Once a Month Batch Cooking - an experiment

OK, so I admit it.  I hate my schedule.  I know, I'm a total wuss...I'm a teacher for God's sake, not a stockbroker or something super time consuming like that but still.  All this work and cooking and taking care of kids and all that is really putting a crimp in my "me" time.  Time I would rather spend at Tae Kwon Do or or watching Netflix or getting killed in Uno by my kids or...staring at the wall.  Whatever.  So, my sister in law inspired me to try this once a month cooking thing. The only trick is that we are a family of allergics so I thought it would be hard to find a resources to help me plan it all.  Cause, using my own recipes and putting together a shopping list and all that seemed too daunting to me.  Enter onceamonthmom.com!  She has special diet menus, including gluten/dairy free, paleo, vegetarian, and traditional.  Who knew!  I downloaded January's menu and decided to give it a try.  I planned ahead and got my meat ordered from paidom.com, ordered some necessities from Amazon (gluten free Bisquick and a food processor), and sent my husband to the store with a big ol' list.  The upshot was, I messed up on the meat delivery and ended up with a whole bunch of produce that had to be used this weekend and my meat won't be here til next weekend.  So, I went to Kroger and got what I need and I'll use my farm stuff next month.  After 1 hour, this was my Facebook status: "Only on recipe number 2 and already had to take a break for a small kitchen fire...this does not bode well...On the bright side, our smoke detectors work!"  By 3 hours in, this was literally my Facebook status: "I hate cooking. What was I thinking. My kitchen is my enemy."  After 6 hours, this is what I  had to say "
6 hours in the kitchen, 22 meals prepared, 2 pans of applesauce cake on the table, 2 meals in the garbage, 1 small kitchen fire, and a lot of cleanup later...now that I'm sitting down I think it will be worth it :)".  Kind of says it all.  Overall, I recommend onceamonthmom.com for the following reasons:  Her lists are very thorough, the recipes are uncomplicated, there is a plan for every diet, the labels are a really nice feature, and the Google docs convert to Excel.  Some things I will bear in mind next time are:  Check the quantities before I get started - the conversions from 1 serving to 4 seemed a little off but I'm not known for my measuring and her measurements are very precise- I'm chalking this up to my fault, buy the stinking foil pans and use them, use my own baked goods recipes - I haven't messed them up yet...yet, and chop extra onions!  Here are some photos of my day.

My newly arrived Kitchenaid food processor got a major workout today - better it than me!

My husband suggested this for the "onion eye" problem...he must really love me because...well....wow...

This photo represents foreshadowing.  My applesauce cake is not one to be held by mere containers...

And, here it is!  One small kitchen fire during recipe number 2 may have put a damper on my enthusiasm, not to mention my confidence...

The recipe said "pour batter in greased containers"- who knew 4 wouldn't be enough?  I really need more adult supervision.

Thank you to our Roomba, Micky.  He's always good for batting cleanup.  If only I could have turned him loose in the oven.

Mess cleaned up and back in action - here's an early view of some completed recipes.

Oh the irony.  With all that cooking going on, my kids get cold sandwiches for lunch...

Enjoying their bribe..er...game.  It's not safe in the kitchen, boys!

And a lot of recycling was generated on this day.

The labels are a nice feature of the onceamonthmom site.  They include detailed instructions - which goes a long way toward hopefully preventing future fires...

The cooked goods cooling before bagging.

And, after 6 hours I have 22 meals ready to go.  2 went in the garbage because I didn't follow directions (again with the adult supervision thing), and the applesauce cake ended up being too crumbly to package (entirely possibly I forgot to add something because I was afraid of the whole overflowing bowl thing) And, I skipped out on making 3 of the recipes because...well...because my on task threshold had been exceeded and I was tired...Obviously.

Here's how I'll look coming home from school when I remember that I don't have to cook dinner!  Yay!

Check out  http://onceamonthmom.com/ for yourself!