well, we are a very busy family, with two babies it gets pretty difficult sometimes just to get dinner ready; especially when i'm nursing one of the babies on demand! LOL! there have been times i've been in the middle of preparing dinner and had to stop and feed her. and then is delayed or riley has to take over, and that's not good especially when he's just worked a long hard day.
a couple of other reasons i like OMAC is the frugality of it. i like being able to save money and stretch that food dollar a little bit farther, and to be honest, i really don't like cooking very much, so if i can get the majority of the cooking all done and over with in a couple of days a month i am a happy mommie! and you know what they say, "when mommie is happy, everybody is happy....and fed!" LOL!

I am a stay at home wife also. One child, grown and moved out. I am tired of cooking, and have never been that fond of it anyway, want something simple, quick but not too fatting (frozen, store bought seems to have a lot of stuff-calories, sodium, fat etc...) So I really need to get my act together in the kitchen and the simpler the better.

I am a OAMC wannabe, lol.

I work swing shifts, 12 hrs, sometimes 7am-7pm, sometimes 7pm-7am. The benefit though, is that my schedule works out to have one week off every month!!!!

Doing ahead during that week makes the works days and nights go so much smoother. DH can grab something out of the freezer and have it heated when I get home. Or, I can get up after sleeping during the day and have something ready to heat up before I go in on nights.

I just never got out of the "cook for village" mentality. I used to always cook lots because the family was large. Then, the kids left and started their own families, but when everybody got together, they all wanted to take leftovers home. When I just cook for my husband and me, I always cook the "big meal" because I can always freeze what is left and it makes a quickie lunch. When my husband or I make a huge pot of chili, for example, we freeze little amounts in zip locks for lunches.

I am home all day too with my 81 year old mother. My
husband is still working, but I have liver disease and when
I feel good I cook and when I don't feel well I can go to
the freezer and find something!!

I'm a wanna be also. My lifestyle is very active and hectic. I work full time and have 2 boys in active sports. We are busy every afternoon. I hate to cook, but I love to cook for a crowd. So, OAMC could be an answer for me. My only holdback is my lack of planning. I never seem to have what I need on hand. Any advice?

Hi - I would love to be a OAMC, but unfortunately I think that OAWC is all I can manage with my small freezer. Since I started being "grown up" (it started about a year ago) with a house and a husband and a freezer (not in order of importance :o) I've tried to freeze batches every time I make something that takes time. As someone said in a different thread - I'm not going to spend ages cooking something that's all gone in twenty minutes! Both my husband and I are teachers/graduate students, so our schedules are pretty hectic and variable - and it's nice to come home after teaching at 8.00pm and just stick something from the freezer in the microwave. We're always having deadlines too, so I often just don't have time to cook. As was said above, it also annoys me how much junk is in store-bought frozen stuff. You pay a fortune for it, it's bad for you, and it just doesn't taste as good as home-made.

To be truthful Ruthie, I have done OAMC most all of my married life. I just didn't know what it was! LOL

In the beginning times were rough.Between school and work it was a hectic life. When I had a day, I took the extra dollars we did have and stretched them as far as they would go.

Then when the kids came along, I was a stay at home Mom. That meant buckling down even tighter. I found it cheaper to make my own baby foods and far healthier. Nothing ever went to waste at my house. Even a cup of left overs would be frozen.

As the kids got older, I got more involved with school activities. I had to make my time count. I would set one day each week aside to cook and bake. It became a habit. One that I found I loved doing. Then I began asking for friends tried and true recipes. Pretty soon I found myself interested in Old Cook Books. Began collecting those and cooking ahead more and more.

Within a year I was totally hooked. I found that cooking could be a fulfilling hobby.
When my family all left home,DH traveled with his job. There were days on end that he would work 14-16 hours. When I would cook for myself at home, I cooked enough to freeze for DH to take back with him. It filled so much empty time in the evenings for me. So its a habit that I have fine tuned and still do today,even though he is home now. It frees me up to do other things we love to do.

So far I'm just a batch cooking person. I haven't gotten organized enough to plan a whole month, but I am learning to divide up the recipes I make and freeze them right away rather than letting them get fuzzy in the fridge. Last weekend I made a Persian peach stew that I serve over rice, and now I have 4 meals in the freezer waiting for me. I also have some beef and chicken, divided into serving packets and frozen in marinade. But my little over-fridge freezer is now stuffed.

This weekend, paycheck in hand, I'm going to buy myself a little freezer. The chest freezer is on sale for about $200; the upright is about $250. I'm still waffling about which one to get.

I'm trying to get into the OAMC habit now because I am expecting twins in November, and I suspect I'll need those frozen meals if I'm going to eat a decent diet after they are born. I'm single, so I'll be on my own with them a lot of the time! I'll also be going back to work after 2 months, and I know that will be hard enough without worrying about meals at the end of the day.

Catherine

Hi Catherine,
I noticed you said you were going to buy a "little" freezer. My suggestion to you since you like freezing and with children, get the biggest one you can afford. We have two freezers and at the end of the summer I'm going nuts looking for additional freezer space. It's a great investment and it's better to have it a little bigger than not big enough. We freeze a lot of vegies from the garden and whenever we also take advantage of sales throughout the year.
Angie

I don't think I could ever batch cook for more than a week or so at a time. It's just my hubby and I, and we like completely opposite foods - I'm not joking. Many times I have to make nearly 2 completely different meals for us, and that gets old real fast.

I'm new here, but I want to come back often. I want to learn to cook in batches/etc. to prepare "diet" (ie, healthy dishes) ahead and freeze them. I work every day, and I'm in a terrible habbit of eating lunch out every day. Not only is that bad on my body, but really bad on the budget as well.

Anyway, I hope to stick around and learn from you folks (I'm 31 with no kids). I just broke my CP this weekend, so I'll have to figure something out until I find a replacement liner.

Thanks again - Nancy B.

"persian peach stew"?? Sounds yummy..any recipe??

If you can't take a whole day - bake a double batch. You'll save electricity as well. I have been batch cooking for sooo many years. I don't believe in spending all my time in the kitchen either. When all the children were home (five of them), a shift working husband and me working full time - it was the only way to keep my sanity. I didn't take a whole day tho' - I just made two or three casseroles at a time. It doesn't take long to get started on having that stash in the freezer. But be sure to label it though unless you like surprises!!! Also remember to rotate it - new on the bottom and old on the top.
I chop onions and freeze them, clean the garlic cloves and freeze them. I also grate my own cheese and freeze that as well. This saves time and money.
If you have a slow cooker, pressure cooker, microwave and/or oven, you can have several meals cooking at the same time. This is a time saver too. Since I'm not tied to the kitchen - I really enjoy cooking. Have fun!

I kept forgetting to bring my recipe to work, so this is several weeks late. But here it is.

Persian Peach Stew (To be served over rice)

1 lb lamb or beef stew cubes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 large peaches (firm) OR
8 dried peach halves
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 C water
1/4 C lime and lemon juices (mixed)
1/2 C sugar

Toss the meat with the seasonings. (I put them in a ziplock bag and sort of massage the spices into the meat first.) Wash the peaches well to remove the fuzz. Cut them in half and slice them as for apple pie. OR dice the dried peaches in 1/2 inch pieces. Melt the butter in your soup pot and saute the onions until golden. Move the onions aside and saute the peaches until they are golden. Remove both and sprinkle with lemon juice. Saute the meat in the pan until browned (may add more butter, if needed). Add the water and let simmer on a low fire for about 25 min. Add the onions and arrange the peaches over the top. Add the lime and lemon juice and sugar (really!), cover, and let simmer for another 20 min. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

We Americans rarely eat meat and fruit combinations, other than pineapple on ham and some fruits with chicken. I had one picky eater accuse me of trying to poison him with this recipe! Well, okay, don't try this one on a "meat and potatoes" man. But I consider this a tasty treat!

Catherine

Wow Catherine it sounds yummy!

Catherine - I think I am married to that man! LOL! I love fruit/meat combos, so I will try it for me!

It freezes well! Since I live alone, I eat one serving and freeze the other three individually for later meals. Works great!

Catherine

Let's see...
DH & I are self-employed (at home), homeschooling four children, still nursing my fifth child, we raise small livestock and garden and are learning to homestead. I guess I'm an OAMC person because I don't see any other options that won't drive me insane LOL

Because I am extremely conservative. . . I prefer to conserve my energy for the things I want to do not have to do. I don't think I could ever be a OAMC person but I'm finding OAWC and up to 10 days enjoyable.