Lately I’ve really come to understand what other parents refer to as the “witching hour.”

My older daughter is so mellow that she’s more inclined to burst into tears and throw herself into bed than into a screaming tantrum in the middle of the room, but not so the younger. The closer it gets to her bedtime, the more clingy and cranky she gets and some days when it’s time to make dinner, I just can’t bring myself to listen to the screaming. So sometimes I freeze in an attempt to save my sanity.

This caused us to spend a lot of money on take-out or unnecessary trips to the grocery store for something that could easily be re-heated. Once a month cooking has been a thing for awhile now, and together with a friend of mine who’s a new mom, I think I’m embracing it.

Due to time constraints (it’s hard to have your really young kids somewhere else for an entire day), we’ve done two cooking days so far, making 3 dinners, and 2 breakfasts each time, as well as 1 lunch during our first go-round. These meals, in combination with our regular “quick meals” such as spaghetti and hamburgers, lasted both of our households two weeks and took around 5 hours each time.

It is a BIG commitment to be organized enough to purchase everything and power through the cooking of so many meals. I have yet to find a good way to save as much money with this method as I do otherwise, but practice makes perfect, right? I’m surprised at how much I HAVEN’T saved, despite my extensive pantry.

Does anyone know how to SAVE money by doing freezer meals? Does anyone have a freezer meal recipe they’d care to share?

So far, Once A Month Mom has been my go-to site, but they haven’t let me down yet! 🙂