Lesson 1- What is OAMC? How do I “feed the freezer”? What is a batch and why would I want to cook one?

•  What is OAMC? OAMC is the acronym for once a month cooking. OAMC is a cooking plan where one long day of cooking replaces the nightly chore of making dinner. The term is used loosely as many people do not cook for a full month on one day but still call their system OAMC.

•  The term batch cooking or bulk cooking is used by some to indicate a large cooking project when a month of cooking is not being done. For example some people do baking days, making the dough and/ or baking cookies, breads, rolls, pizza dough and other items. No matter how many baked goods you make, they will not feed your family (dinner) for a month so this session might be referred to as a bulk cooking session. Some people refer to freezer cooking as “feeding the freezer”.

• Make-A-Mix is a term borrowed from the series of Make-A-Mix cookbooks by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward and Madeline Westover who have authored 6 cookbooks. The Make-A-Mix books instruct you to create a mix which can be stored for later use and the meals can be created with that mix at a later date. Bisquick is an example of a mix that is pre-made and used at a later time for convenience. Of course, Bisquick is made by a manufacturer but many equivalent mix recipes are available for you to make at a lower cost. The Make-A-Mix books also offer meat mixes that can make getting dinner on the table faster. Some people also refer to these as "Master Mixes".

 There are a number of different approaches to freezer cooking; I’ll list a few here:  

1. Cook 25 different recipes and have 20 different meals frozen (some are side dishes). I am not a fan of this method because I don't get the time savings that I can get with other methods. However, the variety in this method is the greatest. You will find this method in the Once a Month Cookbook by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Langerborg.

2.  Prepare Master Mixes and then complete a minimal amount of cooking on the night you serve the dish. You will find this method in the Make-A-Mix and More Make-A-Mix cookbooks by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward & Madeline Westover.

3.  Cook large batches of a few recipes resulting in many meals in the freezer but not a lot of variety. This is my favorite method. I find that it doesn't take me very much longer to make 6 batches of spaghetti sauce than it takes to make ONE batch of spaghetti sauce. By making marinara sauce, lasagna, mashed potatoes, casseroles and other things in batches of 6 I can REALLY stock up the freezer in a short period of time. Batch cooking is also a great way to shop at warehouse clubs and make sure that you use all of the groceries you purchased before they go bad if you have a small family. For example, my family of three would never be able to consume a #10 can of mushrooms before it goes bad but if I make white sauce with mushrooms and marinara sauce with mushrooms I can use the entire can of mushrooms save money and not have any waste. Bulk cooking also allows you to stock up on an item on sale and then plan a meal around it and freeze several batches of the meal for a great money savings. If top sirloin is on sale and I buy 3 pounds of it and we eat two dinners, we have saved money. However, if I buy 20 pounds of top sirloin and make Crock Pot Swiss Steak with it we can eat 14 meals with the sale meat and save MORE money. Of course, we will want to space out these meals over a period of several months so we don't get tired of a certain meal. Bulk cooking is an especially good way to take advantage of meat that is on sale.

4.  Cooking week is another method that I have used with great success. I will plan on the first day, shop on the second day and then on day 3-7 I cook a large batch (6) of one recipe each day. At the end of the week I have 6 batches of the 5 meals= 30 meals in the freezer. This is a great method to use for dishes that require marinara sauce or white sauce as a base. The first day you make your base sauce and then on the subsequent days you assemble each dish that uses the sauce. For example marinara sauce is cooked on day one and some is bagged for veal parmesan, spaghetti and pizza, day two make lasagna, day three manicotti, day four cannelloni and at the end you will have 6 batches of each of the 6 meals or 26 meals with only four days of cooking.

5.  Never make a single meal. This is a very easy way for beginner's to get started and to experiment. If you are unsure if a recipe will freeze, simply make a double batch- eat one that night for dinner and then freeze the second. Leave it in the freezer for at least two weeks, AFTER you heat it and eat it then see if you think it makes an OK freezer meal. There are some meals that do not lend themselves to freezer cooking and you will not want to double or triple them; however when you are making a meal that will freeze well ALWAYS make a double, triple or quadruple batch and freeze the extras. You will cut down on your cooking time and always have a full freezer.

6.  Precook meat in meal size batches. Having browned ground beef, cooked chicken and cubed ham ready in the freezer allows you to toss together a quick meal at a moments notice.

7.  Combine the methods listed above and supplement them by grilling, crock pot cooking, soup or stew night, chain cooking and others. How to approach once a month cooking is also an important decision.

The way you cook needs to fit in with your family,  your schedule and your lifestyle. There are many people who enjoy the convenience of bulk cooking but don't have the time or energy to invest in a true once a month session.  

No matter what system you choose the first step will be choosing recipes. You will want to choose recipes that your family is familiar with and likes. Nothing will discourage you faster than spending an entire day cooking only to find that your family won't eat any of the meals you have prepared!!

 Other terms

 "Flash freezing" is freezing things quickly and individually. This is accomplished by laying items on a cookie sheet in a single layer, freezing until solid and then after the items are frozen they can be placed into another container.  This method is used for items that you do not want to stick together.

 MC or Mastercook is a recipe management program.

 TVP or TSP is a soy meat replacement product. It tastes good and is very cheap to use if you can find a good source.

 Assignment:

Your task for today is to go through your recipes and pick out your family favorites and gather them all in preparation for your cooking session.