The book title "Once-a-Month Cooking" made me laugh. Cook once a month? I didn't need a book to do that. I needed the motivation to cook the other 29 days of the month!

Years after reading this book I met up with co-author Mary Beth Lagerborg and learned that once-a-month cooking is a method of preparing a month's (or two weeks') worth of dinner entrees in one mega-cooking session and then freezing them for later use throughout the month. While Lagerborg and her co-author Mimi Wilson have developed a specific and thorough plan for preparing many meals at one time. In fact, any effort you put into preparing meals in advance has decided benefits:

—Convenience. Having entrees in the freezer provides the convenience of takeout with the aroma, appeal and taste of home cooking.

—Simplification. Nothing unravels the seams of family time faster than having nothing on hand for dinner. Knowing dinner's ready to go promotes household calmness and peace.

—Flexibility. Having your freezer stocked with entrees means you can welcome last-minute guests without feeling embarrassed, ticked off or stressed out. A meal-stocked freezer also allows a family to carry on even if someone in the family is traveling, has surgery or has a new baby, and when the holidays approach.

—Less Expensive. Take-out food is expensive, and so are trips to the market at 5 p.m. A quick stop for milk can result in a basket filled with impulse items.

Contrary to what many believe, not all frozen entrees are high in carbohydrates and fat. The authors of Once-a-Month Cooking were careful to develop recipes that freeze well and are nutritious. They've even addressed the challenge of freezer space, insisting that by following specific instructions, a month's worth of meals for a family of big eaters can fit into a typical freezer.

Trying to go from barely cooking to cooking for an entire month in one session may be an unreasonable leap. But you can work up to it. Start small. When you make meatloaf for one night's dinner, make two. Before baking, wrap one of them tightly, label it and pop it into the freezer. There! You're on your way. You've made a dinner meal for another day.

Do the same thing tomorrow and the next day. Soon you'll be ready to advance to the next level of meal preparation: preparing a week's worth of entrees at one time. After you've mastered that, move to two weeks and perhaps eventually an entire month's worth of meals. You might even consider turning your efforts into a social event by cooking with a friend and sharing the results.

If this meal planning appeals to you, I highly recommend that you pick up both of Mary Beth and Mimi's books, which are just terrific: "Once-A-Month Cooking" and "Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites." They've done all the hard work for you so you and your friends can just relax and have fun.

Trust me, they know their stuff. In the nearly 30 years since they first formulated their ingenious method, they've done more than prove this is a system that's here to stay.

Mary invites questions, comments and tips at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or c/o Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website and the author of "Debt-Proof Living," released in 2014. To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.