Once A Week Cooking Logistics

Cover of Binder

Week 1 Shelf: Empty/Week 2 Shelf: Full

Another way I aim toward being a good steward of what God has given is cooking and freezing meals for feeding my family of five.  Back in September, I decided to begin preparing freezer meals.  I shop on Thursday and cook on Friday as the kids do their school work at the island in the kitchen.  I have three weeks worth of recipes which means on the fourth week I get a Friday off.  It also means that we never have the same meal more than once a month.  Plus, no meal has ever been frozen longer than a couple of weeks at most.  That way your hard work doesn't end up freezer burned.  I make eight meals a week.  That is a dinner each night and a lunch Sunday after church.  However, since some nights we eat at church or at someone else's house, we rarely eat all eight meals.  Having meals leftover in the freezer is how I am able to take the fourth week off.

Timing:
I date everything and keep different weeks on different shelves in my freezer.  I keep a list of meals on the outside of the freezer door and mark them off as they are removed.  This is helpful in saving energy and the freezer's effort by my not standing with the door open looking for which meal to cook that night.  Some meals don't need to thaw at all or will thaw in a few hours.  Some meal need to be thawed overnight.  Therefore, I try to make the decision about the next dinner the night before, just in case.

Leftover Mac and Cheese

Perks:
I prepare more food than we need to feed our family of five for that meal.  Instead of putting leftovers in one large container, I put them in small individual serving containers.  This way we can just pick what we want for lunch the next day.  I always have food in the freezer for those occasions in which I need to share a meal with a friend or family who have lost a loved one.  I also have plenty of food ready for those impromptu invitations for lunch after church or dinner with a friend (as the Lord leads).  The meals are all fairly healthy.  I have made adjustments recently to my recipes as I have needed to remove all sugar and white flour from our meals.   We have a member of the family who needed this, so we all made the switch.  Everyone in the family has their favorites, and their not so favorites, but it all seems to work out.

Shopping:
I have a binder in which I keep three folders, one for each week.  That week's recipes are in each folder along with a shopping list.  I keep those printed out.  On shopping day, I get a list and mark off the items I have at home.  I have arranged the shopping list according to like items (pantry, canned, fridge, freezer, etc.), so this does not take too long.  This arrangement also helps save time at the grocery store as most stores are arranged in much the same way.  Some meals may need a side dish.  I have included these items in my shopping list for those weeks.  They usually consist of canned or frozen vegetables.  I also purchase some standard breakfast items for the kids and toiletries, as needed.  That is all I have to shop for since lunch is already included in the leftovers from dinner.

Cooking:
On cooking day I get out that week's recipe folder.  I usually separate recipes into poultry and red meat recipes.  I cook all the chicken and begin to assemble those meals.  I then cook all the red meat and assemble those meals.  All meals get put either in a gallon sized zip top bag or an aluminum pan with a lid (I purchase these at my "big box warehouse club").   A few meals, about one a week, do not require cooking the meat first.  These are slow-cooker meals and the meat gets cooked on the day of the meal.  So, I just make sure to remove this meat before cooking the rest.  Also, I set aside any milk products (sour cream, cream cheese, evaporated milk, etc.) and add them the day of the meal.  I have learned from experience that these do not freeze and reheat well, but I use them a lot in our favorite recipes.  Therefore, I have just adjusted my recipes accordingly.

Time-Saver:
I was skeptical at first that I could save time, but this method really is a time saver.  I used to spend about an hour to make dinner.  I thought it would take an hour to make a meal regardless of whether that time was each night or in one day.  But this turned out to be not true.  As I cook, I am reusing utensils, pans, bowls, etc. I am not waiting more than once for pans to heat up.  I am not pulling out the knives and cutting boards more than once.  I even reuse boiling water to cook pasta.  All combined I spend an average of 30 minutes to make a meal.

Our Brass Piggy Bank

Money:
We have saved a fair amount of money since I began cooking this way.  The meals are mid-range in price.  Not the cheapest, not the most expensive though, either.  I spend only a little less than I used to at the grocery store.  The biggest savings come because we rarely have that issue of being hungry and weighing the decision of going home to eat or eating out.  In fact, in the last five months of doing this, we have paid for a meal eating out only about 8 times.  That is less than twice a month!  That is a vast improvement on our twice a week habit of eating out prior to starting this.  And since our kids are as big as adults, it costs us an easy $60 to eat at a sit-down restaurant with tip or $30 at a fast food place.  That is a huge savings for us!

Here is a link to all the documents I use in my book.  Print or share as you desire.  I know this method of cooking is not for everyone.  I am blessed to be a stay at home mom, which make this a whole lot more convenient.  This is just one more way that God has empowered me to be a good steward of the time, money, resources, health, and skills He has given me.  I give Him all the glory for that!