Once-a-month Cooking Step 1 - Organize

Before you begin Once-a-Month Cooking, calendar two days; one for shopping and one for cooking.  They do not have to be back-to-back as long as you have refrigerator space for the fresh items until cooking day.  I usually shop Tuesday or Wednesday for a few hours and then cook on Saturday.

The first step in cooking once-a-month style is to gather your recipes.  From these, create a menu (Excel is a great tool!) and grocery list.  As best you can, try to group meats by bulk packaging at your favorite warehouse store for the best deals.

Over the years, I've created files in Excel that I just update with a new recipe now and then, or take off one we are tired of eating or I don't feel like making.  I've started color coding the menu titles by meats, too.  I have each month of menus and the corresponding recipes/directions in a 1/2" binder.  The binder sits on my counter all month for easy reference of recipes as I serve them.