Reply To: How much time do you spend in the kitchen?

  • skainsgirl

    Member
    October 21, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    Save time by meal prepping. Plan out your menus ahead of time. Recycle to save time (Monday’s meatloaf becomes Wednesday’s Shepherd Pie). I was a single Mom (most of the time), worked long hours (RN), and didn’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen. I took a Saturday every week or every other week and prepped meals for myself and the kids. Have the kids help! Even if it is just writing on containers. Once a week I grilled chicken & pork chops for quick meals at work or for the kids after school. I cooked up large batches of different items such as veggies, casseroles, etc. and divided them into smaller or individual portions and put them in the freezer. This also helps not to waste food if you have that “picky” child. Also allows you to grab as many as you need for any given meal. I made freezer meals in those aluminum pans with lids (they come in all sizes). Wrote the cooking instructions on top in case the kids needed to start dinner or fend for themselves. I froze crockpot meals in a gallon Ziploc bag and threw those in the pot before heading off to work. Was I able to maintain this all the time? of course not! Life happens. Emergencies, Work, etc. But when I did, it decreased my stress level tremendously.

    Now, my kids are grown, and I am providing elder care for my mother. Her one joy left is cooking. She can no longer see well enough to cook herself but would love to keep me in the kitchen all day. I am single prep-steading trying to whip this property into a homestead and prepare this old house for winter. So here I am back to implementing some of my old methods to save time. It has taken me over 6 months just to finally get her freezer organized! We had Surprise Saturday for months because we couldn’t figure out what was in different containers. Some were delicious, some went to the dog and some to the trash.

    I have added pressure canning to my skill set this year (sure wish I had learned this earlier). I can in smaller jars for us, larger for company. When I am busy, I can just open a prepared meal or several others to make something else quickly. I am trying to get her on board with some meal planning. But some days it feels like I am in the kitchen all day! I have to often remind myself that it is a work in progress 😁