Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month (2026)

Saving money on cook day eat month does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• The title, Once a Month Cooking, made me laugh.
• I didn’t need a book to do that.
• I needed the motivation to cook the other 29 days of the month!

The title, Once a Month Cooking, made me laugh. Cook once a month? I didn’t need a book to do that. I needed the motivation to cook the other 29 days of the month!

I didn’t actually read that book until years later when I met up with co-author Mary Beth Lagerborg, when we were both on some TV show back in the early days of HGTV. I learned that “once-a-month cooking” is a method of preparing a month’s (or two weeks’) dinner entrees in one mega-cooking session, and then freezing them for use throughout the month.

While Mary Beth, along with her co-author Mimi Wilson has developed a specific and thorough plan for preparing numerous meals at one time, any effort that results in preparing meals now to be used later has decided benefits:

1. Convenience

Entrees in the freezer provide take-out convenience but with the aroma, appeal, and taste of home cooking.

2. Simplification

Nothing unravels the seams of family time faster than having nothing on hand for dinner. Knowing dinner’s ready to go promotes household calm and peace. 

3. Flexibility

Having your freezer stocked with entrees means you can welcome last-minute guests without feeling embarrassed, ticked off, or stressed out. A meal-stocked freezer allows a family to carry on even when the home keeper is traveling, has surgery, has a new baby, or when the holidays approach.

4. Economy

Take-out food is expensive. So are trips to the market at 5:00 pm. A quick stop for milk can result in a basket filled with impulse items.

Not what you may think

Contrary to what numerous believe, not all frozen entrees are high in carbohydrates and fat. The authors of Once-a-Month Cooking have been careful to develop recipes that freeze well, are nutritional, and are not high in fat. They’ve even addressed the challenge of freezer space, insisting that by following specific instructions, a month’s worth of meals for a family of big eaters can fit into the freezer portion of the typical refrigerator.

Trying to go from barely cooking to cooking for an entire month in one session may represent an unreasonable leap. Instead, work up to it.

Start small

When you make that meatloaf for tonight’s dinner, make two. Before baking, wrap one of them tightly, label and pop it into the freezer. There! You’re on your way. You’ve anticipated a dinner meal for another day.

Ramp up slowly

Do the same thing tomorrow and the next day. Soon you’ll be ready to advance to the next level of mega-meal preparation, preparing a week’s worth of entrees at one time. Then move to two weeks and perhaps eventually an entire month’s worth of meals. You might even consider turning your efforts into a social event by cooking together with a friend and then sharing the results.

Resources

Meet Mary Beth and Mimi at OnceAMonthCooking.com.

Save $8.90 Once-A-Month Cooking: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day $19.99 $11.09 Purchase on Amazon

If the idea of cooking for a day and then eating for a month appeals to you, I highly recommend that you pick up both Mary Beth and Mimi’s books, which are just terrific: Once-A-Month Cooking and Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites. They’ve done all the hard work for you, so you and your friends can relax and have all the fun.

Trust me, Mary Beth and Mimi know their stuff. In the decades since they first formulated their ingenious method of once-a-month cooking, millions of adoring fans have more than proven this is a system that’s here to stay!

You don’t have to be a super savvy chef to pull your family together each week for these light and simple, simple-to-prepare meals. Revised to reflect today’s healthier diet, this revised edition explains how to: plan ahead, spend less time at the supermarket, cut down on prep time, group similar kitchen tasks together to get them all done at once, make kitchen clean-up more manageable, and use the freezer, computer, and your head to create a month full of delicious meals!

Contains numerous simple, prepare-ahead recipes for dinner-time success such as:

• Baked JambalayaMexican
• Chicken Lasagna
• Chicken Taco Salad
• Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork
• Veal Scaloppini

And more!

Whether you are a busy parent on the go or you just want a quick dinner to warm your spirit, you’ll be instantly hooked on this cookbook classic and its fool-proof Once-a-Month Cooking method!

Save $10.60 Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites $22.00 $11.40 Purchase on Amazon

Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg are back with a brand new book that features their Once-A-Month Cooking ™ technique guaranteed to save time and money. Filled with all-new cycles, two one-month, two two-week, and three specialty cycles: gourmet, summer, and gluten-free, their trademark method remains the same: You shop for an entire cycle all at once, buying in bulk and saving money. You do all the food prep for the cycle the next day, freezing and refrigerating what needs to be kept cold, stocking the pantry when appropriate. Then, as the family assembles for mealtime, you do some quick finishing and it’s ready - fast and delicious! Once-a-Month Cooking™ Family Favorites has something for every kind of eater and includes such soon-to-be favorites as:

• Adobe Chicken
• Baked Mediterranean Cod
• Chicken Wild Rice Soup
• County-Style Ribs
• Texas-Style Lasagna

With the perfect plan in hand and bulk shopping at economically-friendly prices, the Once-A-Month Cooking ™ technique is a surefire way to get a delicious dinner on the table fast so that you can spend more time with your family!

EverydayCheapskate is reader supported. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for publishers to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and other affiliated sites. Thanks!

 

 

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Final Thoughts

Before you check out, double-check cook day eat month against current offers and any coupons you can stack. Small habits like this add up to real savings over a year.

Originally published at everydaycheapskate.com.