OAMC stands for Once a Month Cooking, which is basically making up a bunch of meals all at once, stashing them in the freezer, and pulling them out instead of cooking from scratch every day. This week, I’m going to prepare 6 packages of chicken in marinade/sauce. It’s not exactly OAMC since I’m not making up a month’s worth of meals at a time, but having them ready in the freezer will make meal prep fast and easy over the next month.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale for a crazy $1.88 this week, so I bought several packages with the intention of making freezer bags full of marinated chicken, ready to defrost and simmer, saute, grill, bake, or broil. A general guide is 1 cup of marinade per pound of meat when marinated in a heavy-duty plastic bag. I’m planning variations on the following marinades:
- Barbecue (store bought BBQ sauce)
- Tomato basil (without pasta)
- Teriyaki
- Peanut ginger
- Citrus Mojo
- Coconut Curry
- “Pretty Chicken”
This week’s menu includes:
Monday – Citrus Mojo chicken, brown rice, broccoli
Tuesday – Mujaddarah (lentils with caramelized onion), bulgur wheat, spinach
Wednesday – Tomato basil chicken with pasta
Thursday – Meatloaf, baked potatoes, sauteed mustard greens with caramelized onions (extra onions cooked on Tuesday)
Friday – Salmon souffle sandwiches, peas and carrots
(This is a take-off from a recipe in More-With-Less, the classic real food on a budget cookbook by Doris Jansen Longacre. The original has tuna instead of salmon, and it’s like a savory baked French toast with salmon salad and Swiss cheese between the bread layers. Surprisingly delicious, simple, cheap!)
Saturday – Crockpot bean soup w/lots of veggies, cornbread
This menu is shared on Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com
and Freezer Cooking Day at MoneySavingMom.com.
The mojo marinade sounds great! I’m going to try it!
We liked a mojo simmer sauce from Trader Joe’s, but it’s no longer being carried. I’m hoping that this recipe is similar in flavor!
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I appreciate it. 🙂 I did OAMC when my kids were young but now I do pretty simple batch cooking, which works a lot better for just two adults. Your chicken ideas sound very good and I plan to try the mojo marinade. Thanks for the great ideas.
What a great idea! Question – do you marinate the chicken for a certain amount of time in the refrigerator before putting it in the freezer?
I used to do OAMC but with a newborn in the house I’ve gone back to weekly cooking so I’m not having to take a whole day of prep!
How do you store your food in the freezer? I used gallon freezer bags to save room, but I was always switching brands because none ever seemed to prevent freezer burn!
I didn’t marinate before freezing it, just tossed it in the marinade and stuck it in the freezer. I figured it would absorb some as it freezes and more as it defrosts!
The mojo marinade was AMAZING! It is definitely going into regular rotation!
I use zipper-top freezer bags most of the time, especially for things like chicken in a sauce.
My mom made us meals before my son was born and cooked them all in an 8″x8″ pan, popped them out and put them in a labeled zipper-top freezer bag. They stacked like neat meal bricks, and I just had to stick it inside the same sized pan to defrost and bake. So convenient!