When I was growing up I was home-schooled and I remember my mom doing once a month cooking. She would prep for 1 day and cook for 1 day and because we were home-schooled my brother and I had the pleasure of doing it with her. At the time it probably wasn’t my favorite thing to do but now I’m so grateful for learning because it set the foundation for what I do now.

I work full-time and so the last thing I feel like doing at the end of the day is cooking a meal for my family. I do it even though I don’t want to because I know it’s important for my daughter and my family but it’s really not my favorite thing to do!!

The first thing I do when I decide to do a major cooking day is plan out which meals I want to cook. Since we are going into the fall I’m planning to do a few different soups because they freeze really well and it’s super easy to make large batches of them. Here are the meals I plan to make next month (most of these are more than one meal per recipe):

• Taco Meat – (Meat + Taco seasoning – nothing fancy!!)
• Pulled Pork
• Meat Loaf
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
• White Chili
• Crockpot Chili
• Split Pea Soup
• Taco Soup
• Hamburger Patties
• Teriyaki Chicken (Raw chicken + marinade – freeze chicken in a bag with marinade)
• Lasagna
• Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde
• Crockpot Thai Peanut Pork

So now that I know what I’m cooking the next thing I do is look at all the recipes and determine what I need to buy for my cooking day. Because I’m quirky and love Excel I put all the ingredients in an Excel spreadsheet to create my list. I left out all the spices and anything I knew I already had. I created a column that say’s “Already Have” because I always “shop” my pantry before I go to the store so I’m not buying things I already have.

Quantity	Measurement	Item	Already Have?
1	piece	Ham
14	pounds	Ground beef
2	large	Pork roasts
2	large	Costco sized bags of chicken
1	pound	Sausage
12	medium	Onion
3	15 ounce cans	Petite diced tomatoes
9	15 ounce cans	Stewed tomatoes
1	28 ounce can	Diced tomatoes
3	6 ounce cans	Tomato paste
1	box	Lasagna noodles
1	can	Evaporated milk
1	16 ounce tub	Low fat cottage cheese
12	ounces	Monterey jack cheese
1	16 ounce tub	Fat Free Sour Cream
1	bag	Parmesan cheese
1		Green pepper
3		Red pepper
1	24 ounce jar	LaVictoria Salsa
2	15 ounce cans	Black beans
4	16 ounce cans	Cannellini Beans
2	cans	Corn
2	packages	Taco seasoning
5	15 ounce  cans	Thick and chunky cans of chili
1	bottle	Yoshida Sauce
1	16 ounce bag	Split Peas
10	cups	Fat free chicken broth
2	large	Carrots
1	large bag	Broccoli
1	Jar	Oat Bran
1	Jar	Wheat Germ

Because I’m planning I’m actually planning ahead this time, I’m hoping to find these ingredients on sale. The bulk of the money your spending is on meat so watch for good sales on Chicken, beef and Pork and you’ll save a ton!

Next Up: Shopping for the big day!