Food for My Family

...one plate at a time.

Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites Giveaway!

· · 52 Comments

Once-a-Month

The winner is #19, jessica c!! Congratulations, Jessica. I’ll be emailing you. Thanks to everyone who participated!


If you didn’t know, I’m pretty excited about menu planning. I’ve talked about how we plan our menu and why we plan a menu, and I share the weekly menu each Sunday. It is definitely something that makes it easier to juggle sports schedules, homework and our own social commitments.

Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites is the follow up to the original Once-a-Month Cooking and takes all the work out of menu planning. It offers complete menu plans for entire months and in two-week cycles with shopping lists and assembly tips to make putting the meals together as easy as possible. There are a large range of features meals, ensuring your menu is full of variety, everything from classic recipes like Grandma’s Chili and Chicken Wild Rice Soup to choices like Orange Beef and Adobe Chicken. PLUS, they have seasonal gluten-free, summer and gourmet two-week cycle plans to choose from! There is definitely something for everyone in this book.

A bit about the authors:
Mary Beth Lagerborg and Mimi Wilson’s original bestseller Once-a-Month Cooking™ started the bulk freezer cooking phenomenon from recipes made for their own families. Both live in Colorado and continue to share a passion to help today’s cooks save time and money while building family relationships over delicious meals.

Mary Beth is the creator of the website dwellingspace.com, providing tools on creating a home full of acceptance and creativity. She is also the former media director for MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers). Mimi travels extensively to regions like Jordan, Ecuador, and Rwanda, and teaches Once-a-Month Cooking principles and benefits internationally.


One reader will win a copy of Once-a-Month Cooking Family Favorites! To enter:

1. Leave a comment. Let me know if you plan your meals weeks at a time or on a day-to-day basis.

2. Subscribe to my RSS feed or through email. Leave another comment letting me know you have. If you already subscribe, let me know that in a separate comment.

3. Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter and leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

4. Sign up for the Once-a-Month Facebook group and let me know that you did.


The contest closes Friday, October 9th at 11:00 p.m. PST. I’ll be choosing a winning comment using Random.org and updating the post with the winner on Saturday!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yay! A giveaway!

    I generally plan my meals a week in advance here. Day to day would be too much pressure. Perhaps one day I’ll get my act together and actually do it a month in advance. Here’s to hoping, at least!

  2. We actually switched from bi-weekly to weekly meal planning. While the biweekly planning went well, it was harder to have fresh foods in some of the later meals. Plus something you plan for two weeks ago may not be what you want two weeks later (I blame pregnancy hormones for that one) We also had a harder time keeping normal usable staples in the house like milk, bread and didnt want to feel like we were forced to run to the store anyways just for those things. Weekdays are pretty hectic, so we wanted to try to keep weekends open.

    We create a dinner list, with 4-5 items (cause we always have leftover so dont really need a 7 day dinner plan) and then choose what to have for dinner that day. When we stayed with my husband’s family in Italy, his mother would menu plan daily and I honestly wish I could do that sometimes. She keeps certain stock items on hand and usually only needs to add a protein or pick up a particular ingredient to complete a meal, its so much easier and the way she did it was much cheaper in the long run.

  3. I usually plan my meals right before heading to the grocery store… it depends upon what we have coming up, but I generally aim for a week and a half at a time. I’m going to try and start doing further in advance because I dislike grocery shopping. We did your pesto the other day and we love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. So happy I found your blog….I’m just getting into meal planning. I getting ready to head back into the workplace and figure doing at least a week at a time will save me some headaches.

  5. I plan my meals on a day-to-day basis, mostly. I use a lot of staples and I keep a running list in the back of my mind of what we have. Sometimes I’ll find a particular recipe that I really want to try, but not always. I’ll often take a minute in the morning before work to think through what I might make, and pull something from the freezer. It works…mostly…though not always.

  7. I would love to plan my meals ahead of time. Your website was sent to me by a frind and co-worker. As s single mom with 2 boys I have to do a lot of cooking on the fly. My favorite tip is making extra proteins and using them in several dishes – some to freeze for later. Thanks for asking. Susan

  8. Lately I’ve been trying to plan my meals on a weekly basis, which works for us because often a meal that I’ve made feeds us for two nights, so a one-week meal plan turns into two!

  15. Our food expenditures are a major portion of our budget, a bigger portion than they should be. And yet, I plan my meals on a daily basis, if you can call that planning! This book looks interesting – a concept I would like to explore!

  21. I usually fly by the seat of my pants- meaning, I get home and have a craving which brings me to the grocery store. Well, not all the time. I’m a week at a time planner most of the time! Zanzibar. That’s all I have to say.

  28. I’d love to win this. I have used the once a month for almost 20 years. We shop by sales and prepare freezer items as able to have on hand for busy days. We have loved the recipes and ideas in the original book. I can’t wait for this one!

  29. I love your website!!! My girlfriend and I (ok, mostly my girlfriend) plan our meals for the week, then have leftovers for the week to bring to work for lunches!

  32. Before we had children, we planned our meals a week in advance, culminating in travelling 45 minutes to a wonderful gourmet grocery store. Now, we usually plan 1-2 meals a week, and hang on the fly for the rest of the time.
    .-= Lori´s last blog ..Kidorable Review =-.

  43. I try to plan my meals a week in advance. This would be awesome because I work second shift and I cook in the mornings. I can prepare ahead of time and take it out the freezer that day.

  44. I plan my meals on the weekend and do my grocery shopping on Monday for one week at a time. I have been experimenting some with preparing two meals at once and freezing the second and I am loving it. I would love to plan for the entire month at once and am working toward that goal.

  47. We are day to day right now, but I’d like to become more organized with it. We just cleaned out the pantry & going to try to shop around what we have to actually use it up. This book would be a great help!

  49. My husband and I have our daughter and her husband living with us. We plan our meals for the week and the 4 of us each get one day to cook. The guys are both gourmet chefs so they do the other 3 days. We shop once a week and pick up fresh ingredients every few days. I joined your Face book dont have a twitter and dont know how to do a feed. would do that if I knew how. Interested in getting your book and trying to do your method.

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Some of My Favorites

Potato Leek Casoncelli Pasta with Walnut Pesto #recipe | FoodforMyFamily.com
Grilled Turmeric Ginger Shrimp and Mango Avocado Slaw with Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe: Food for My Family
Homemade Salted Nut Rolls with Bourbon Caramel #recipe | FoodforMyFamily.com
Galete Waffle Cookies recipe | FoodforMyFamily.com
Curry Cauliflower Quinoa and Lentil Salad Recipe | FoodforMyFamily.com
Roasted Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Waffle Cones \ FoodforMyFamily.com