The idea behind once-a-month cooking (OAMC) is to spend a set amount of time cooking, be it a day or two, but cooking and freezing enough meals to last through the whole month. Some people, especially beginners, feel intimidated by the process so start out with once a week cooking instead of monthly.

Some benefits are using less time and energy…it takes longer to make three chicken meals one at a time, than to make them at the same time. Another benefit to having meals on hand is not relying on processed food when you are pressed for time.

I don’t take credit for the following tips, I’ve had them saved on my computer for a while and the original author is unknown to me. It’s a great tutorial for anyone who wants to get started with OAMC or OAWC.  

STEP ONE: Choose 20 recipes.
This will last a family of 4 about 4 weeks, (allowing for leftovers, eat-out nights, scratch cooking nights, baked potato nights, etc.) Try to have a balance of casseroles, soups, stews, pasta, meats,
ethnic foods and so on.

STEP TWO: Make up a master grocery list.
Make sure you list EVERY SINGLE ITEM you will need. Include products like aluminum foil, freezer bags and scouring pads. Don’t forget simple things like flour, salt and sugar. (You don’t want to run out of something on cooking day!) Once you have your list, check off the items you will need to purchase.

STEP THREE: Start a notebook of your very own recipes.
Either copy the recipe or rewrite it on a 8×11 sheet (one recipe per page). On cooking day, you will be taping these up around your kitchen, so you don’t want to have to hassle with cookbooks or recipe
cards. Organize them to your liking in a 3-ring notebook. After a few months, you’ll have a nice notebook full of once a week cooking recipes that WORK!!!

STEP FOUR: Read through each recipe and break it down into simple steps.
On a sheet, list the recipe names in columns. Write the steps underneath. Do it in an order that makes sense to you. Then take similar steps from ALL the recipes and do them together.

Example: To make spaghetti sauce and lasagna
chop onion (x cups or x pounds of onions)
grate cheese (x cups or ounces)
chop peppers
chop veggies
mince garlic
combine cheeses
brown meat and drain
make layers
add tomatoes
wrap pan and freeze
simmer
bag and freeze

On cooking day, do similar tasks together, i.e. all the chopping, sauteeing, peeling, boiling. Put soups and stews which will cook for a long time on early to simmer. Then put the casseroles together;
wrap carefully and put in the bottom of a chest freezer or on the bottom of shelves. (They take up more room and also take longer to freeze).

STEP FIVE: Label your items!
Put a “sharpie” indelible marker on your shopping list if you don’t have one. Ink pen is not legible and regular markers run. Include any preparation instructions on a piece of paper slipped inside the
double bag. Be sure to write down the number of servings! (You will not remember!)

STEP SIX: On cooking day, start as early as you can and dress to work.
Wear comfortable, supportive shoes. Have a change of aprons ready and lots of clean towels. Clear off your countertops and clutter so that you have maximum workspace. Tape up the recipes where you can see them in plastic page protectors. You will be amazed at how quickly things go together if you’ve done steps ahead of time (the chopping, browning, etc.)

STEP SEVEN: Evaluate how your OAMC session went.
Make notes on your recipes if you want to make any changes the next time. Clean up your kitchen so that you don’t have to face that mess tomorrow!

STEP EIGHT: Don’t cook dinner on your big day!
Order in a pizza or go out to eat. If you are short on funds, save your crockpot for your evening meal so that you don’t have to fix another dish. You will be TIRED, but it will be worth it.

Also, be sure to check out these posts:
Free Printable Coupons
Free Money Saving Tips
Coupons & Freebies

Here’s a few more recipes for homemade cleaners you can make yourself. Invest in a few spray bottles and make them before you need them. That way you always have them on hand for cleaning jobs.

OVEN CLEANER
2 Tbsp. dish washing liquid
2 Tbsp. borax
1/4 c. ammonia
1 1/2 c. warm water

Mix together, apply to oven spills and allow to sit 20-30 minutes. Scrub with an abrasive nylon-backed sponge and rinse well.

GENERAL-PURPOSE CLEANER
1 tsp. borax
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vinegar
1/4 tsp. dish washing liquid
2 c. hot water

Combine all ingredients. For a more pleasant smell, use lemon juice instead of vinegar.

EASY SCRUB
3/4 c. baking soda
1/4 c. borax
Dish washing liquid

Combine the baking soda and borax. Mix in enough dish washing liquid to make a smooth paste. (Add 1/4 tsp. of lemon juice for a more pleasant smell.)

HEAVY-DUTY DISINFECTANT CLEANER
1/4 c. powdered laundry detergent
1 Tbsp. borax
3/4 c. hot water
1/4 c. pine oil or pine-based cleaner

Slowly stir the detergent and borax into the water to dissolve. Add the pine oil (available at hardware stores and supermarkets) and mix well. For bathroom cleaning, use the mixture full strength. In the kitchen, dilute with water.

GLASS CLEANER
2 Tbsp. ammonia
1/2 c. alcohol
1/4 t. dish washing liquid
A few drops blue food coloring
Water

Combine ammonia, alcohol, dish washing liquid and food coloring,
then ad enough water to make 1 quart. If you prefer a
non-ammonia cleaner, substitute 3 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
for the ammonia.

Friendship Soup

Layer the ingredients below in a drinking jar and attach the following poem on the front and the recipe on the back.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup dry split peas
1/4 cup beef bouillon granules
1/4 cup pearl barley
1/4 cup dry lentils
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/4 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1/4 cup uncooked alphabet pasta

Poem:

Here’s a special mug of soup
That I’m sending your way
You can sip and enjoy it
Each and everyday

When you drink your soup
It will surely warm your heart
Just like our friendship has
From the very start

Recipe:

Additional Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
3 quarts water
1 can(28 oz)diced tomatoes

Remove macaroni from top of jar and set aside. In a large saucepan, brown beef.Add water, tomatoes & soup mix. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover & simmer for 45 min. Add macaroni, cover & simmer for 15 to 20 or until tender. Yield: 15 servings

Encourage Mints Jar

Fill a decorated jar with mints and attach this poem -
When you have a bit of doubt
And need some confidence
Just put your hand inside the jar
And take out encourage-mints.

There are three thrift stores near my house that I visit frequently (one of which I also donate items to) and I usually find some good deals. Here’s a few things from one of the last times my youngest daughter and I went.

These four sundae glasses we’re $1 each. Aren’t they great? My family loves them!

This Rubbermaid chip and dip tray and cover was only two bucks and is in excellent condition. We use containers like this all the time and when we can’t used it for food anymore, we’ll find another use for it, probably for storing craft supplies.

These banana split dishes were a $1 each and at first I only bought three because I didn’t see the other one. When I went back another day to donate some items, I spotted it. Needless to say, between the sundae glasses and these, we’ve been having a lot of ice cream lately. lol

I love shopping at thrift stores and flea markets because honestly, you never know what you’ll find. It’s like a tresaue hunt. Like the snowman dishes I bought at a nearby flea market.

This post is part of Frugal Friday and Second Time Around.

Some of you may remember the snowman dishes I posted about. I bought the whole set for five bucks at a flea market. We used them for the first time over Christmas week and I wanted to share some pictures.

This post is part of Thrifty Thursday and Tablescape Thursday.

Written by Carol, one of our readers:

We’d all like to save money each month, but how to go about it is another story. Start by making a budget; that scary, imposing, restrictive plan that keeps you in line. Only it doesn’t have to be that way, a budget is really only putting down on paper your priorities and recognizing you absolutely cannot spend more than you make in any given time period. It also, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t have to come together in one sitting, start the first month with just writing down general categories and amounts. Over time you can refine and fill it out more completely. It took us three months to get a good handle on our budget, each month getting more and more detailed, even today we are constantly adjusting the numbers.

Once you know where you money is going it is now time to start trimming the fat. If you look at your monthly expenses, looking to saving $500 it will seem overwhelming and impossible. But what if instead you looked at shaving a few dollars off each item? As we began looking at our budget we decided to go through and renegotiate each item we could. After knocking out the cable and downgrade our cellphone plan – saving $65, reviewing our car insurance and changing our coverage – $25 less and changing our restaurant habits to only twice a week. This all totaled approximately $125 a month in savings. Besides the mortgage payment, food and general merchandise are our biggest expenditures.

Even with the constant coupon clipping and avoiding the pricier groceries stores we couldn’t make the budget numbers and the real world numbers agree. That’s where web surfing finally began to payoff. There are plenty of websites out there that can multiply you efforts. The blogs that track specific stores rewards programs, letting you know what items are free or worth the most rewards points/bucks, will give you an edge. Lots of promotional programs let you trade your name and email address for free samples and /or coupons.

Also look to farmer’s markets and co-ops, we spend $17 every two weeks for $50 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables. Little by little we have shaved almost $200 off our monthly grocery bill.

Try once a week cooking, or once a month cooking if you’re ambitious! There are so many tasty once a week cooking recipes out there that you’re bound to find some that you like.

Due to the fact that we didn’t start our marriage with the financial acumen that we now possess there is a tidy sum sitting on credit card balances. This can be a dangerous lever, waiting to dump us over the edge at a moments notice. We headed it off by finding a low APR, zero interest on balance transfer offer and moved everything we could onto that card. Then we proceeded to cut up our physical cards except for one emergency card and have begun applying the snow ball methodology. The snow ball theory has you paying off the lowest balance card while making minimum monthly payments on the others, as you pay off a card you roll what you had been paying on it into you payment on the next one. With this consolidation we erased about $50 a month in additional interest fees.

Lastly, we began looking at efficiency around the house and in our travel habits. By lowering the thermostat by 3 degrees and running only full loads in the dryer, we cut $15 off the electric bill. Using public transportation and walking for quick trips to the nearby store translated into more than half a tank of gas saved every two weeks; which at today’s price means $50 a month left in our pockets. Together we have identified our spending priorities, changed our spending habits and challenged ourselves to find fun and rewarding ways to save a little bit in each category on our budget. This has tallied up to savings of almost $400 a month, which comes in handy when saving for the next rain day.

Posted by Leila D:

There are tons of ways to save money on monthly expenses but most of these ways consist of cutting back on day to day luxuries that we don’t really need. I’m always trying to find good ways of saving money and I always end up finding something new to “get rid” of in my life. But this can sometimes be a good thing. Let me talk about a few ways.

The first for me would definitely start at home. I live in Texas so the weather gets a little crazy here. I find that weather sealing my windows and doors saves me a ton of money during the winter. Spending a mere $50 dollars in the first month to make my gas bill in the low $100′s the rest of the season is way better then spending close to $300 a month for almost four months in a row.

Next in home would definitely be energy saving bulbs and fans during the summer months. I once had an electricity bill of close to $600 bucks in a one bedroom apartment. That is all it took to wake me up and make me more aware of how much electricity I was using each month. I found that the energy saving bulbs cut it back about $8 bucks a months so they pay for themselves in the first month.

Next I bought some plug-in stand up fans for each room. I figured that the air conditioner cooled the whole house, but why would I need to cool the whole house if I’m only in one room at a time? Well I don’t! So for about $100 bucks at a place like Wal-Mart or Target you can almost cut your electric bill in half depending on the size of your house.

Now we move on to eating habits. Eating fast food everyday like the average American can lead to it becoming a habit of spending $15 to $20 bucks everyday just to eat! I pride myself on breaking that habit and spending $15-$20 bucks on food a week. That’s roughly a $120 a week difference. But not only do you save a ton of money, you can lose weight, feel better, and overall end up healthier. Plus you learn a lot of fun fruit and vegetable recipes. So just remember, the grocery store is the way to go. Also try to learn some once a week cooking tips. Check the link for more information and some great once a week cooking recipes.

Last but not least is saving money on gas. This one isn’t for everyone, but for some of us, its huge. I personally live about a half a mile from work. So of coarse, I walk or ride my bike. Some people spend close to a grand a month on gas. That to me is insane. I drive only when I have to. Which is going out of town, across town to see friends or family, or in a minor emergency. And in this case, just like with food, you lose weight and become more healthy from walking or riding a bike.

These are just a few simple ways to cut back on money each month. You can always come up with new and improved ways to save money. So feel free to use mine and come up with some new ones of your own.

In this warmhearted guide to living the good life on less, Deborah shows you how to live within your means and enjoy doing it. Among other things, she shows you how to:

* Eat like a king on a peasant’s budget
* Take the sting out of gift-giving
* Dress well on a shoestring
* Save big bucks on family expenses
* Slash household expenses
* Save on medical expenses
* Involve the whole family in saving money
* Save more for the things you want

From basement to attic, cradle to grave, Frugal Living For Dummies covers all areas of life with common sense advice and guidance on:

* Working with your partner to achieve financial goals
* Going to the grocery without being taken to the cleaners
* Quick and thrifty cooking techniques
* Providing kids the basics on a tight budget
* Putting kids through school without going broke
* Looking good and feeling good on a tight budget
* Frugal holiday fun year round
* Saving money around the house and driveway
* Finding quality in pre-owned merchandise

Packed with tried-and-true techniques for cutting costs and stopping the insanity, Frugal Living For Dummies is the ultimate financial survival guide for the rest of us.

Click Here To Purchase

Mortgage loans are calculated depending on the kind of interest that you signed up for. This is based on the interest rate and the length of mortgage. The shorter the duration of the payment, the more expensive the bill is on a monthly basis; however, the higher the bill per month, the shorter the time duration of the payment.  It comes down to how much you can afford.

Create a budget and envision, how much can you actually pay in a month and think long term. Will you still be earning that particular amount in two, three years time? Do you have enough savings just in case an unforeseen accident occurs? How long can you keep on paying the mortgage?

This is how some lenders calculate how much they can lend you. The
housing payment is your total mortgage payment set alongside your monthly income and the total debt ratio – meaning what you are obligated to pay in the big picture. That’s why there’s also the question of “Should I buy or rent?” If the person isn’t yet financially stable, it is better that he rents in the mean time. However, calculations show that the expenditures on rent are somehow close to signing up for a home mortgage.

Also, there’s a great sense of pride in owning your own home. But with that comes the responsibility of paying your bills on time. Plus, now that you’re a homeowner, you’re also required to set aside a significant amount of your salary for taxes. Owning a home also means paying for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and food.

For you to decide, think whether choosing a home is what’s suitable for you at this time. Determine if you have enough to actually afford to buy your own home. If not, then it’s better that you rent. Now here’s where the mortgage rates come in.

Begin by checking the interest rate and rate movements of a specific mortgage loan you’re signing up for. Mortgage rates depend on the Wall Street securities. Keep an eye on the stock market and the mortgage market trends to know the secrets on the direction of where your mortgage is going.

You must also study the APR or the Annual Percentage Rate. By law, mortgage companies are required to disclose the APR to their clients. That is how they should advertise a rate. This is done so that people who signed up under them will be aware of where their rates are going. It represents the real cost of the loan to the borrower and can be seen extensively when the yearly rate is presented. This prevents lenders from hiding fees and for clients to have an open relationship with their mortgage dealers.

As much as possible, try to personally meet with the lender. When money is involved, personal arrangements are better because not only can you clarify better, you could also have an idea of what kind the person is on the end of the phone or at the receiving part of the email you send out. Now that you have met up with a dealer, know your APR, study the stock market, and then you are ready to lock in your rate. This means that you are ready to commit with a lender and the lender is bound to a promise to this certain interest rate. From there, you must work on a budget.

You must set aside a specific amount from your salary for your mortgage; and, if you can pay faster, then why not? If you have extra money, talk to your lender and ask if you can pay for a higher amount. For good credit history, always pay more, not less. Pay on time, not late. This is to ensure that you won’t have a hard time dealing with insurance matters in the future. With the right decision-making and the right budget, you won’t have any problem with money. It’s just having the discipline of creating a budget, sticking to it and paying on time. If it is arranged as such, notice that you could even save a couple of your dollars.