How Once A Month Cooking Works

Once a Month Cooking or OAMC, is where you cook all of your meals for the entire month all in one day (or over several days). You may do this for all of your meals or just certain meals, such as only dinners.

Some people take this method a step further and have their OAMC sessions less frequently than once a month to get a larger variety of meals.  They may cook for 3 or 4 days in a row to fill up their freezer for meals for the next 4 to 5 months (depending upon the number of people in your household).

The benefit of doing it this way, is that you don’t have to do a once a month cooking session for several months and you have a wider variety of meals in your freezer.

Another way of doing Once a Month Cooking is getting together with several friends at a common place with a larger kitchen and assemble and cook meals all together. Smaller groups of under 5 people may get together in each other’s homes and can customize meals to different family sizes and preferences.

Larger groups of up to 25 people may gather at a church or community hall and designate one or two people to be the group “organizer” who coordinates the menu, planning and oversees the meal assembly process by being the “go-to” person for needed items.  The hundreds of meals that are produced are divided up amongst the participants (including the group organizer(s)).

The larger group is a perfect format for Moms with small children who can also bring their kids along to play together.   The group may designate one person to keep an eye on the kids or even hire a child minder for a few hours. This event typically is 2-3 hours. It’s a great social event for both Moms and kids, with fantastic meals brought home in the end.

Once a Month Cooking Results

After a full day of assembly and preparation, you will get a variety of meals for an entire month.

Is Once a Month Cooking For You?

Once a month cooking is a great option for people who:

  • can schedule an entire day or more of uninterrupted time to dedicate to a cooking session
  • have finances which allow them to buy groceries in advance for many weeks
  • have a larger freezer, although a small freezer may be sufficient, if the right packaging is used
  • typically have a small or large family to feed, although couples may benefit from this cooking method as well.
  • have friends who may also be interested in cooking meals in advance