The Concept Behind Our "Cooking Days"

To sum it up, we share the load - the meal planning, the grocery shopping, the prep work, the cooking, the storing of food.

We try to plan our meals based on what meats are on sale that week...(and when we are actually grocery shopping, we always look for meat that might be nearing expiration date and is marked down significantly -this could be used for our next "cooking day").  We alternate duties each week, whomever's kitchen is being used is the one who does the grocery shopping.  Obviously, recipes are doubled or tripled as needed, and once the shopping is done, we split the cost.

We have become more and more experimental with the recipes we choose, and sometimes those recipes require a decent amount of prep work.  Sometimes, it is necessary to do some prep the night before.

I, Kristin, have two little girls (almost 3 year old and 14 month old) and am expecting another little one at the end of August!!  :)  Nikki has three children who keep her VERY busy (6 year old girl, 3 year old girl, 16 month old boy).  Since we are two busy mommies with little ones, we try to keep our "cooking day" to a max of 4-5 hours for all prep, cooking, and storing.  Usually, in that amount of time, we are able to prepare at least 4 dinner recipes, and sometimes we also make 1-2 side dishes in addition.  Also, most of the time, the 4 main course recipes are able to provide 6-8 meals for our families.

We are learning how to most effectively portion out the recipes for our family's normal portions at dinner.

This idea was started after finding the cookbook "Don't Panic - Dinner's In The Freezer" by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell, and Bonnie Garcia.  Excellent resource for starting this type of cooking method.

This has been a huge blessing in both of our lives and we truly look forward to our "cooking day"!  :)  Hoping this continues for many years, as our families and children continue to grow!