April's Big Cooking Day

I finally did it! Two weeks ago I took my grocery list to the store and picked up all the ingredients I needed to make a month's worth of dinners. On Sunday I prepared and froze all of the meals. My Freezer was stocked, full, absolutely packed! We're going on week 3 and I'm happy to say that I still have lots of meals left in the freezer. I've spent less time preparing meals and no time stressing about what we're going to have each day. What it has given me is more time to spend with my family.

I'm already putting together my menu/recipe list for next month. I really think this is saving us money and time. I must admit that I was exhausted by the time I was done preparing and freezing everything on my big day of cooking for the month, but the time and money I will be saving is worth it!

Besides saving time and money, the other thing I like about make ahead meals is trying new recipes. Most of the meals we've tried so far have been great and it's made me realize how many other things I could make in batches and freeze instead of spending lots of money on store bought items that definitely aren't as tasty as homemade. I'd like to try this bread recipe sometime.

I've been wanting to try this type of cooking for quite some time but always felt overwhelmed when it came to finding all of the recipes and compiling the shopping list. Then I found a website that did all of that for me, it's called Once a Month Mom and it's great. Everything is organized and ready to print, from the recipes to the grocery list and even labels with baking instructions. They even have a section on baby/toddler food. I thought this recipe for Toddler French Toast Sticks looked good and is something I'm going to try.