OAMC Notebook Lesson 1-Setting up your Binder, Cleaning out Fridge/Freezer(s) and Inventory:

Setting Up your binder:
o You do not have to have brand new supplies, this does not have to be perfect. Just recycle what you already have and are not using.
o Grab a binder, about 10-15 dividers (you may need more or less, depending on how many categories you make), a pen and paper.
o Some dividers you will need:
o Lessons
o Tips & Notes
o Menus & Recipes (I do a different plan every month and store it here)
o Grocery Lists (for each monthly plan)
o Recipes (you decide how many different categories to have), mine are listed:
 breakfasts
 appetizers/snacks
 sandwiches
 soups/stews
 main dishes
• casseroles
• crockpot
• mains
 sides
 breads
 desserts (cakes, cookies, pies, etc)
o OPTIONAL:
o Recipe Software, I use MasterCook 8.0 (you can buy this on amazon.com for $8, I’ve heard, I bought mine at Office Max for $10 a few years ago). They do have MC 9.0 for $20, but I think it’s basically the same. I have friends who have 9.0, that had 8.0 and says it has no new features that they are aware of.

This program allows you to add cookbooks and recipes. You can
also plan menus, grocery lists and scale recipes. This has been an
invaluable tool in my oamc
o If you save any information to your computer, make sure to back it up to disk.


Cleaning out Fridge & Freezer(s) & Inventory:
o Keep a pen and paper handy
o The first step in doing an OAMC session is cleaning out your fridge and freezer. You don’t want to go and buy all that food and spend all that money and not have anywhere to store the perishables.
o You need to take everything out of your fridge, wipe down the insides (or scrub if needed).
o Toss anything that is going bad………make a mental note of how many science experiments you had and how much food is going to waste, b/c you didn’t know where it was located or forgot you had it. I used to throw at least 2 trash bags of stuff away, now that I do this weekly & stay on top of my inventories, I rarely have to throw anything away.
o As you are putting things away, jot down what you have and where it’s located.
o Ex. Fridge
 Top shelf
• Milk
• Tea
• Kool-aide

 Middle shelf
• eggs
• bread
• sour cream
• cream cheese
• plain yogurt
o If you add cleaning fridge/freezer and updating your inventories your weekly chores, you will never have too much to do.
o After you’ve cleaned and inventoried your refrigerator, do the small freezer. If you have a large freezer, do that after the small freezer. If either need defrosting, now is a good time to do it.
o I keep an inventory, because it makes it so much easier to know what you have on hand and what is needed. This really makes it so much easier to mark things off of your shopping list if you already have them.
o After all perishables are put back and inventoried, I type them up……makes it easy to search for something later on. I leave printed copies on the fridge or freezer or wherever you inventory for manual updates (ex, if you run out of something, you mark it off). I also add a column to each list labeled Add to shopping List. I’d hate to go to the grocery store and not have any recipes that had milk in them and not have milk for the kids to drink.
o Next, inventory your pantry and anywhere else you store food.
o This seems like a lot to do and may seem daunting, but after the first time, if you keep it up, it won’t be hard to maintain and update.
The first time you OAMC, make sure to have a crockpot meal ready for shopping day and cooking day. I guarantee that you will NOT feel like making dinner those nights. Then next month, you can either have crockpot meals ready for those two days, or go shopping 2 days before you run out of meals and do your oamc the day before you run out (that way if you end up running over and need 2 days to cook, you have an extra meal).