Once-A-Month Cooking

October 28, 1986
In this homemaker's equivalent to The One-Minute Manager, the authors set out a system whereby a month's worth of family dinners can be cooked and frozen in one day, ready to microwave or reheat in a conventional oven whenever needed. Their step-by-step advice on assembling a shopping list, consolidating tasks such as chopping vegetables, grating cheese, browning meat, etc., undoubtedly saves time in making the stews, casseroles, chili and ham loaves with which they illustrate their points. But then the reader has side dishes to consider, as well as the inconvenience of flipping back and forth between what are essentially ho-hum recipes. All in all, this is an unimaginative parry at kitchen efficiency. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternate selections.

February 15, 2007
Originally published in 1986 and revised in 1999, Wilson and Lagerborg's book provides shopping lists, game plans, and recipes for preparing two or four weeks' worth of main dishes at one time on a marathon cooking day and refrigerating or freezing them until ready to serve. There are 40 new recipes, along with a separate chapter of accompaniments. The plans are heavy on meat, with few vegetarian options, and many of the recipes are rather old-fashioned: Polynesian Pork Loin, Chicken à la King, etc. Recommended only for libraries where the previous edition has been popular.

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