Whole Foods Once A Month Freezer Cooking
Pure and simple. Isn’t that what we all strive for in life? Why shouldn’t it be the same with the food you eat? It’s the fuel for your body and mind, so why complicate it? The Whole Foods Once A Month Mom menu is here to help you achieve just that: simple meals with unprocessed, fresh, local and seasonal ingredients while still keeping your valued time in mind. Whole Foods can take more time to prepare, but they are worth every minute you spend, and you will not be disappointed with the end result. We will coordinate our OAMC menu to still keep your cooking day within reason, but capable of being easily spread out over a few days if you choose.
Types of Food Included
This menu will focus on simple ingredients and as little to no processed foods as possible. The menu will help you to look in more detail at the items you purchase from your local stores. To quote Michael Pollan, “If it came from a plant eat it, if it’s made in a plant, don’t” and, “If your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize the ingredients, you shouldn’t buy it,” and simply, “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Yes, technically all food is processed in some way, picking from the garden is a process. Simply put, we will strive for no GMO (genetically modified organisms), no HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), and no artificial ingredients in this menu.
We’ll help you to shop outside of the box by encouraging you to find farmers’ markets, participate in a CSA, or even start your own garden! We will include a good blend of meat and meatless dishes. You’ll also find that we will adapt original recipes to add healthier twists and more real food adjustments. We will not use artificial sweeteners or lower fat ingredients, which may come as a shock, but it will help teach moderation! Occasionally, there will be a few additional recipes on making some “convenience” items at home as well.
However, we will sometimes buy natural/organic items instead of making our own due to time, resources, season, etc. (If you have the time or have the homemade version on hand, by all means, use it.) We will be sure to list stores or provide you with links on where to purchase those items. We will do our best to select recipes and provide you with add-ons that will not only be the best choice for your families, but make the most sense in terms of time. Again this menu will take longer than the other menus to achieve a month worth of meals.
Once A Mom Etiquette
As we move towards having a Once A Month Mom Whole Foods section, please be aware that there are other menu options that DO include processed foods and/or foods that you would not find to be Whole Foods friendly. However, we are one community geared around freezer cooking. So be mindful of others and that their ways may not be yours. Also note that if you subscribe to Once A Month Mom that you will also receive recipes from the other menus and therefore those recipes may not be geared to Whole Foods, feel free to skip pass them or to adapt them to your Whole Foods lifestyle.
Whole Foods Once A Month Mom Format
Similar to the Diet OAMM menus, you can easily customize the recipe cards and grocery list to the number of persons in your household. To adjust, we have come up with some detailed explanations on using these specialized menu cards. Please read this document carefully.
Breakfast Recipes – 3
These breakfast ideas will help everyone start their day off right with a full belly. There will also be a recipe that you can use for those lazy mornings when you want something a little more hearty.
Lunch Recipes – 3
Lunches will be hearty yet light to get you through the peak of the day. They will be as family friendly as possible to keep everyone happy! A majority of the time these meals are geared to be served cold or to have minimal prep on the stovetop or microwave. If they needed heated they will be in readily available means that are quick and easy, for example microwaved. This way, whether you are feeding the family at home or preparing a meal at work, you don’t waste the lunch hour in the kitchen for your food to be prepared.
Dinner Recipes – 6
Dinner will be a good variety for you to choose from. As mentioned before, there will be a good blend of meat and meatless variety to keep you and your food budgets feeling good
Also keep in mind that we will be having you create enough servings for your family to eat each of these recipes twice throughout the month. Therefore you should have an overall yield of 24 meals from this menu. No, it is not enough for every meal every day, but we are confident that you will find that it is more than enough for a month when you figure in dinners with friends, outings, church gatherings, dining out and more.
This is SO EXCITING!!! I was just searching around yesterday, looking for healthy OAMC recipes, and thinking how so many of the supposedly healthy ones are still full of super processed stuff (fat free cream of mushroom soup, anyone?) My CSA starts again in a couple of weeks, and I love finding new ways to use the offerings in my box, but I will love even MORE having things that are pre-prepped or can use up large quantities that we might receive.
THANKS!!!
Thank YOU Laura! We can’t wait to share with you what we have in store.
you know you can make your own cream of mushroom soup!! Saute 1/4c mushrooms and 1T finely chopped onion in 3T butter. When melted add 3T flour and 1/4tsp salt mix and add 1 cup milk and mix over med heat till it gets thick and then it is the same as 1 can of undiluted soup!!
do you suppose this could be canned?
Which recipe are you referring to?
I’m excited about this! Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Semalee!
I am so excited about the whole foods menu! Thanks for adding this option. :)
You’re welcome! Thanks for following!
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this!! I have been wanting to go more whole foods for a little while and with 5 kids, freezer meal cooking is a great way to go!! Love this site, and the newest addition of a Whole Foods section will certainly help in my quest for healthier eating:)
We’re happy to join you on this new journey!
I have followed this site for about a year and used many of the recipes. I have a family of 8 plus my grandmother now lives with us (on hospice) so this has beena life saver.
When you added the diet section I was even more excited because I just joined weight watchers. But with that came the awareness that I needed to look more into clean eating. So you can imagine how tickled pink I was to see this. Whole Food eating on one of my favorite blogs? OH YEAH BABY!!!!!
Wahoo! Yes the new weight watchers plan is really whole food friendly.
I am very excited to add to my inventory of freezer friendly, whole foods meals! Thanks for working so hard to bring us variety and healthy options for our families! I was dedicated to Once a Month Cooking for a while, and fell off the wagon after our last move..I know this will help re-energize my monthly cooking and bring back some of the peace to meal times we enjoy when I cook in advance :)!
Welcome back! You deserve the peace of mind in your new home!
I am so excited for these menus and the gluten free menus. With a kiddo with allergies, we have found our way back to clean whole foods less processed meals. I am searching for a new chest freezer so that I can make a whole menu and not just a few meals at a time. Right now my freezer is packed so full that we can’t make ice, the ice maker has food in it. Off to the Sears outlet to see if we can find a good deal. Really excited about the new menus coming soon!!! Thanks for everyone at OAMM hard work to offer such great options to other moms and families out there.
Lauren, we got our chest freezer from a spring Sears sale a few years ago. We love it! Good luck!
Very excited!
This is great! I’m hoping to see lots of vegan meals (or some that can easily be modified to be vegan). Thanks for all you do!
Jackie, yes some of the Whole Foods items can be adjusted for vegan meals. However stay tuned to OAMM, there will be a vegetarian menu coming soon which I know can be adaptable to vegan!
very nice to have this available now that the farmer’s markets and CSA’s are starting back up again. Thanks.
Is there any idea on ETA? I had already made up my mind that I was going to start eating whole foods when the CSA started (so I can eat down our freezers/pantries, etc first and not waste all of the stuff I have already cooked and stored!) This is PERFECT, but I’m hoping it will come out sometime soon!
The first Whole Foods menu will be out May 1st! :) And will continue every month from that point forward.
YEAH!!! I’m doing a major Happy Snoopy dance over here, lol. The CSA starts on April 21, so May 1 will be perfect! You don’t need a tester in the meantime, do ya? Do ya? ;)
Can’t wait!!
SO excited about this — I’ve been using several of the traditional recipes you share but making my own modifications for a whole food diet. EEEK! Can’t wait to see the first menu.
SO EXCITED about this, Tricia!
Cannot wait for this menu to start!!! We actually bought 1/2 of a grass fed cow that will be delivered from a local farmer next week for my new deep freeze. Cant wait to start filling it with other great healthy stuff too!!!
I am so excited to hear this. Like a reader above, I was excited to see the Diet OAMC because of starting WW. Now I really wanted to incorporate clean eating. I have just joined a local harvest group and will be getting fresh veges. Thanks for all you guys do. Keep up the great work.
I was about to delete you off my google reader. Thank you, I know I will use this menu. Looking forward to May 1st!!
We’re happy to keep you here! Hope you enjoy what’s to come!
Well, I was planning on doing this myself and offering it to others for free because I pretty much already do Whole Foods Freezer Cooking but you beat me to it. Looking forward to seeing what you have.
Can’t wait for the new whole foods menu. I can see us doing a combination of that and the other menus. What a great idea!
I have a whole foods 5 minutes away, and a CSA every 2 weeks. Sounds perfect.
I can’t wait! This is how I and my family eat, for the most part, so I’ve had to pick and choose through many of the recipes on here to find dishes that fit my family’s diet. Some recipes I’ve found in both the Traditional and Diet menus are fairly easy to adapt, but it would still be great to have a whole foods focused menu.
That said, I think my family’s favorite recipe from this site so far was the Chicken Divan from a few months back. With canned cream soups galore, its pretty far from what I would consider whole foods, so I don’t make it for them often. I would love to find a way to put that recipe through a redux!
I’m excited about this, too! Whoo hooo!
Oooh, a Whole Foods Menu every month come May? That sounds fantastic! I will be too pregnant to try the entire menu, but I will be picking out a few recipes to try.
Many thanks!
Congratulations on your little one! There will definitely be some great recipes to stock your freezer before the new arrival!
I’m SO excited to hear about this Whole Foods Menu and can’t wait until it comes out in May! I have been doing freezer cooking/couponing/meal planning a ton lately to help reduce my grocery budget, but I don’t love cooking with many processed ingredients. I’ve tried to modify some of the recipes in the past, but haven’t always had too much luck! Can’t wait to give the May menu a try! Thanks for all of the hard work that is put into this website. There are so many of us who are very thankful for all that you do!
thank you for adding this option! often times make ahead meals include canned soups and processed gunk.
I’m so excited about this! I just found your site last week and my husband is on a huge whole foods kick, we have a big garden planned this summer (our seedlings are doing great) and I plan to take advantage of the local farmer’s markets this year, I can’t wait for May, thank you for providing this…will you also have recipes for preserving harvested foods for the winter when fall comes?
Thanks Teresa! Yes I hope to include a few posts about canning and freezing as well.
This is a great start to the new Whole Foods section. I love how you write, your style is easy to read and just flows. Looking forward to May 1st!
Laura Kelly Mom…
[...] ox, but I will love even MORE having things that are pre-prepped or can use up l [...]…
I just found this website and am even more thrilled now to hear about the whole foods menu. This is how I cook and look forward to more recipes. Thanks!
Thank you so much for doing this!!!!!! I’m happy to test recipes if you need someone. My household is just two people, but I always cook for four and freeze in twice the containers.
Thanks for coming by! Sure send them my way! kelly@onceamonthmom.com Here’s the link to be one of our test cooks be sure to fill out the survey too: http://onceamonthmom.com/become-a-once-a-month-mom-test-kitchen/
Thank you so much for this! I am looking forward to OAMC with whole foods!
[...] make my smile a little brighter. With the start of this season, comes another new menu to OAMM, Whole Foods! I’m so fortunate for this opportunity to explore and enjoy what’s in season in the [...]
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited for this menu – and JUST IN TIME – as baby #3 is due in the next couple weeks so I’m going to be trying theses out ASAP
Congratulations on the newest addition! And I think Tricia has said that cooking days have been known to help labor along if you need it ;)
Hello
i have just found and subscribed. And I am having difficulty figuring out how to insert 4 into the interactive menu plan. it just will not take the number.
thanks,
Nickie
There are specific instructions linked in the menu as to using this document so that everyone can have access to it without changing it for everyone. :) Go here for step-by-step directions: http://onceamonthmom.com/all-menus-saving-printing-google-document-grocery-lists-recipe-cards-instructions/
[...] famous little pound cake cups wasn’t in the cards, nor were the ingredients in my quest for real food. Off to the trusty computer, and I came across this amazing recipe. I started drooling and immediate [...]
I have just been exposed to once a month cooking, and was very interested, but like many above have struggled to find healthy and family friendly recipes. I’m VERY excited to begin following your blog :) Thank you for all the planning!
[...] meals as much as our early readers/cooks have. If you are new and not sure how to get started, read here. And there are several other helpful links under the Helpful Hints/Resources section below to help [...]
[...] Pan Roasted Halibut with marinated heirloom tomatoes (see picture above). Now because I’m the Whole Foods writer here I had to adjust a little according to what I had in season. My tomatoes are no where [...]
[...] meals as much as our early readers/cooks have. If you are new and not sure how to get started, read here. And there are several other helpful links under the Helpful Hints/Resources section below to help [...]
[...] meals as much as our early readers/cooks have. If you are new and not sure how to get started, read here. And there are several other helpful links under the Helpful Hints/Resources section below to help [...]
Just started following this week, and gearing up for my first cooking day this Saturday. I’m super excited about this whole concept. My husband farms, and we’re going into the busiest time of year for him. I’m up for anything to keep meal time organized, as I hold down the fort with 3 kids solo. Keep up the great work!
[...] I am a birth doula. And on top of it all I blog here at Once A Month Mom as the contributing Whole Foods Menu writer. That’s a lot of hats! But I’m so proud and fortunate to wear each and every one [...]
I would just like to know if a lot of these meals are microwaved? I’m going through the site and starting to get an understanding. We don’t microwave in our house because I want to keep the nutrients in the food. We already eat whole foods and snacks in our house are berries/nuts so those aren’t hard to prepare, but I love the idea of having some actual new and tasty meals, which my husband (who has been raised on a very American diet) would like as well.
I eat 5-6 meals throughout the day to keep my metabolism going, and because I am breastfeeding. Are these plans able to be customized for something like that?
This is a great site and what a lot of work for the people who run it. Kudos!
If you click over to the printable recipe cards for the month you will find the reheating directions. Several of them do indicate microwaving but even those you can just plan and to thaw ahead and use stovetop or oven.
I’m new to the site and am very excited to see WHOLE foods not processed cans and boxes of high blood pressure waiting to happen. But, I’m slightly confused by the menu….. I just want to make sure I’m understanding it correctly. There are six total dinner recipes for the entire month?? Am I missing some recipes somewhere or is the expectation that we repeat the meals a few times throughout the month?
Either way, I look forward to utilizing this website, but a little clarification on how to use it would be helpful. (It could just be that I was up with a screaming baby ALL night last night and can’t think straight :)
Thanks for the help!!
For a full explanation see this post: http://onceamonthmom.com/whole-foods-once-a-month-freezer-cooking/. But yes, it is 6 dinner recipes that you will eat 2x. The post explains why it isn’t 30 dinners. Welcome!
Please help! I have purchased $400 in groceries and used PayPal to become a member. Once a Month Mom won’t let me log in! I am sitting here in my kitchen needing the instructions to get cooking. Thanks!!!
OAMM site is asking for my password and my username……
Please send an email to info at onceamonthmom.com with your information and we will help you resolve the problem – be sure to indicate you are cooking soon.
It says that we should make enough for 2 dinners and that would yield 24 dinners. If there are 6 dinners, as it seems to state above, wouldn’t that yield 12 meals? Does this actually mean the same dinner would be eaten four times per month? Just trying to figure out how this works. I would love to find a way to cut my dinner time prep down. This sounds like it could be a good fit for us! Thanks.
Welcome Katie! Each meal in our menu plans is doubled, so you get two meals worth per recipe. So yes, 12 meals but you are eating each recipe twice throughout the month.
From what I’ve seen, most of the recipes here are not “whole foods.” Almost all of them use white flour or some other kind of processed, refined flour or ingredient. I subscribed because I loved the concept, but so far am extremely disappointed that the recipes really do not qualify as “whole food” recipes.
Jennifer, I’m sorry you feel that way but we do try very hard to keep our whole foods menu as true to form as we can. Yes there are other recipes on the site that use processed ingredients and refined flour, but we do not include them in our whole foods menu. The artisan bread I’m sure you have seen I make with white whole wheat flour that I get from my co-op. Kim has several recipes that she has done this year that include whole wheat flour or alternative flours like almond. I would encourage you to really read through the whole foods menus and check the recipe cards for what we have adapted to fit our readers. We will take this as constructive criticism and utilize it in building our future menus and making our ingredient choices more clear. If you have any further concerns please feel free to email me directly at kelly at onceamonthmom.com”
I’m interested in trying this, but we are also on a budget. How much $ per month do you estimate these menu’s cost for ingredients?
It really depends on where and how you shop. You can save a lot of money on whole foods by shopping sales, using coupons, shopping farmers markets or joining a CSA, and purchasing in bulk. It also depends on the size of your family. But I think most families of 4 spend $250-$350 to cook a menu. Keep in mind you will probably buy other food during the month. Readers, feel free to chime in with actual receipt totals.