About

The History of the Blog

I began this blog in February of 2009. I had done once a month cooking (also commonly referred to as freezer cooking, bulk cooking, power cooking and OAMC) several times in the past in an effort to save time and avoid eating out. It turned out several others were interested in learning about what I was doing as well.

In the summer of 2008, while on modified bed rest with my first pregnancy, I became interested in blogs. They were absolutely fascinating to me and I learned so much. With the technical help of my husband, I was encouraged to take my once a month cooking skills and apply them to a blog. It seemed like a great way to share my created menus with others. Hence, Once A Month Mom was born!

A Little About Me – Tricia Callahan

I became a SAHM in the summer of 2008 with the birth of my first son. My family grew fast from there as my second child, a girl, was born in December of 2009. I am an avid once a month cook (also referred to as OAMC, bulk cooking, power cooking and freezer cooking) who loves having food in the freezer for easy meals. I have taken this love into the baby realm and started preparing once a month baby food menus as well. I love the Lord and am so blessed to be able to stay home with my little one, to be learning how to save money, trying to make the most out of life, and doing the “chores” once a month so I can enjoy more time with my family!

Contributing Writers

In 2010 Once A Month Mom hit a growth spurt as a friendly conversation with a my blogging friend Christine turned into an all new blogging adventure! We began adding specialty menus to meet the needs of our growing readership and dietary needs. None of those menus would be possible without the contribution of some tremendous authors who are passionate about their specialty. And I can attest to being blessed by each and every one of them!

Traditional – Pam Odd

Pam Odd is a wife, mommy of three, blogger, couponer, artist, and pre-mommy first-grade teacher who is on a never-ending quest to keep it all balanced. Although fairly new to the OAMM freezer cooking method, she’s been stocking her freezer for years, always looking for shortcuts to relieve stress during what she calls the “evil dinner hour.” You know, the one where you’re staring into the fridge or cupboards, trying to figure out what in the world to make, only to leave the kitchen and discover the kiddos have pulled an entire package of baby wipes out of the container, one lovely wipe at a time–or that a marker masterpiece has been drawn on the cursed WHITE carpet. Not that she knows about that or anything.

Pam loves cooking and experimenting with recipes, but also understands need for convenient, healthy, budget-friendly, family friendly meals and so she prepares menus with her own young (sometimes picky) family in mind. She also finds time to be creative on her own blog Keeping Life Creative.

Diet – Jimmie Kennedy

Jimmie is a new mom who lives in North Dakota with her meteorologist husband, their daughter (born in March 2011), and two spoiled-rotten cats, Nimbus and Stratus. She works full-time as a resource analyst for a local university, and somehow finds time to pursue her master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology one evening a week. Summers in North Dakota find Jimmie and her little family enjoying the beautiful weather by biking, camping, and storm chasing. When the weather gets colder, however, you’ll find them bundled up at hockey games, snowmobile races, and curling bonspiels. Jimmie has been in the kitchen for as long as she can remember – even before she was big enough to reach the counter top, helping Mom and Grandma make their family favorites. She knows that having easy access to wholesome and nutritious foods is a huge help in maintaining a healthy diet, which is how she became interested in once-a-month freezer cooking in the first place. She is excited to join the Once a Month Mom team, and is passionate about sharing and creating diet-friendly recipes as part of her own healthy lifestyle and weight loss journey.

Whole Foods – Kelly Seaton

Kelly is a full-time working mom in the construction industry (yep, you read that right). She is married to a wonderful man and mother to a busy toddler. She enjoys cooking wholesome meals for her family and has recently become interested in OAMC (once a month cooking) and enjoys the challenge of planning her meals around what shows up in her CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box! She wears many hats as she is also passionate about being a Doula and helping mothers have their best birth possible. Her family lives in Colorado and enjoys spending time outdoors and being a self proclaimed foodie.

Gluten Free and Dairy Free – Angela Litzinger

Angela has been creating gluten and dairy free meals for nearly a decade for herself and her family. Since then she has been creating in the kitchen in an effort to produce meals that her family can handle but that also taste good. Locally she teaches classes and writes her own blog, Angela’s Kitchen.

Vegetarian – Kristi Arnold

Kristi Arnold began her career as a photojournalist in 2001. She has been the editor and all-around newspaperwoman at several community newspapers in the Midwest as well as the Atlanta metropolitan area. Kristi earned her bachelor’s of photojournalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and also has a master’s of science in criminal justice. She began her career as a stay-at-home mom in 2009 and has since been striving to satisfy her non-vegetarian husband and child with meat substitutes and “fake” versions of family favorites. With the addition of her second daughter in 2010, the cooking critiques are sure to become even more complex over the next year. Kristi’s favorite recipes are standard family recipes converted into a vegetarian-friendly version. You can follow her challenge to do a recipe conversion each day in 2011 on her own blog too, Veggie Converter.

Baby/Toddler Food – Melissa

Jack of All Trades – Lisa Sawtelle