Are you one of those people who is always rushing here and
there but still seems to run out of time to get everything done? Do you have a mile-high TODO list and no time
to do it? I know that when I was working I was one of those people too. Here and there and everywhere! I knew I had to reorganize my life so I could
work, get my errands done, do the household chores, spend time with family and cook
meals every day. I didn’t have much time
to add in fun things, like visiting friends, going to a movie or even putting
my feet up to read a book. Your schedule
might be the same. If you have children
you also have the additional task of getting your kids to where they need to be,
when they need to be there! Do you
suddenly hear Helen Reddy singing … “I
am woman hear me roar?” Well you should …
because that is a beastly schedule to keep up with.
I always felt overwhelmed until I started taking control of
my life, one issue at a time. The first step
in my life-reorganizing project was meal preparation. I decided the simplest change I could make is
to cook only one day a week instead of seven.
And here is how I did it.
On Saturday:
1. I decide the meals
I wanted to make for the coming week. I
usually made three entrée dishes. One
would be an oven recipe, one would be a crockpot meal and the third would be a
top-of-the-stove dish. I would include items such as a weekly salad bar. I would also plan a very simple side dish and dessert.
2. Next, I list all the
ingredients needed for the meals and put them on a shopping list. Saturday is my errand day and I will hit the
grocery store while I am out. If you
have kids who play sports on Saturday, you might opt for using another day for
shopping so you can attend the games, or partner up with your hubby and take
turns doing the shopping. One weekend he
goes to the game and you shop and the next weekend you change it up and you go to the game while he does the shopping.
(Good luck with that!!)
On Sunday:
3. Sunday afternoons
are usually pretty quiet for my husband and me, so I usually prepare all the
meals for the week in on Sunday afternoon.
This probably takes about 3 hours.
Now don’t get excited, remember you are going to save two hours a night
NOT cooking or cleaning up for the REST OF THE WEEK!
4. The first thing I
do is organize all the ingredients for all of the meals. All the vegetables are together by this sink,
ready to be washed. The canned foods and
spices are lined up. Dairy products and
meats remain in the refrigerator.
5. Now you have a
chance to delegate some of the tasks.
The first task is to wash all the vegetables. A child or even your husband (wink) can help
with this part. I usually fill a big
bowl of water in the sink with some white vinegar to soak and wash the
vegetables and put them in a strainer to drip dry.
6. The second task is
to cut up all of the veggies. Make a
note how many of the items need to be diced, sliced and/or minced.
7. There are three
tools I could not live without in the kitchen.
A good set of knives, the Vidalia
Chop Wizard™ and a set of flexible cutting mats. The flexible cutting mats are handy and easy
to clean. Not only use them for
chopping, I also put them on the counter where I am working to keep the counter
clean. The chopping wizard makes
chopping and dicing a cinch – its kinda
like Whack-a-Mole™,
if you remember that game. The newer Wizards
have several different blades to facilitate different cuts. With the Chopping
Wizard, even a child can help with the cutting. Another child would be in charge of tearing
up the lettuce for the salad bar
.
After cutting the vegetables, put them in small bowls until
they are ready to be added to a recipe.
8. The next task is
to prep the meats or fish. Check the
recipes and see how each piece is to be prepared. Do all the cutting at once and then put the
prepared meat back into the refrigerator until ready to be used.
9. Get out all of the
measuring tools, pans, crockpot and baking dishes.
10. Assemble the
recipes beginning with the crockpot recipe.
It is often helpful to have someone read the recipe while another person
does the actual assembly. Prepare the
oven dish next, and follow with the top-of-stove recipe. If a side dish needs to be prepared, do it at this time.
8. While the three
dishes are cooking, clean up all of the tools and dishes used in the prep and
put them in the dishwasher to be cleaned while dinner is cooking. Clean and sanitize the counters and take a
break – you deserve it.
9. After the meals
are cooked, you can put them in the refrigerator and give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy
the week ahead with no cooking in sight.
Tip #1: Always make
an ample amount of each dish. The
leftovers can be frozen for a meal at a different time, or can be packed away
for a lunch.
Tip #2: I always make
a huge bowl of lettuce and greens for a week’s worth of salad bars. I cut extra vegetables to use as add-ons to
the salads and put them into small containers.
I also put things like raisins, cashews, pineapple tidbits, beans, corn,
etc. in bowls. At dinner time, we pull
out all the bowls and set up the salad bar.
A different salad every night – no muss no fuss!
Personal Note:
Sunday night is a great night to call out for PIZZA or Chinese!!!
Well, there is my routine for making more time with the
family and less time in the kitchen. Let
me know what you think!
Daily Stats:
Start: Wt. 235.0
BGlucose: 130 BPressure:
140/79
Today: Wt. 220.0 BGlucose: 104 BPressure: 125/64
Today: Wt. 220.0 BGlucose: 104 BPressure: 125/64
