Once A Month Cooking

This is my new favorite thing.  A friend introduced it to me, and we jumped on the idea because I very much DISLIKE cooking every night.  Three and a half hours later, we had 12 homemade meals in the freezer.  They were all new recipes, too!  We actually had a really enjoyable time working together in the kitchen, and were super impressed with the Once A Month Cooking book.  It gives you a shopping list, and then step by step directions to make the meals most efficiently.  We only did a 2 week menu plan for our first try, but I'm sure we'll work up to the 4 week plan.  The best part is that I haven't had to cook all week, and we haven't had sandwiches for dinner.  I have thoroughly enjoyed letting go of the nightly battle to figure out what to make and then to work up the will power to make it.  Instead I look at my menu choices (AKA my freezer) the night before and just thaw it out.  YES!

I took a picture at the beginning before we'd made much of a mess.  We kept up with the dishes, though, and it really wasn't hard.  After we were done, we went out to eat as a reward (and so we wouldn't have to spend any more time in the kitchen).