Hi Ruthie - nothing multi-course structured as we are kind of one-dish meal eaters here. We do it with casseroles, spaghetti sauce (then we just have to cook the pasta as needed), chili, crockpot meals (just double the ingredients), and wife makes a mean beef stew ;) that freezes well. The heavy duty bags that come with our new Foodsaver (thanks Ken!!) make it even easier. Been a lifesaver for me when wife has to be off with family or such.

Dave

I also make a lot of meat pies and these are easy to freeze in FS bags. When I need a quick dinner, its just a matter of putting one in the oven and bake it an hour. Yesterday, I made a big batch of Peking Raviolis and also some breakfast sausage patties for the freezer. Had a couple of frozen baked stuffed peppers made two summers ago and some of my frozen broccoli from last summer, last night for dinner.

I just put an extra tuna casserole in the freezer this weekend. Mixed everything up, split between two 8 x 8 pans and baked. I lined the one intended for the freezer with foil before baking, then froze it right in the pan overnight. The next day, I dipped the pan in hot water to release and wrapped it well and put it back in the freezer.
I don't do it as a planned activity, but there are just some things I make in big batches like spaghetti sauce, chili, soups, etc. I always freeze the extra for an easy meal later.

Deanna

I used to cook once a week (on Sundays) when I worked 40-50 hours and spent at least three hours per day commuting. I didn't cook all my vegetables ahead though. I would make those when I got home. Just the quick ones like green beans, brussel sprouts, etc. All the main courses, longer cooking vegetables, and casserole type things were done on Sunday.

I still do big batch cooking from time to time and if I turn on my huge oven I always cook several things. I hate wasting all that electricity.

Once in a while the stores have sales on boneless skinless chickan breasts. I usuallt pound these out to about 1/4 inch thick. Add a smear of spicy mustard, a slice or swiss cheese and a slice of my Canadian bacon. Fold up the items inside the breast and coat the outside with seasoned bread crumbs. They cook in about 30-40 minutes. One time I had forgotton that I wrapped one in plastic wrap, but it cooked up just fine even with the plastic wrap left on. I usually wrap them in plastic wrap to reduce the loss of the bread crumbs that tend to fall off if I try bagging in FS bags alone.

This coming summer its a big crop of brussles sprouts, but this time I will be wrapping each plant in light weight fabric to reduce the fungus gnats that tend to get into the leaf layers.

I don't do the once a week thing but I do try to cook something on the weekend that I can eat for lunch most of the week, like chili or whole wheat pizzas.

This weekend I went to Trader Joe's and was tempted by the frozen veggie burritos and spanakopita, so I decided to make and freeze my own. So now my freezer is full of that, and I will eat a few of each every week until they're gone, but I will still cook other meals.

I also just decided to start cooking half of my dog's meals (using the diet recommendations by Lew Olsen at b-naturals.com). So my freezer now has portions of chicken and beef and liver. I could probably be cooking more of that at a time so I don't have to do it every week.

I need to make a blackberry cobbler and an apple pie to free up some freezer space.

Melissa

I'll make a casserole and split it in half and freeze or divide soup into multi dishes or make 2 meatloaves and freeze one. I'll make a batch of zucchini or pumpkin bread and freeze loaves. It sure helps when we have the flu or don't have time to cook.

My mom and I get together and make stuffed cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, soup (this Thurs) and Foodsaver them for later use. Anything on sale & in season. My allotment usually lasts a few months.

I don't do any huge cooking days, but I frequently make a big batch of something like soups or stews, and then freeze meal-sized portions for future reference. They sure come in handy on rushed days.... or if I just don't feel like cooking.

We do some of the cook ahead and freeze sort of things but it isn't like making planned meals for the week or anything. Actually, most of the cooked ahead stuff in the freezer is perfect lunch type stuff like chili, stew, soup, etc. There are a couple of meat loves in there though.
When the other half gets into a break baking kick, we usually wind up with a freezer full of bread.

As to the chili and soup in the freezer, I'm gonna try and use that up to make more space for things that are best frozen and I'll do the chili or soup in the pressure canner in the future. I like the idea of just opening and warming up soup or chili for lunch and not needing to take it out of the freezer the day or two before to thaw out.

The Home Forum here on Garden Web has a great site under the Cooking Forum for Once a Week Cooking that gives you lots of ideas for preparing multiple meals from one cooking day. I've referred to it often since I get so busy canning in the middle of summer that I have no time to cook - but thawing and reheating in the micro what I've made early in the year when I'm waiting for the new stuff to grow works wonderfully well.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/onceaweek/
If you can't paste, then go to the top of the Garden Web page, click on Forums, choose Home (instead of Garden), scroll down and click on Cooking Forum, then choose Once a Week Cooking Forum on the bar above the messages displayed.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Once A Week Cooking Forum

All the time! Soups, stews, casseroles, crab or salmon cakes, even some roasts are made ahead and either frozen or canned up for those nights I come home and nothng is ready to cook (because I forgot to defrost) or I am just to worn out from work.

Dinner tomorrow night will be my canned Goulash with my canned red cabbage and some pototoes as I have a late appointment after work. When you get home at 7:30 it is a great help.

Those extra few minutes of prep work pay off.

Not as far a Once a Month or even A Week, but I sure have come to love making big-batch stews and mulitple casseroles at once. We received an upright freezer as a housewarming gift---best one EVER---and it's made all the diff in the world. On nights I feel like cooking, I do. When I don't, there is something to defrost. When I don't even want to THINK about it, DH does hamburgers or a frozen pizza (his repertoire is small but expert. ;-) )

This past weekend I put up individual batches of chicken & rice and some more of turkey & mashed potatoes for my mother, who broke her wrist. Just in time I remembered to cut up the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces before the containers went into the freezer so she can eat 'em one-handed!

Z

I always can 6 pint jars of dried beans when I prepare them. This is about 1 1/2 lbs of dried beans.

Some folks laugh at me for canning dried beans since they will keep as-is, but the 'Heat-n-Eat'convenience is worth the effort (to me, as a single person).

I do most of our meals on the weekend due to how late I get home at night. When my daughter lived at home, we did the once a month cooking for a long time. I don't have patience for that anymore though.

However, when I make certain dishes (soups, stews, casseroles for example) I double them and freeze 1 or 2 more meals for the next month.

Nancy