ifamily - Time and Sanity Saver

Though this week’s idea is not exactly a family activity it is something that has increased exponentially the time I have to spend with my family and thus I will share it this week. A few of my friends and I follow a particular blog that one day posted about how she makes more time for her family by cooking once a month. I don’t know why this had never occurred to us before or if it did why we didn’t do something about it but after talking about it we decided to take the plunge!

Every month each of us (there are 3 of us total) choose four recipes that we will make and freeze. We each make three of each recipe and then trade. It’s so simple but so wonderful! This way we each end up with twelve home cooked meals in our freezer and essentially don’t have to cook three nights a week for a month! I love it! I’ve taken it a step further and since I’m buying in bulk anyways (which also saves us loads of money) I try to make an extra recipe or two for our family so I have to cook even less.

I had heard of a few cooking once a month activities (where you prepare 20+ meals) in a day and felt very intimidated by them but I’ve been surprised at how easy and manageable this has been. In terms of a time commitment I try to do it all in one day where I spend roughly forty five minutes shopping and then two to two and a half hours cooking. Not bad for twelve meals! On top of that, on the nights I do cook I always at least double my recipe and put one in the freezer. In preparing a meal on any given day I just make sure to remove it early enough to thaw and then right before supper I throw together an easy side like, rice, salad or oven ready biscuits.

This has given me so much more time with my kids and with myself! Start big with a group of friends or start doubling the odd recipe, either way you will love it!

**Note** The blog we follow is http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/