Traditional September 2012 Menu
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The Traditional menu is designed for the “traditional” or “average American family”. It is favorites you would find in a majority of kitchens across the country. If you aren’t the average american family you may wish to try out one of our specialty menus. If you are new and not sure how to get started we have a wonderful series starting with 5 easy steps to get you on your way to once a month cooking. Good luck! If you like this menu you might want to check out all our past Traditional menusor in-season menus – September 2009′s, September 2010′s or September 2011′s menus if you are looking for something different!
Mini Sausage and Mushroom Omelette Muffins
Breakfasts
- Mini Sausage and Mushroom Omelette Muffins
- Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Croissants
- No Bake Apple Oatmeal Cookies
Lunches
Grilled Honey Soy Flank Steak
Dinners
- Baked Pesto Chicken**
- Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
- Ginger Pork Tenderloin**
- Asian Spice Infused Salmon**
- Grilled Honey Soy Flank Steak**
- Dorito Chicken Cheese Casserole**
- Crockpot Cheesy Beef Pasta**
- Slow Cooker Jambalaya**
**Indicates meals that require NO COOKING on your OAMC BIG DAY aka “throw and go” meals, perfect for the family who needs to adjust to just do the quick meals!
Recipe Cards
OAMM Members Only!Become a Member or Sign In to gain access.
Grocery List
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Instructions
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Labels
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Pinterest:
Are you a person that likes to see the menus visually? Perhaps you should check out the September 2012 Traditional Menu via Pinterest to see the yummy goodness you will be cooking up on this menu. Not sure what Pinterest is all about, check out what Once A Month Mom has to say about it.
Test Cooks
Each month we have some wonderful volunteers who “test” out the menu prior to publication. They do an amazing job of helping to eliminate confusion and mistakes. They may not catch everything but they sure do catch A LOT! If you are interested in test cook, feel free to volunteer. Here is a little bit about this month’s test cooks:
- Meredith Koplinka- I am a stay-at-home mom with 2 1/2 year old twins-a boy and a girl – who keep me moving! As such, I especially appreciate having a freezer full of healthy, homemade meals ready to go. Cooking a month’s worth of meals with the twins scrambling at my feet is a challenge, but the end result is well worth it. As a family, we enjoy visiting local attractions, exploring area parks and playgrounds, farming at our CSA, and taking long walks together.
Get Started
Are you new to Once A Month Mom or once a month cooking (oamc) in general? If so, you might want to spend a few minutes (or hours) on the Get Started Series. If you are in a real hurry to catch on we have written some simple steps for getting started. Welcome!
I’m disappointed to see this blog has gone from moms helping and supporting other moms to yet another place trying to take our money! There are plenty of other blots that incorporate freezers cooking for free Ill be using instead! This makes me sad!
You should probably check out the announcement as only 10% of the site is paid – http://onceamonthmom.com/once-a-month-mom-fall-2012-changes/
I completely agree…Why should we have to pay for membership when there are plenty of FREE things out there!
This sense of entitlement is what is wrong with our country. People are not willing to pay for honest work. Tell me why the people who run this site and spend hours of their time (away from their children) should not get paid. I think anyone who is willing to provide a service for others should be paid for their time. I think people, especially mothers who are raising children, should pass this level of integrity on. You do not go to work for free. You expect your boss to pay you for your time. Your comment makes you a hypocrite. If you want free go and get it. But you do not have the right to chastise in an attempt to get something for nothing. You spend more than $7 a month on Macdonalds.
I agree with you about the entitlement. Those that are complaining need to get busy and create their own lists, menus, and step-by-step lists if they would rather not pay. Better yet, they can create a blog that relies on the input of many people to keep it up and running. Lots of work goes into keeping a blog active and that work costs money – whether it be the salary a person gives up to create the blog, the cost of the internet to do the communications, the cost of the web addy to have a one stop shop.
Laziness – pure laziness!
I too am dissapointed, I did the Once a month cooking for the first time and I really liked it so I bragged to so many people about this awesome free site that you can make donations if you have the funds- then I come on here to try out some new recipes and It costs $8.00 a month! I mean jeez we are trying to save money not spend it! I understand the costs of running a site and all that but $8.00 maybe if it were around 3 or 4 I could see signing up, but I can go out and buy cookbooks for that much cash a year- really too bad hope I can find another free site.
Hi Lisa, make sure you watch this post- http://onceamonthmom.com/once-a-month-mom-fall-2012-changes/. Only about 10% of the site will be locked to members only- all the recipes are still available as before as well as menus from before 2012.
Ditto to what Sally said! I will go somewhere else too.
Marsha, do you realize that only 10% of the site is going to paid membership? You will still have access to all of our everyday recipe posts, regular posts, menu posts where we show all the links for that menu, etc. See this post http://onceamonthmom.com/once-a-month-mom-fall-2012-changes/ We are charging to make the site even more customizable for you and your families.
Congrats on the membership site! You ladies deserve to be paid for all the hours and hours you pour into the site. You’re always here, all hours to answer everyone’s questions. The menus are AWESOME and I definately save more money than the membership fee is every month. I can’t tell you how much more time I’ve had with my kids that I didn’t have before, how much we’ve saved on fast food on the nights when we had nothing prepared and my DH and I were exhausted from work. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)
I completely agree, you ladies run a beautiful website and $7 a month is NOT expensive for the time and effort you put into customizing the menus. Great job, and I hope it becomes off the charts successful! Thank you for all you do to help women (and probably some men) manage their households.
I have absolutely no problem paying the membership cost. The work that goes into running this site must be huge and the fact that you take the time to do it all is amazing. The way I see it is that we are saving so much of our time using this site so why not pay for the use of it. If you were to hire someone to plan a month of meals for you I guarantee you would be spending so much more. The organization, the shopping lists and the plans to make it all in one day is worth it to me. I save way more than 8$ with all these features and meal planning. Keeps me from running to a fast food joint because I don’t feel like cooking that day. Thank you for your time and effort in running this site!! I think it is wonderful!
And THANK YOU for recognizing the hard work and dedication. ENJOY!
I have been a roamer on this site for years and I am amazed at how long this site was free for all of the content that was there.
I don’t think this is so much of making a buck as it is being paid for services that are provided. Sure you can take your recipes and add to an excel sheet and then customize it but why do that when for a few dollars a month you can have it done for you and get labels and grocery lists set to what you want to make. I’m not sure I will become a member just because I never set a whole day aside to cook. I usually do it one or two dishes in a day. I love all the recipes that I have tried from here and will continue to roam the site. Thanks for all the work over years.
Heather, thanks for your support!
I think you gals are wonderful and don’t mind getting a membership. You gals are regular moms just like us that take time out of your lives to do this. I don’t think it is a bad thing that if you want the customizable part you should have a paid membership to get it. It is extra work for you gals!!
I’m excited to have quality meals, planned for me, for $7.00…sounds like a bargain to me! :) Thanks for all the work you’ve done here, I’m a new fan!
Yeah, Once A Month Mom! I am a newer user of your menu planning tools, and an avid fan already! With a family of 6 and cooking NOT being one of my passions, your site has saved my beloved from the Mac-N-Cheese, spaghetti, grilled cheese & tomato soup routine. . .not to mention the endless “eat-out” unplanned meals all because I don’t have a good answer for the 3:30 pm daily question, “What’s for dinner, honey?” I totally understand why you need to begin charging for these tools! I am happy to pay, and am so thankful for the monthly payment option. . .making it doable for my budget! Thanks so much for all of your help!!
Disappointing. I understand that there is a lot of work that goes into this site, and I do appreciate that, but I JUST found this site on Aug 31 (1 day before membership was required for recipes, grocery lists, and lables)and am not willing to buy a membership without having a chance to try it out and see if I can actually handle this. Too bad – but if anyone has any suggestions of other similar sites, I’d be interested – Thanks!
As an afterthought – too bad there isn’t a “free trial” option, because if I knew I could handle this, I might be interested in a membership.
Diana check out all the menus prior to January 2012, they will all be free. There are plenty for you to peruse through and get your feet wet.
Diana, make sure to watch the video on this post. 90% of the site will still be free AND there are menus and documents available prior to 2012 so you can try it out to see how it goes. Hopefully this will help! http://onceamonthmom.com/once-a-month-mom-fall-2012-changes/
Diana – I found this site that is still free – http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net
I just want to say thanks for mentioning my Greek Salad! I appreciate the link! Have a great week. :)
I just did my first big cooking day yesterday for myself and dh yesterday–we’re not parents. The dh was telling a friend on facebook about it, ran out to tell me that you guys were starting a paid membership, and all I could say was “good for them! I can’t believe how much work they put into making this so easy!” It was an exhausting day, but everything is delicious, and the time you all put into curating the recipes, and translating them into a system is completely worth it. Thank you for all that you do, and we’re looking forward to contributing to your work.
Thanks so much and so glad you “enjoyed” your cooking day. :)
Just noticed the amount for chicken doesn’t match on the recipe cards and shopping list. Do you know which is right?
Chelsea it seems to match to me. Are you referring to the chopping list? If so, then the numbers are correct but we have separated out how much of the total amount you should put into the slow cooker to cook overnight. That chicken is used in the recipes where cooked chicken is needed. Does that help clarify?
Sorry, that is one the traditional menu for September 2012
Like one of the previous posts, I, too, found your site a day or two before paid membership and I was saying to my dh how I was amazed all this was for free. Congrats to you all and as of now am starting with a one mth membership just to see if I can handle this. Because I am not a cook whatsoever, one of the recipes calls for 4 cups cooked chicken(family of 4) what would be the easiest/least expensive way to do this?
Melissa WELCOME! So glad you have joined us – check out these posts about cooking chicken – http://onceamonthmom.com/sliced-diced-chicken/ & use this method for chicken breasts too – http://onceamonthmom.com/sliced-diced-ground-beef/. You may want to start with these great posts also – http://onceamonthmom.com/category/resources/get-started/.
I don’t have a mini muffin tin for the zucchini tots and I really can’t go get one right now- what can I use instead? Will they stick together if I just drop them in tablespoons on a cookie sheet?
Hi Jessica, you could try just dropping them on a cookie sheet but I would just use a regular muffin tin. You could fill them halfway full so they aren’t too big. If you try the cookie sheet, let me know how it goes!
Hi, I am interested in the once a month cooking as my family has a SERIOUS fast food problem cause we are too tired to cook and nothing good to make most nights… and the budget and our waistlines are suffering for it, but I’m really confused :(… There are only 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 8 dinners up there but 30 days in a month?? How is that little amount supposed to suffice a family for a whole month?! I can see repeating meals, but that would be the same meals every week almost which I would not like :( Am I missing something?
Hi Natalie, you eat everything twice so technically you have 16 dinners, 8 lunches, and 6 breakfasts. I don’t know how it works for your family but most of mine is gone at lunch time so we eat the lunches for dinner sometimes. Also, we account for the fact that there will be nights that you do cook on occasion or go out with friends, have sandwiches, etc. When I cook the menus, it usually lasts me about 1.5 months. Hope that helps. I promise- even if you only repalce fast food for 16 nights out of the month, it will transform dinnertime for you.
I found your site about 3 months ago and really love it. I have told several people about your site because it is such a time saver. I am dissappointed that you have to pay now but after I got done pouting I realized there is alot of work tha goes into this site and my family will still benefit from it.
I do have a question about your revised site before I decide to become a member. Before if I didn’t want to make a certain menu I would just delete the recipe card and then go through the grocery list and manually cross off the unneeded items. Will the updated site automatically do this for me?
Ariene, thank you for the compliments and we are glad that it makes sense to you (and I TOTALLY understand the pouting period). :) That functionality is not available right now. You still have to manually do it. In the future (we aren’t certain when) we hope to add that. We will let everyone know when that is on the horizon but don’t expect it to be in 2012.
Hi there! I am doing my cooking today and have a question about the diced tomatoes. It seems like the numbers don’t match up for the total. I think I have too much rotel tomatoes and not enough plain diced tomatoes. If you look at the grocery list they are roughly the same amount, however, only one recipe list the rotel and 3 list the plain diced tomatoes. I see Rotel tomatoes is needed for the Doritos Chicken Casserole. The Beef Pasta, Bruschetta, and Jambalaya call for plain diced tomatoes, however, it would appear one total for tomatoes was added to the rotel amount on the grocery list. Was more than one recipe meant to use Rotel tomatoes? and if so which one? Either way I am short plain diced tomatoes and have extra Rotel so which one would you recommend me using the extra Rotel in? Thanks!
Hi Laura, sorry about the confusion on that. We’ll look into it to make sure the formulas line up. In the meantime, I would use the rotel in the Jambalaya if I was to pick one. Of course, I’m from Texas so I’d really put Rotel in almost any of those. :)
Hello! I just joined but I’m technically challenged…never worked with spreadsheets and its blowing my mind! I have my google spread sheet up and changed the servings but now what? How do I select which recipes I want to make and find the corresponding grocery list, instructions, etc. Help me please
Cindy, can you see all the recipes at the bottom? Right now, you can’t pick and choose which recipes and have it talk to the grocery list. We are working towards that in the future. But there is a seperate grocery document and a seperate instruction document that you will be able to access. If you have more questions or still can’t find them, let me know!
I’ve been using your site for a few months now and sadly got away from it over the busy summer months (when I needed it the most). I’m looking forward to filling my freezer this weekend with meals for the family. I appreciate all of the time and energy that you put into this site and support the new membership structure; in my opinion a few dollars a month is well worth the convenience and the extra time that I get to spend with my family throughout the month rather than sitting at the stove each night or stressing about what I’m going to cook for dinner. Thank you for all you do!
I came across this website through Pinterest a week ago and joined. I have never thought about doing once a month cooking before but I just started law school and reading is taking over my life; and I don’t want to end up eating fast food for every meal! Today was my first day cooking. I have to say that I absolutely loved it!!! I found everything extremely easy to follow. You did all of my thinking for me and I really appreciate it! Thank you for taking the time to do this!
AWESOME! We are so glad you liked it!
I’m looking forward to making dinner time easier. With our family size of 6, and two under two its hard to get dinner started most days! I think I can spare $7 for all the information and help that I believe I can get from your site, and even see savings in our monthly grocery bill as well. I’m so glad I was able to join, free or not :)
That’s great to hear Cassi! Welcome to the site and we promise you’ll see a difference! Happy Mom = Happy Family!
I just finished my first OAMC day! I am exhausted, my feet are killing me and so is my back, but I am so excited and already know it is worth it, I won’t have to worry for the month about food!
Seeing all the complaints about paying, I have to say I am sorry that so many are unthankful all the work you girls are doing, I am THANKFUL to ONLY pay $8 a month for someone else to do the planning, grocery list, labels and being able to customize to my family size! If those other ladies have the time and energy to do all that on their own than good for them. But I am one who ends up at McDonalds when I don’t have a plan.
However, I did have a few problems today, I forgot to put the mushrooms in the muffins, but that was my fault. and also my fault is I ran out of cooked chicken, so I didnt get to make one of the meals. So it is a great idea to actually use the measurements of meat, instead of thinking “ya that looks like 3.5 cups”. Also, the list of supplies didn’t list the silicone muffin liners, so I had to use paper and will lose some of the “eggs” there. There were a few meals that I think will feed us 3 times instead of 2 and that is great! Lastly, the nobake cookies will not set, they are just mushy and fall apart =( don’t know why.
Oh and the chicken in the crock pot, By the time I got to that part of the day, I could have just started it in the morning, not having to cook it overnight. My day was 10 hours long using the September Traditional menu.
Janel, thanks for the support and kind words! And we appreciate the feedback. Measuring is definitely important with the cooked meat- though I admit I’m bad about just saying, oh this is enough and then having too much/too little leftover. A tip on the no bake cookies: it’s important to boil the exact amount of time or over. I’ve found that the “sticking” level is better the longer they boil. Congrats on making it through your first OAMC day!
I was perusing through the comments and I felt the need to say something. I just joined this site a couple of days ago. I have a toddler, and my husband and I run our own business. We have very little time and dinner is a constant source of irritation for us. When I discovered this site I was willing to spend $7 or $8 to try it out and see if it worked for me. Afterall, I pay much more than that for “to go” dinners at the grocery store and all the different meal delivery services that I’ve tried that were disappointing. I give financial advice as a career. It’s amazing to me how many people think it’s okay to listen to my advice and not pay the fee. These are clients not worth having. I spent years and countless hours honing my skills so that I may help others with something I just so happen to be good at. I do give volunteer hours to help people, I take on clients who cannot afford my fee, and I work for reduced fees for those who can pay a little. Why should the developers of this program not be compensated for the time they put into developing a program that will make MY life easier? I don’t do well at time management and/or cooking and I am willing to pay for that help. I’ve always been a believer in “you get what you pay for” as well as “you get back what you put in 3 fold”. For those of you not willing to pay the fee, that is your right and your privelege. By all means, go to the free sites, and if that works for you and your family then great. But for me and my family, I need the help and am willing to pay the fee to get it. No one should condemn you for your choices, I just don’t like to see anyone chastised for their beliefs or choices they make and at the same time would request to not be chastised for a choice I make.
Thank you for the subscription portion of the site. I am so happy that you have found a way to make some money off all the hard work that you all do. I am happy to pay 8.00 and just print what I need and get to work. You are saving me a whole day of planning that honestly, I just don’t have the time or creativity to put together right now. I can spend my time cooking, not planning, and move on with life. THANK YOU!
I have done once a month cooking for a very long time using my own recipes. I have to pull the recipes, create the shopping list, etc and I am so tired of eating the same things over and over! I am excited to join to add your menus to my regulars! I promise, the time I spend pulling it all together on my own is worth much much more than the money I just put down for a year membership! My three boys and husband say thank you for the variety, and I say thanks for the organization!!! :) Lisa
I agree and I was able to access this site for the summer. It is totally worth it. I will be getting my membership soon. You ladies deserve to be paid for your creative work and all your efforts.
Just paid my membership, heading out shopping to cook tomorrow. DH and I are MORE than pleased to contribute!
I love this site, just talked over the membership fee with my hubby and we’ve both decided that the amount of time planning and preparing that is saved as well as the money that is saved by having meals planned & easy to prepare is well worth the membership fee. I still know our family is saving lots of money using this service, avoiding emergency dinners out after a long day at work because I know there is something easy to fix at home is AMAZING. Also, you make grocery shopping easy breezy! Love it. Keep up the good work! We appreciate all you do on this site for moms and familys!
Hi! We tried your site out using the August traditional menu and we absolutely LOVED your service and then all of the delicious food throughout the month. I can not tell you how much I appreciated not having to plan, shop or cook throughout the month since it was already done!
I’m more than happy to now get a membership, but I’ll do monthly for a while to make sure we keep doing this. Can I join for a month now and still access September’s menu or do I have to just do October’s set menu? Thanks!!
If you join for the month, you have access to all the menus, for every month during that set time period. So, you could access both Sept, Oct or even March if you wanted. Make sense? Glad you are enjoying it. :)
Hi! Just I’d my chopping for Sept, but I have 10 extra peppers. My shopping list said to buy 8 each color pepper, but after I chopped according to directions I still have 10 left. Did I do something wrong? This is just my 2nd time attempting this and we can’t wait to try all of these meals. Thanks for the great service, you make it so easy!
Lindsey, we will look into it. How many people are you cooking for so we can check the equation. Thanks!
We are cooking for 4 people. Thx!
Thanks Lindsey, I’m not sure what happened there but the pepper amounts somehow were doubled and missed our test cooks and auditor. It’s corrected now. Sorry for the extras! Make some hummus or fajitas! :)