I don’t know about your schedule, but in my house, it’s run, run, run from first light to well into the night. We homeschool moms are just plain busy! And, if we don’t watch it, our family’s nutrition can suffer as a result. Fast food, junk food and processed foods are just easy go to’s. Not only are they void of nutrition, but they hit the pocket book heavy too.

Eons ago I had done Once-a-Month cooking (OAMC) for my family all by myself. As time went on and I had more children, it just got trickier to do it. It wasn’t impossible, just tricky. And, honestly it fell by the way-side. I began to do more Mega cooking instead, which is cooking more than one of a particular meal and then freezing the extras for later.

Recently, getting in on the couponing craze, I had a major wakeup call after my best couponing week EVER. I had gotten close to $300 worth of “food” for a little over $50. As I stocked my freezer and pantry with the goods, the realization sank in that even though I had bought a lot of “food”, there really wasn’t much nourishment. It was a very sad moment but, I’m glad I realized the slippery slope I was approaching. Sure, the “food” was cheap, but we’d all pay for it in the long run with our health!!!

Please don’t think I’m knocking couponing. It has its’ place and it’s up to each family to decide how much or what is consumed. As for us, we still use coupons on things that are healthier or on toiletries. And, I know some couponers are able to get healthier foods with overages and such — but for me, it just didn’t happen that way.

In order to have healthier meals without the temptation to get fast food or eat junk after a crazy day, I knew I had to go back to freezer meals. A few hours of prep plus an all-day assembly session seemed like a good choice. When my homeschool friend asked me to join her, it was a no-brainer!

And to accommodate or crazy schedules, we performed our OAMC over 3 days. Gathering approximately 25 recipes that we know freeze well, both from experience and from a variety of Once a Month Cooking Cookbooks, we make a master shopping list. Then we take one day to shop, one day to prep (cook and debone chicken, chop veggies, make cream soups, brown meats) and one day to get together and assemble.

So for about $175 each we were able to make enough meals for the month to feed our families of 5 and 6 respectively.

Consider this option for your family, find a friend, and cook away!