The idea of a monthly menu makes me giddy with excitement at not being forced to cook every day. To have that bewitching hour, in which my kids always go a little crazy, free to spend time with them instead of cooking. But honestly, the thought of cooking for a day {or two, or even three} makes me less than enthusiastic to try monthly meal planning.

When I was 8 months pregnant with Julia, my mom, Jonathan and I spent an entire day cooking meals to freeze for after Julia was born. By the end of the day, I felt, well like I had spent all day on my feet at 8 months pregnant. And I thought, “Never again”. So, couple that with my nervousness of spending a day cooking with two small children with no back up and you can see why I’ve never attempted it.

Until now.

I found a once a month cook book at Marshall’s. I flipped through it and realized how incredibly easy their menu planning was. And since the book was only $2.99 I figured I had little to loose. The meals I choose were very, very, very simple. Taking chicken, stuffing it in a freezer bag with some oils, juices, spices, ect., and freezing it. Then on the day you plan to use the meal, you take out the chicken, thaw, then bake. I made 8 meals in less than 30 minutes. Seriously. 30 minutes.

I found some amazing deals on meat at my world’s favorite store, HEB. In addition to the meals I made myself, I also scored awesome deals on prepackaged meats. HEB sells prepackaged fajita meats, along with other flavored chicken. They do “quick sales” in an attempt to get nearly expired meat out. It’s totally find, if you use/freeze it within the next day.

Sorry for the bad photo quality! If you can't see it, the meat was originally $6.09 and I got it for $2.43!

I also got some great deals on meatballs {buy the meatballs on sale, get free spaghetti sauce}. By the end, I had my entire month’s meals. I don’t know exactly what I spent on just the meals, since I bought our regular supply of milk, eggs, etc. In total, my bill was $145. Which is wonderful, since it covered all of January’s meals!

Here’s a look at some of the month’s menu:

Beef Stew

Talapia

Lemon Chicken

Addictive Sweet Potatoes {I made a large batch of potatoes and bean and froze them in separate bags}

Fajitas

There are several other meals, but that’s just a quick overview. I have the schedule made out that we have a certain dish once every other week. I incorporated a one fish and one vegetarian meal a week, because that’s something our family typically strives towards.

Have you ever tried once a month cooking? What did you think?