Grab it and go!

One thing I have had trouble with since I've worked a more normal work week is fitting everything in.  Before working the job I have now, I was working 12 hour days, evenings, or other non-traditional hours.  It sounds hard to manage, but in reality, I thrived in the long stretches of time off between shifts.  I loved being able to run my errands during the hours that others were typically at work.  Having to share the stores with all the other working people on the weekends really cramps my run-in-and-grab-it style. 

 

But, since I joined the Monday-Friday crowd, I have found my evenings to be...well, less than relaxing.  Here is a typical day for me:

5:00am wake up to feed baby

5:30am get up and get ready for work

6:15am pack lunch for the kids and myself

6:30 round up the baby and all her stuff

(my husband gets the older girls ready and drops them off)

6:45 drive the baby to babysitter and then to work

7:15 get to work...work until about 4:00

4:15 pick up baby and drive to pick up older girls then head home

5:00 throw a load of laundry in and then sit down to feed baby

5:30 cook dinner

6:00 eat dinner, do dishes

6:30 finish laundry, folding, etc

7:00 get kids stuff ready for next day

7:30 feed baby

8:00 baths and get kids ready for bed

8:30 read books

9:00 hopefully kids to bed and spend time with husband

10:00 finish any work I brought home

head to bed sometime before midnight

hope the baby sleeps through the night

repeat

Sound fun?  It's grueling.  I spend so much time preparing for everything that I don't always enjoy the moments.  The advice I get from well-meaning friends is that I just do to much.  Um, ok.  Which parts should I leave out? 

So, I tried to remember how I managed before.  Back in the good old days when I had more time to spare.  Back when I didn't spend so much time getting ready...

 

A good friend of mine let me in on a not-so-secret secret of hers long before I ever got married.  Once a month cooking.  She took it to the extreme, and only shopped and cooked once a season for her family.  She bought in huge bulk with a friend, cooked it all up over one weekend and froze all the meals her family would eat.  So, instead of having to cook every night, she simply removed a meal, thawed it and heated it up.  I used her cookbook for a long time, and made over 62 meals in one weekend just before the birth of my first baby. 

 

Now, though, I don't have the freezer space I used to have.  What space I have is reserved for the preservation of all the produce I haul in from the garden.  So, I went looking for a new plan.  Lucky for me, I found an idea.  My husband and I were both on a new eating plan, on which we ate a salad every lunch.  Not just any salad, though.  I was cutting a ton of fresh veggies every night.  Our salads were delicious, but it was taking me an hour each night just to get it all together.  So, I saw a picture of a "salad in a jar" and decided to try it.  Just once a week cutting and layering the ingredients.  The moist ingredients on the bottom, and the ones most likely to wilt near the top.  In the morning, we can grab a jar and go...come lunchtime, we tip the jar upside down over a bowl and everything is fresh and crisp.  Ok, so far I haven't made more than 2 salads at a time, but I can vouch for the fact that it really does stay fresh!  One of my salads stayed perfect for 3 days before I ate it and even included marinated beets, feta cheese, and walnuts.  Nothing soggy! 

 

So, that's my tip of the week.  Prep ahead of time.  Freezer foods, lunch in a jar, or whatever you can find that makes less work of the evening.  Got any other great food prep ideas?  Please share them!