In the beginning there were 2 families....

Since I don't know exactly where I should start this blog, I guess the best place would be to start at the beginning.  When I first started batch cooking I was a stay at home mom to a 7 month old little girl.  My husband and I were living on a monthly budget a little over $1000.00 (still are to this day).  We did and still receive assistance in many different areas including WIC (Woman Infant and Child), food stamps, and energy assistance programs.  Even with all this assistance, I was still struggling to provide healthy meals for my family on our budget.  At the same time my mom was trying to find an easier way to prepare dinner for her and my dad.  After reading about batch cooking, we discussed if we could make it work for our two families.

Turns out we could.  We sat down and figured out what were some of our families favorite meals.  When we first started we decided for our time limits and due to energy that would be required we would only be able to do 1 week at a time.  We had a six week meal rotation that also included doing weekly salads and veggie bags for lunches.  We were very successful.  That first week we make meals for both families at less than $50.00 for each family.  We continued to do our weekly cooking sessions, making 5-6 different meals a week for almost a year.

Now that I have been successful at making meals my family will eat and even requests, I finally felt comfortable to share with others what I have found works and what doesn't. Over the next month I will take you through the entire process.  From the planning stages to the actually cooking day and even to preparing to eat each meal.  But before we get to the fun stuff, I have a question for you:

What made you desire to learn more about monthly cooking? What areas are you struggling with that has stopped you from batch cooking?


At the time of writing this blog, I just finished working on October's menu with my cooking partner.  We are trying our hands are dump recipes this month.  What is your favorite crock pot meal that you would like to be made easier?