The Pros and Cons of Once a Month Freezer Cooking

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The Pros and Cons of Once a Month Freezer Cooking

Do you ever stare in the cupboards at 5:00 p.m., wondering what to make for dinner? Do you ever find yourself hitting the drive-thru because you have nothing to eat at home? Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? If you said yes to any of these questions, once-a-month freezer cooking might be for you.

Once a month freezer cooking is essentially exactly what it sounds like. You cook once, you throw everything in the freezer, and then you’ve got a freezer full of enough food to last you for an entire month. Sound intriguing? Here are five reasons you should try it.

1. You Will Drastically Reduce the Amount of Time You Spend Cooking

With once-a-month freezer cooking, you only cook one day a month, not every day for a month. Think of how much extra time you will have on your hands on those other 30 days you don’t have to cook! More time with family and more time to do other things is always a perk for me!

2. You Will Drastically Reduce the Amount of Time You Spend Cleaning

Not only will you spend far less time cooking, but you’ll spend far less time cleaning too! After all, it’s a lot faster to clean up one large mess than 31 smaller ones. You will still have plates and utensils, but you won’t have to do the pots and pans, the counters and the oven spills every night.

3. You’ll Eat Healthier

How often do you hit the drive-thru or reach for junk food because you don’t have much to eat in your house? With once-a-month freezer cooking, you always have healthy food on hand, making those last minute drive-thru trips a thing of the past.

4. You Can Significantly Decrease Your Grocery Bill

With once a month freezer cooking, you won’t make so many impulse purchases, you’ll have a plan for all of the ingredients you buy, you won’t hit the drive-thru as often, and you can plan ahead to hit the sales (something you can’t always do when you’re making a 5:00 mad dash to the store). All four of these things can add up to some pretty significant savings.

5. You Can Significantly Reduce Your Waste

How many times have you had part of an ingredient go to waste because the recipe only called for half? With once-a-month freezer cooking, you’ve got a plan for everything, and if you have extra of anything, you can always find a spot for it in one of the 31 different meals you’re making. Nothing goes to waste!

freezer cooking

While once-a-month freezer cooking is a great way to maximize your time and your budget while reducing your waste, the truth is that it isn’t for everyone. Here are five reasons once-a-month freezer cooking might not be right for you.

  • 1. You don’t have a big enough kitchen to prepare 31 meals in.
  • 2. You don’t have a whole day to set aside for cooking.
  • 3. You don’t own a large enough freezer.
  • 4. You can never remember to put dinners down to thaw in time.
  • 5. The thought of planning and cooking that many meals at once is overwhelming, even with an online freezer cooking meal plan or guide.

I’ve done freezer cooking many times before, and although I don’t get the opportunity to do it each month, my favorite perk is all the extra time I have once it’s done and that there is no more stressing over what’s for supper each night.

You can learn more about budget meal planning here on Little House Living.

Have you ever tried once-a-month freezer cooking before? Does it sound like something you would like to try? What’s stopping you?

This article is underwritten by Once a Month Meals. With Once a Month Meals you can easily plan out your meals and find encouragement for your once a month freezer cooking. They have traditional menus, paleo menus, allergy free menus, and more! You can visit the Once a Month Meals website and learn more about their time-saving service here.

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9 Comments

  1. I have done it and really did not like it. The stress of doing all those meals in one day was the biggie. My family did not like the repetition and some things we just did not care for after they were frozen. Now that we are empty nesters I do cook full batches of some foods and freeze the rest in meal size portions and they are my freezer meals. I use about two of those a week but they are planned into the menu. We almost never run through the drive thru because we do not have a meal. Meal planning would be the reason and also we have a large stockpile of food. Those emergency drive thru meal would only be if we had an emergency away from the house since I am home all day and do the cooking.

  2. I always have several freezer meals in my freezer to have on hand for those days I don’t feel like cooking or to incorporate into my meal plan. I don’t like to make enough food to last just for that month, only because there are some things I enjoy that can’t be frozen. The things I tend to freeze the most are: lasagna, chicken pot pie, macaroni-n-cheese, enchilada’s, taquitos, burritos and I always have cooked ground meat on hand for quick dinners, such as tacos or spaghetti.

    1. You can freeze mac and cheese!? What wizardry is this? LOL Do tell…I thought it would get mushy and gross.

  3. I enjoy Freezer cooking, but I’ve never done a months worth at a time. I’d rather do it in smaller (5-10 meals) batches as I go.

  4. Do you have a quick peek of your meals you cook for once a month freezer cooking? I have been trying the “cook once eat twice” method. That works great!

  5. I have not made this a priority. Getting rid of clutter has been my priority as our young people have grown up. Didn’t have time. I did think it was interesting .

  6. You don’t have to do a whole month of meals to benefit from this method. Instead try cooking a week of meals at a time or even just double a recipe & freeze half. It all adds up and if you forget to thaw something, the microwave can help!

  7. I love freezer cooking! We bought a chest freezer off craigslist for just $60 and it was well worth the investment. Plus, I could stock up on more grocery deals when I ran across them, too. It is a lot of work, but saves so much time and stress later on!

  8. I’ve been interested in freezing meals. I’ve made meals or prepped meats for the freezer in preparation for a new baby but that’s only been thanks to friends coming to help me! I’ve tried the cook double and then freeze half but my family eats all of what I make no matter how much I make (even when I put half away before serving! ). I’d like to at least have a weekly prep and refrigerate or freeze session. Tips on how to figure out a plan? A whole month worth of meals is a lot of meals and more time than I can probably manage. If I could do it, I’d probably spread the freezer meals out over two months to increase variety 🙂