Once a Month Cooking

I love Once a month cooking. I have done it on my on off and on for several years. But now I am doing it with a group of friends and it makes it so much easier and fun!!!

Last month was our first "swap" and I loved the food. There is a group of about 6 of us and we set up a yahoo group to keep track of everything. Each person picks 2 recipes to cook on their own and freeze. We make 6 of each and then we get together and swap. Tomorrow night is the night for the swap this month. I just got done making Chicken Fajitas and Meatballs. I am so excited I will come home with 12 different meals tomorrow. Our goal is to get to about 20 meals each month so we need a few more participants. If you live close and are interested let me know. Or if you are interested in setting up your own group I can help.

An easy way to get started yourself is to simply start doubling your recipes when you cook. For example if you are making meatloaf one night just make two of them and freeze the other one. If you do this several times in one week you will soon have an extra stash. I am doing this this week as chicken and ground beef were on sale. I stocked up and now will cook up a bunch of ground beef to have on hand for spaghetti, tacos and such. Anything to help save time and money!

Here are some of our favorite sites for recipes and ideas:

http://www.once-a-month-cookingworld.com/

http://30daygourmet.com/

http://snider.mardox.com/plans.htm

My meatballs. I freeze them individually on cookie sheets first and then put into ziplock bags that way they don't freeze in a mush.

Chicken Fajitas

Red peppers are extremely expensive but I was able to add them because of the produce co-op I participate in actually had 5 in our baskets last week. Those by them selves would be $10.00 but the basket of fruit and vegetables is only $15.00 If you live in the valley and would like to particpate in this check out this site: www.bountifulbaskets.org