casserole type, like sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole etc.
Just like most entrees, you can make these and freeze them before or after cooking. When I take the time to make a side dish like sweet potato casserole, I easily double it and then take half and freeze before cooking. When I defrost, I place the casserole in a casserole dish and cook as I normally would.
The alterations you would need to make to sides to successfully freeze would include not adding anything that should be crunchy, such as a brown sugar topping or the freeze dried onions, before freezing. These will not freeze and defrost well. Add these items after you defrost and begin the cooking.
One very important thing to consider when freezing sides - if you are doing a potato dish, make sure you cook it at least half way before freezing. Fresh potatoes do not freeze well - in fact they turn black if they aren't cooked before freezing. It would be a really bad scene to make something such as scalloped potatoes and freeze before cooking, then defrost and try to prepare, just to be met with black potatoes.

Fancy sides take a lot of time to prepare, so why not prepare multiple batches when making a single batch. It won't take you any more time and often will save you money by buying bigger containers of the ingredients.

Sides

Ever thought about how long it takes to make a side dish? Rice takes 30-40 minutes to cook. Pasta takes about the same time - get the water to boil, then cook for 10-15 minutes, rinse and cool.
If you are like me, often you don't have time to make the rice or pasta, but you want it for dinner. How can you over come this challenge?
One choice is to buy the quick cooking rice or pasta products that are available in the grocery store. Sadly these often have a ton of salt/sodium and are very expensive. Sometimes they are convenient and are necessary for life; however, if you are going to take the time to do Once a month cooking, why not precook rice or pasta to have in the freezer?
Here's how to do it first I will describe rice, then I will do pasta. Make rice as you normally would - 2 cups of liquid to 1 cup of rice. Cook until done, but not over done. Cool quickly to stop the cooking process - you can rinse under cool water or place in the freezer to cool. When sufficiently cool, then put the desired amount in each freezer bag; remove the air, zip the bag up and freeze. When you want to eat, take out of the freezer and heat until hot.

Pasta for the freezer is a little different than rice. You will want to cook the pasta in water that has some oil in it, so that the pasta doesn't stick together. You will also want it to be slightly under done when you are planning on freezing it. So when the pasta is al dente (slightly chewy), remove from heat and rinse under cool water, to stop the cooking process. After cooled, place desired amount in freezer bag; remove the air, zip bag and freeze.
Again, when you want to eat, remove from the freezer and heat until hot.
The heating time shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes in the microwave. If you prefer, heat some butter or oil in a pan and add the frozen or defrosted side and any seasonings. Toss the rice or pasta until coated with the butter or oil and seasonings and heat until desired.

Summer Recipe

I love marinating chicken. Without a marinade, chicken gets so boring. I found this basic recipe in a cool cookbook, but then rewrote it for my needs.
This is a wonderful summer recipe, but also works great during the winter - put it over wild rice during the winter and over salad during the summer.

Asian Chicken Salad

½ cup olive oil
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2-4 TBSP soy sauce
4 tsp dark sesame oil
2 tsp honey
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp salt (sea salt if possible)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Ingredients needed later/Optional ingredients
2 TBSP sesame seeds, toasted
Chopped romaine lettuce, or mixed salad greens
asparagus spears
red bell pepper, chopped
sugar snap peas
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained


In large bowl or pitcher, mix all ingredients, except chicken breasts, until well combined.
Place 1 gallon freezer bag in #10 can
Add chicken and marinade (approximately 2/3 cup per person, add more if there is some left over).
Seal bag and shake to combine. Freeze.

To prepare: Defrost mixture. Remove chicken from marinade, place marinade in large sauce pan and cook until boiling; cool. Cook chicken on the stove or barbecue until done and no longer pink.
If desired, cut chicken up. Place on salad greens, add additional toppings. Use cooked marinade for dressing.