In her book Simplify Your life, author Marcia Ramsland begins with the Kitchen as the first system to tackle. Specifically, mealtime woes is what she is referring to. Chapter 6 is dedicated to working on that one system.
I have already spent a lot of time on this process since I just finished the Grocery Budget Makeover Online Course with Erin Chase from $5 Dinners.com. It was really worth the money because it challenged me to look at this very system along with how to maximize my dollars at the grocery store.
As I looked at the system I already have in place, I asked myself what is the one thing that keeps tripping me up. I wondered, what is the one “habit that would smooth out the most jolts and delays in life” as Sonya Shafer puts it in her book Laying Down the Rails for Yourself. What I realized was I was constantly forgetting to defrost my meat/freezer meal for the day and constantly having to improvise once I realized that I had done it-again.
I wanted to make this a habit that I would not forget so I decided to set a timer on my phone on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights to pull out the meat for the next 3 meals. Sunday I pull out Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s meat. Then on Wednesday I pull out Thursday’s and one more for either Friday or Saturday. Sunday mornings, I usually decide whether we will eat at home or eat out so I can wait til then.
Once that habit is formed, I think mealtime will be much smoother.
Sunday Prep is another system or habit I want to start and stick to. I have saved many pinterest articles about Sunday prep and it is basically a dedicated time on Sunday (or whatever day you chose) to set yourself up for the following week.
So this Sunday, I finally had a mini prep session and here is what I accomplished:
- I cut up zucchini and carrots for lunches
- I shred some zucchini for zucchini muffins that I will bake later in the week
- I made ranch dressing
- I mixed up some taco seasoning
- I boiled 6 eggs for egg salad or deviled eggs
- and I baked those flourless brownie muffins I posted about here.
That is only half of what I intended to do.
So along with the system I already have in place, I plan to implement these two timesaving habits into my weekly routine and I think it will be much much better.
Ligia
