OAMC / Dinner Prep Party?

[Hello Kitty]

I was just curious if anyone had ever attempted this. I'd like to get my SILs/mom together for an evening of making entrees (getting ideas from those make-ahead-dinner places) and hanging out. Then we can all go home with several entrees to stick in our freezer.

I'm mainly concerned about how to get all the ingredients together. I was thinking everyone could bring fixings for one dish. It would make it easy on me, but that's about the only advantage I can see.

Alternately, I could get all the ingredients and then have everyone pay me back - just splitting out whatever it cost. We're family, so I wouldn't mind asking them for money. :p It also seems more fair pricewise - instead of someone bringing a cheaper vegetarian dish, and someone bringing beef, the cost is all rolled up. I also don't mind work & cooking, and would probably take a day off to prep.

ETA - does anyone think this would be a totally bad idea or are there any catches with it you can see?

[laura]

I think that sounds like fun. I think I would probably prefer buying everything ahead and then splitting the cost evenly, but that just seems most "fair" to me, and it kind of defeats the purpose if someone pays a bunch more than someone else, KWIM? I would also perhaps suggest putting together a "menu" or some suggested things to get a flavor for everyone's tastes/budgets and going from there. Or maybe have everyone suggest 1 dish, and then give an estimate of how much you think all the ingredients for all the dishes would cost, and go from there? The only 'problem' I could foresee would be someone not expecting it to cost X amount - but with family, it's different than with friends, so that might not be an issue.

Sounds like a great idea - post back and let us know if you go ahead w/ it!

[looch]

I know that I would love to participate in something like this...but, I am way too controlling in the kitchen to delegate. It would end up being a lot of work for me, not sure how worth it that would be.

[bookworm]

I agree--I'd do the shopping and have everyone chip in. In addition to making it easier for them, you might be able to buy larger packages (of common ingredients) and lower the per-unit cost. You don't want everyone buying spices, for example :).

[Hello Kitty]

Laura - we eat similar things and have similar budget expecations (with me being the cheapest by far) so I think it would work. I would definitely coordinate things beforehand - getting menu ideas and cost estimates and then we all can pick what we'll cook. I will definitely count the costs up front so everyone has appropriate expectations b/c I would hate that if I were on the other end.

looch, I am a huge control freak too :o and I think that's why I'd have fun doing the organizing, shopping, preparing the workstations. If people don't put it in the containers right, that's okay.... I guess :D

bookworm - that's a very good point - I can definitely find things cheaper in bulk.

Well, I think I'll feel out my SILs first to see if they'd be interested and go from there. It sounds really fun to plan (and I'm glad you guys think it's feasible) but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself if they veto it.

[mrsface]

I've done this with my mom, sister, aunts and grandma- it is so worth it!

My mom organized it- planned the menu (she took suggestions from the rest of us), and did the shopping. She let us all know in advance what the menu was and what dishes we needed to bring (9x13 pan for enchiladas, big bowl for soup etc...). We made everything at her house- we just used her spices and basics.

She figured out the cost per serving of each meal and we paid her according to how many servings we took.

We all cooked at once, so it didn't take as much time as it could have. Someone would be chopping veggies at the table, another browning the hamburger, another cooking the pasta, another mixing up the muffin mix and so on and so forth. We all just pitched in and worked hard for a few hours and then had all our meals for a week.

Man, we need to start this up again! It really was a great way to cook. Let me know if you have any questions- I learned lots of good tricks!

Andrea

[PinkGirl]

Dumb question... what does OAMC stand for?

[bookworm]

Dumb question... what does OAMC stand for?

Not dumb at all :).

Once a Month Cooking.

(You spend a day cooking your butt off, then stick things in the freezer and don't have to cook again for another 30 days :) ).

[Hello Kitty]

MrsFace, that's awesome! I can't think of any questions for you right now, but I'll let you know if I do. :)

Well, my SILs are definitely wanting to do it, so now I'm going to get some meal ideas together and let them pick what they want to do. One in particular was very enthusiastic about it, so I think she and I may do it by ourselves more often.

How many meals should we make in a night? I was thinking 3 entrees plus 1 very easy thing (we all have venison, and I've got a great marinade for it so all they need to do is put it in a zipper bag).

[Shannon]

This sounds like such a great idea, and several of my friends are pregnant so I think this would be a good thing to get going before the new arrivals come. :D Does anyone have suggestions of websites to get more details and recipes from?

Thanks! :)

[Hello Kitty]

I'm just taking recipes from the 'freezer friendly recipes' thread for now.

Martha Stewart Everyday Food also has a list of freeze it recipes online. You can also google 'Dinner preparation' type places and see their menus, then find your own recipes based on their ideas. ;)

[Hello Kitty]

So almost 3 months later and we're FINALLY getting together on Sunday. There will be 5 of us total - my mom, 3 SILs, and me. :)

The dishes we are preparing are:
Taco Soup (freezer thread)
Chicken Tetrazzini (freezer thread)
Baked pasta w/chicken sausage (MS)
Flank steak (venison loin) w/ garlic & thyme (MS)

I sent everyone a list of possible options, and they picked what they liked and didn't like. Using the government serving size 2oz pasta/4 oz meat, I asked everyone how many portions they wanted. It is great because not everyone wants 6 servings and you don't feel forced to over-buy.

My favorite part (I'm a dork!) has been figuring the cost per serving. It's very fun, and I love that I have an accurate cost for each dish. I just started a spreadsheet with each ingredient and backed out the cost/ingredient/serving.

What I plan to do is set up 4 different assembly stations around my kitchen. I'm going to do as much of the prep-work as possible (browning meat, cooking pasta) and have that sorted into everyone's serving sizes. Then everyone can rotate stations and assemble the number of servings they want. I figure I'll float around and explain things if needed. If I have enough time, I would like to assemble my portions, so that people can see what it looks like.

At each station, I'm going to have the assembly instructions and a chart of how much of each ingredient you need for your number of servings. I'm going to print up a sheet with all the finishing/cooking instructions for them to take home.

Anyway, that's about all I've got so far, so I'll update again after Sunday.

[KK812]

Wow! That sounds awesome! Definitely let us know how it goes! If you get a chance, you could also take pictures of your "stations" and such :D Have fun!

PS~You're not a dork about the costs thing-I do that with our meals, too :D I have a whole chart with the foods I buy and what I payed for them. I also keep track of price fluctuation :p