My friend from Mexico shared this with me, and it is now one of my favorite recipes.  I eat it every two weeks, no less than once a month. It is perfect for a hefty breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  It's a quick and easy meal, and it tastes great.

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Peach pudding is by far one of my favorite desserts.  I look forward to every year when the peaches come on.  This dessert recipe came from my Grandma Bruvold who used to make it for a hotel she used to work out.  It was the favorite of all of her grandkids.  You've simply got to try it.

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On a chilly autumn or winter day, nothing beats coming home from work to a delicious pot roast dinner waiting for you in your slow cooker.  Nothing could be easier than this tried-and-true recipe for meltingly tender pot roast and savory carrots and onions.  Serve with garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad.

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This has led me to the wonderful world of Once a Month Cooking, which is not as awful as it may seem. You can adjust it to your own schedule, but it helps you save time and money and avoids those aforementioned chaotic scenarios!   If you’re short on time, or too timid to try a month right off the bat, cooking for a week at a time is a great way to get started.

The key to success with this endeavor is planning. First, plan your meals. Look for things that freeze easily, and compactly. Also, look for recipes that have ingredients in common, as you will save money at the store by buying things in bulk.

After you plan your meals, plan your grocery list. For recipes that share ingredients, just update quantities as you move along through the meals. Make sure to double check this list because you don’t want to end up having to run to the store at the last minute during cooking day.

And finally, look at your schedule. Plan your shopping day a few days in advance to your cooking day. Both of these days need to be free so you can focus on your shopping, and then focus on your cooking. Devoting a whole day gives you time to comparison shop.  Try to choose a day when the kids are in school or Dad can help you and watch them so they are not there to distract you.

Here’s another time saving tip:  look online at your local circulars to check out sales.  Survey your cabinets to find out what you need, and what you have.  This will keep you from spending money on things you don’t need, and help you make sure that you get everything that you do need.  If you can see where the deals are and what you’re going to get before you go, you’ll be much more efficient that way.

Cooking Day has arrived. How do you start? First, clean your kitchen. Prepare your sink with clean dish water so you can wash while things cook and you can stay ahead of yourself, so that clean up is not too hectic. Empty your freezer and make sure you have plenty of room.   Prepare all your meals that use one meat, but remember to focus on the individual recipes so you don’t end up having taco seasoned beef in your lasagna (although that may not be too bad, it could be worse!)  If you don’t like this idea, of course you can pick any starting point you like, but try to move logically so as to keep a smooth flow.

From there, you want to be sure that you have let all the food cool properly and you want to freeze it without air because freezer burn will ruin all of your hard efforts, wasting the time and money you just spent cooking all those meals.  You’ll end up with meals you cannot eat, and still not knowing what’s for dinner.

I use the Reynold’s Handi-Vac System because no matter how much I tried to get all of the air out of the bag, I still ended up with freezer burn a few months later. All you need to do is spend about $10 on the vacuum sealer, though It does require a special freezer bag that is slightly more expensive than the others, but definitely is worth the money you’ll save by not throwing out food. They come in quart and gallon sizes. Freezer bags are best for meals that have a lot of liquid. When freezing them, place them on the freezer shelf until frozen, and then stack them so that you can save space without having frozen your bags to one another.

Here are some tips that will help you along the way.•    Label everything!•    Allow foods to cool properly before freezing.•    Rotate stock because most foods go bad after 6 months.

If you don’t want to go through cooking all that at one time, you can also just double up your recipes for a few weeks, and freeze the other half. Soon you’ll have a buildup of quick dinners. All you have to do is pick something and thaw it, and you’ll always know what’s for dinner.   Of course, you’ll never be able to avoid the weekly grocery store trips because you will always have to stock up on things like milk and bread, but the good thing is those trips will go very quickly, and you’ll be able to save money.  You’ll have much more time to spend on other things that are more enjoyable, and one long day in the kitchen is better than the hectic “what’s for dinner?” scramble every night!

By Lucinda Watrous Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina with her husband and son, Lucinda is a full-time Mom, Wife, and college student.  She is also a full-time freelance writer.  You can view more of her writing at Associated Content.

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