Once a month cooking?

I don't do this, but I love my crockpot for make ahead meals. I often get a big batch of something going on Sunday when I'm around and then have leftovers all week, or sometimes freeze meals for later.

There are a few things that I make ahead of time for the week, but I could not cook for an entire month and then eat what is frozen and such.

I have to have fresh food that is freshly prepared. I don't even like leftovers so much anymore.

I'm DYING to try this. Just waiting for a decent deal to come up on chest freezers so that I have the room!

I've been preparing for when the time comes by researching different sites that have tasty/easy/delicious/healthy meals though.

http://chasingsupermom.com/2012/02/6-freezer-meals-in-2-hours/

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/12/fresh-food-friday-20-tried-and-true.html

With the limited freezer space I have now, all I'm able to do is make sweet potato casserole (potatoes sweetened with cinnamon and plumcots), lasagnas, and chilis (which are in my opinion, better after they've been reheated)

Best of luck! A food processor or super slicing device will probably make your prep day a lot easier too

Edited to add: I also chop up fruits and veggies and freeze them right away, along with rice and oatmeal concoctions.

I am single and therefore can get really bored with food. I got a second freezer and cook for 4 or 6 at a time and go the pound shop to pick up containers that I can recycle. Then I can do large quantities of soup/stew/casserole/bolognaise etc and freeze half portions. That way the planning is just what to defrost. I usually decide the night before and then all I have to do is add the veg! Definitely makes my life easier and my diet much more varied. It also saves me money! And if I have people round I can defrost more!

I do this every month! As for tips:

1. PLAN. Let me repeat that again: PLAN. I jot down a list of things that I think I want to eat that month, work out how many portions, and then match the food to a day in the month - it helps you to see if you've got loads of really similar kinds of meals planned (which, lets face it, gets a bit boring...) I also keep a list of everything that is in the freezer and tick it off as I use it.

2. Do make sure you have enough containers to put everything in. if you are anything like me, I look at a recipe which says 4 portions and invariably end up with five or six...

3. Give yourself time - and don't try to make everything at once, you'll just forget stuff. I usually 'write off' a weekend a month for this kind of thing for me, but a lot of that seems to be in order to do the washing up (I don't have a dishwasher!)

4. Make sure that you are fairly confident you are going to like the food that you have made - and I find that making lots of different things is better than 3 or 4 large batches, simply because I like a lot of variety in my food. It sounds stupid, but it took me a long time to realise that just because I was making stuff to freeze didn't mean I had to make enough to feed the five thousand!

5. Cornflour thickened stews/soups etc don't freeze, they separate. I lost a whole month worth of food because I didn't know this

6. Try not to add the last seasonings to the food (salt, pepper, etc) until you defrost it - you'll find out that you like different levels of seasonings depending on mood/time of month/phase of moon/how pissed at your boss you are/who the hell knows. There is nothing worse than sitting down and all you can think is 'yep, waaay too much salt. But this tasted fine last week!'.

hope that helps a bit! let me know if you've any questions - I've been doing this for years now, and am a pretty old hand at it

I would if I had room in the freezer. My Aunt does this, and she loves it!

Chilis (lean ground beef or turkey, meatless, white chicken chili), Lasagnas, Soups, Stews, Stuffed Peppers, Spaghetti Sauce. I've done them all and they all last at least a month.

Let the lasagna defrost in the fridge at least a day ahead of time, so that it can reabsorb some of the liquid, otherwise it can end up watery.

Try this website on facebook... This woman is a legend in freezing foods! :-)

https://www.facebook.com/Coastalangel#!/FrostBiteFood

My wife did once a month cooking but it really evolved into once a week cooking. She would prepare some soups or meals and freeze them but we just didn't have the room for storing an entire month's worth of food. We still cook once a week for the most part but sometimes she will prepare most of the meal and cook something that night that only takes a few minutes.

My pro-tip - if you're making soups or even casseroles for one person, freeze them in zip-lock freezer bags (the ones that fully seal) instead of containers with lids. It's the perfect portion size for one person and you can fit HEAPS more in your freezer because they stack flat. Just put them in a bowl in the fridge when you're defrosting them because sometimes the bags leak during the defrosting stage.

I cook something up on Sundays. That is my cooking day. I make soups, casseroles, pasta dishes, whatever! One or two things each Sunday. Then I portion it up in one serving portions, put them in freezer bags (for the most part) and freeze them. After a couple weeks of this, it gets easy, because I have left over meals from the prior weeks. When I make a low fat lasagna, I portion it out into many servings. Same with soups and everything else. Then I can have a large variety of food each week, all made by me, so I know exactly what is in them, and I don't get bored with my diet. I don't have a lot of time during the week, so this is my way of making sure that I am never at that point of "I only have 10 minutes for lunch and nothing to eat, I should just drive thru somewhere!" Not going to happen! I won't let it!