Category: domestication

easy meal planning

My adventure with cooking, meal planning, eating healthy, and providing for my family has been one of the more difficult aspects of adulthood for me. There is still so much that I have to learn, but one area that I have become pretty comfortable with lately is meal planning. Today I’m sharing the easy, low-stress way I approach it.

Frequency

Right now it works best for us to meal plan only a week at a time. Yes, I have to do it more often, but right now we don’t have much freezer space and so we’re at the grocery store once a week anyway. Planning weekly is also much less overwhelming to me. We have a lot of random dinners with family pop up so this way it’s easy for me to fit them in and shuffle a meal to the next week. This process would work just as well monthly though!

The uniform concept applied to meals

Much like my capsule wardrobe, I like to approach the rest of my life with the “uniform” concept as well. As far as meal planning goes (and we are talking dinners here), that means having specific types of food or meals on specific days of the week, taking the guesswork out of it. For example:

Monday – a tried & true meal since it is the first day of the week, or something in the Crockpot since I have time on Sunday to set it up

Tuesday – something quick to prepare, but it could be new; a good night for salads

Wednesday – leftovers, since we have a few days’ worth built up by this time

Thursday – breakfast for dinner (yum). Can still be healthy if you keep it egg & meat based rather than grain & sugar based (think omelet with bacon instead of pancakes)

Friday – Mom & Dad’s house. I love having this setup with them because we make sure to get in a visit at least once a week and I don’t have to cook!

Saturday – homemade pizza & movie night

Sunday – since this is ideally a family rest day, I’ll choose a recipe that takes longer to prepare, or that is new to me

Other meals

I’ve mentioned before, but I’m the kind of person who can eat pretty much the same thing every day for a long time with only slight variation. For breakfast these days I scramble 5-7 eggs and add cheese and sausage (I cook a couple pounds of sausage at the beginning of the week and use it till it runs out). Half of this mix I roll up in a few tortillas for David to eat for breakfast/lunch, and the rest is for me (and Meredith, if she wants any). I also have a banana or other fruit.

For lunch I still love to make a big salad with shredded chicken and strawberries, using olive oil + raspberry balsamic as a dressing. On the side I’ll have a Greek yogurt and some dark chocolate covered almonds.

Resources

After completing whole30, my focus with meals these days is to keep them real and to eliminate the processed stuff as much as possible. I keep a list in the meal planning section of my notebook for go-to dinner ideas (and where to find the recipe if needed), but sometimes I want to try something new, and here are some places I go to find meal inspiration:

Don’t Waste the Crumbs (real food blog) – my favorite.

Nom Nom Paleo and The Clothes Make the Girl (paleo blogs) – we don’t eat strictly paleo but I like to take their recipes and slightly adapt them because they provide a super healthy base.

More-With-Less (cookbook) – my best friend got this for me when I got married and it’s been a go-to lately for learning to make resources last, trying to make stuff from scratch, and I love the simple, hearty recipes. I actually think I need to read through this again because there is a ton of information in it about sustainability, nutrition, and budget as well.

And that’s it, really. I don’t rely on Pinterest much anymore because I get overwhelmed, and most of it isn’t the kind of food I’m looking for anyway. If you have any other resources for real food inspiration I would love to know about them!

How do you meal plan?

p.s. – whole30 afterthoughts + one month later, book review of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

September 9, 2014
my new life management notebook

I think I’ve finally found a life management notebook that is going to work for me. If you’ve been reading for any amount of time you know that I love digital management for the big stuff (mainly iCal for my planner and the Things app for my to-dos and project tasks) but I also find paper and pen very helpful for some things. That led to me trying out a bullet journal, which was pretty effective, but it wasn’t perfect for me.

Enter the Discbound system from Staples! I totally researched and purchased all of this on my own but I’m loving it and want to share. So the cool thing about this is that it is flexible like a 3-ring binder (meaning you can take stuff out and put it in) but it functions like a notebook, making it easier to write in, hold, and manipulate.

There are a bunch of different notebooks that use this system, but I have this one. I also have these dividers and this hole punch.

Here is how I’m using each section of my notebook.

Monthly

First of all I created a section that I check in with every month. It has a list of special dates, so I know whose birthday is coming up and I can order gifts and send cards. I also put in some copies of my “how am I doing” self-check worksheets, which I like to fill out monthly to make sure I’m not neglecting one area of my life. And then I have some blank paper where I am planning on documenting my monthly goals.

Meal Planning

The second section is for meal planning. I am using this printable calendar which is just so simple and functional. (Note that we eat the same thing almost every day for breakfast and lunch so I don’t really need to plan those meals. And I write my grocery list on a separate piece of scratch paper because I give it to David and he does the shopping.) Behind that I’m keeping a list of go-to dinner ideas.

Bullet Journal

Next is where my bullet journal lives! And I still use it in pretty much the same way as I wrote in this post, except that I decided to separate out the stuff regarding faith and creativity to be their own sections.

Faith

So far I mainly use this for sermon notes, but I also used it for notes for a church women’s book club I lead, and I’ll probably use it for my women’s Bible study notes as well. (I have a separate journal for my personal daily devotions.)

Creative

Lastly I have a section devoted to anything creative which is most of my hobbies. So right now I have a “to do someday” list, house project ideas, and homework from the Blog Life e-course I’m working through.

I love this notebook so much you guys. The only drawback is that it’s not small. I debated on whether to get this size or the smaller one, and I went bigger because I wanted the room to write and I wanted to be able to easily put in 8.5×11 sheets of paper. But you could definitely do the same thing with a smaller size!

So what do you think? Do you do anything similar?

August 11, 2014
baked oatmeal

Hey let’s have a rare post about food from me, shall we? I always struggle with what to eat for breakfast. It has to be fairly filling (enough to get me through at least 4 hours without my stomach growling), easy to make or heat up in the morning, and portable because I eat on my drive. For a long time I ate refrigerator oatmeal which really is delicious and perfect for my requirements, but I ran into a big problem with it once I got pregnant and that is that I can no longer tolerate very much dairy! Refrigerator oatmeal calls for milk AND Greek yogurt which is just too much.

So then I tried making ahead breakfast sandwiches and freezing them, but they just didn’t taste great heated up. I am not above buying prepared foods, but since I tend to eat the same thing every day for breakfast I really wanted to find something that was less processed and cheaper in the long run. For awhile I went back to eating regular oatmeal prepared with water, but it was very blah.

Then I remembered a recipe for baked oatmeal my best friend Becca gave me a long time ago! I had made it in the past and loved it but just forgot about it for awhile. I just substituted almond milk for regular milk and it came out perfectly.

Here’s what you do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix up the dry ingredients in one bowl:
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins or other dried fruit (I usually use cranberries)
3 Tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional – I’ve never used them)

Then mix up the wet ingredients in another bowl:
1 cup milk (or almond milk)
1/2 cup applesauce
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg, beaten

Combine the two and stir well. Pour it all into a greased 8×8 pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Also, I double the recipe and bake it in a 13×9 pan which yields the amount you see in these photos. It requires a few extra minutes of baking, but your oven may be a little different. It’s so good! Just the right amount of sweet.

What do you eat for breakfast? Any other ideas for me?

December 11, 2013
guest post : the pursuit of being a better money manager

Hi friends! Today’s post comes to you from my blog friend Stephany. She’s talking about something that is constantly on my mind: money management. I don’t get into it much here, but with a mortgage, lots of bills, one kid in daycare and another on the way, money can be tight and our dream is to overcome the worry that comes along with that and get to a place where we can give freely to causes we believe in. It’s a tough road though, and I always appreciate reading other people’s perspectives on it! Read more from Stephany on her blog.

I was aware from a young age that my parents struggled with their finances. My dad worked the late shift at a printing company and my mom was a preschool teacher, so money was always tight. My brother and I never went without, but we struggled and I knew all about the struggle. Add to the fact that my dad was a chronic gambler – and not a very good one – and what little income we had coming in was going out to fuel his habit.

When I was ten, I was given the role of a fish in a school play. It sounds silly, I know, but I was so darn proud and excited and happy for this role. The school play only had eight speaking parts and out of the entire fourth and fifth grade, I was selected! I felt amazing and was so excited to tell my mom about it when she picked me up from the bus stop that day. But when I did, I could tell she was a little nervous about how she was going to fit finding me a fish costume into our very tight budget. This was also in the spring, so fish costumes weren’t something we could just drive to our local Wal-Mart and pick up.

All throughout my life, I have known the struggle of finances and I promised myself I would never find myself in the same boat. I would never bring children into the world if I couldn’t afford them and if I do ever have children, I never want them to know what it’s like to struggle with money. Not that I don’t want them to learn responsible money behaviors (something I was never taught), but I don’t want them to worry about it in the way I did. A child should never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or if this is the month they will be evicted from their apartment.

And now I sit here at 25 years old, with a college degree, a well-paying job, and a better understanding of what it means to manage money responsibly. I’m not saying I’ve gotten it right all the time. There have been plenty of learning experiences along the way. My credit score isn’t exceptional – thanks to a credit card I maxed out and couldn’t even pay the minimum balance on, school loans I defaulted on, and a huge medical bill I’ve yet to start paying on. I’ve made mistakes and I really wish I hadn’t made those mistakes, but there’s nothing I can do about them except work hard to not make them again.

I don’t want to let my parents’ mistakes with handling money and them not teaching me how to be responsible with it continue to affect the way I manage my money. Maybe that line of thinking worked when I was 18, but at 25, I’m smarter and a bit more wiser. I had to take my money habits into my own hands, forget about what my parents did, and create habits that fit my lifestyle. I had to learn to create a budget that would work for me. Something that would take into account my bills, savings, and fun money. I had to decide how much fun money I needed on a weekly basis and develop a system. I’m not always perfect and I still could do a lot better, but I’m learning. Every new pay period is a chance to do better and hone my spending and saving habits.

The truth of the matter is, whether you had parents that modeled perfect money management behaviors or parents that modeled awful money management behaviors, it’s up to you to figure out a system that works for your budget and your wants and your needs. It doesn’t matter what your parents did. You have to figure out what system works best for you and what priorities you place on what.

Learning good money management behaviors is not something I had the privilege of witnessing growing up. But maybe it was a good thing. I learned the struggle. I learned what I don’t want out of my life. I learned to be so grateful to not have the struggle now and be able to do fun things, like go on cruises and take weekend trips to Orlando and get pedicures whenever I want. And I learned to grow into my own money manager. It’s been a journey and there’s really no end to it. There are still so many areas for me to grow and learn and get better.

When it comes to money and budgeting, I may not have had the best role models growing up but it has allowed me the experience of learning as I go along and honing my own budgeting behaviors. And I’m just going to feel incredibly thankful I get the chance to do that.

October 2, 2013
on time & task management

Today I want to talk about how, as a working mom with a toddler, I ever get anything done other than surviving each day. Don’t get me wrong, just surviving from one day to the next can feel like a major accomplishment sometimes, and it totally is. But I also know that my life is enriched and I am a better wife, mother, and person when I am able to do extra stuff as well.

I was inspired to write about this topic when I read this post from Pink Ronnie and this post from Elise Blaha Cripe. They have some great tips and it was super helpful for me to read their perspectives, but they are both able to stay home and have a much more flexible schedule than I do, so I wanted to share how I do things.

Know your priorities

Before I get into specifics, I have to say that the first step toward managing your time is to set priorities. I can’t do it all; I don’t think anyone can. My priorities are: being there for my husband and my daughter, spending time with the rest of our families, my spiritual life and being involved in church, and my Monday through Friday job as a nurse. Those are not negotiable. To a lesser extent, keeping our house clean and organized (and eventually decorated), memory keeping, reading, blogging, and crafting are secondary priorities to me.

There are a lot of things I don’t do. I don’t cook or bake for fun. It is all I can do to get dinner on the table for my family most nights, and we frequently end up having snacks or picking something up. I don’t garden, and we hire out our yard care. Even though I was an athlete until I got pregnant, right now I don’t exercise even a little bit. We have two dogs but we don’t walk them; they have a large yard to play in instead. We don’t take on large or extensive DIY projects. I am also completely out of the loop when it comes to pop culture: I don’t watch TV at all and rarely get to see a movie. This isn’t a humble brag; there are actually a bunch of shows I want to see and I totally understand TV as a hobby.

But I also don’t have any “mindless” time. I rarely let myself just browse the internet or Facebook. I hardly play games on my phone – maybe a few minutes every other day. Any time I do these things (or activities like them) it is on purpose. I try my best to use all of my time productively.

Almost all of the things listed that I don’t do interest me and it is my wish to be able to incorporate those activities into my life someday, but I have had to be honest about my capabilities at the moment and focus on my priorities.

With that in mind, here we go…

Master the mundane tasks

I really relate to the three layers mentality. There is the first layer of basic survival necessities that you pretty much do without thinking, the second layer of routine tasks to make your life run smoother, and then the third layer of extra, life-enriching stuff. The key is to making the first two layers easier and more efficient so that there is time for the third, fun layer.

In my life, the way I manage necessary tasks that aren’t always fun is primarily through two ways: routines and lists. They are my best friends. Anytime there is a habit or a task that I want to incorporate into my life I think about where the best fit for it is, and then I add it to my to-do list. After awhile it becomes routine.

I don’t think I can go any further without talking about the app I use to manage all this. It’s called Things and I would be lost without it. I am sure there are plenty of other apps out there that would be just as effective but this is the one I chose and I haven’t once regretted it. I learn more about what it can do all the time and it is constantly impressing me.

So let’s take one area of life that needs to be kept under control: house chores. I am a clean-as-you-go person so there’s never much mess, but with chores like sweeping the floor, laundry, checking on plants, vacuuming, bathrooms, etc. I found that if I don’t have a dedicated time to do them they won’t get done for way too long. I decided Saturday morning would be the best time for those things because it’s not a work day and I like to get them out of the way first thing on the weekend. So all I did was create a repeating task in Things for them, and now I never forget. I’ve been doing it this way for so long now that it hardly takes me any time to get them done.

I do this same process with basically everything that needs to be kept up with, no matter how frequent. I figure out what needs to be done, when the best time to do it is, then create a repeating task. Sometimes I even have to make lists out of really basic stuff (like taking my vitamins, skincare, flossing, etc.) in order to form a habit. I can do this with Things, or recently I used a printed out self-care checklist as a more visual reminder. Once those things became a habit I dropped the list.

I could keep going and going with more examples but I don’t want this to be too long and I want to get to the fun stuff! So let me know if you have questions about other specifics in the comments. One thing I do want to mention is that most of this “layer” – the chores and basic stuff – I manage to do with Meredith around, usually involving her in some way or with simple distraction.

Adding in the fun stuff

Now for layer three – the extra, fun stuff! For me this includes blogging, Project Life, reading, any kind of crafting at all, and house decorating. Some day in the not-too-distant future I really want to add exercise and gardening into this list. At the age Meredith is right now (almost two), I can’t do any of this with her around, really. I mean sometimes for the sake of getting a pocket or two of Project Life done I’ll let her loose in the craft room (she loves it in there but I don’t love her in there!) but then I know I’ll have a mess to deal with. Mostly though, she’s just very needy for me right now and wants my attention if I’m around. That is of course okay.

It depends on the activity how I approach getting this fun stuff into my life, but a huge part of it depends on my husband. Every weekend he takes Meredith out of the house for 2-3 hours so I can have alone time. Hopefully the chores are already done so I feel free to use that time creatively. Most of the time I either use it to put together Project Life or work on blog posts, usually alternating those every other week.

I use downtime at work as best I can. Sometimes there is none, but when I can I edit blog posts or photos to have printed for Project Life. I also ride the shuttle for about 20-30 minutes each day, so I always read my book at that time. Sometimes it’s my only reading time all week, but the books still get read. I listen to a lot of audiobooks on my commute, too. I also try to take off from work one day a month and still take Meredith to daycare. Those days I can make a lot of progress on a new craft, catch up on stuff, or just rest. I think working moms really need time like that because although we love being at home after work with our families, it’s not always relaxing. :)

So that’s all the time I really have for layer three. For many people a good time for this stuff is after the kids go to sleep, but since I wake up at 4:30 a.m. I pass out at the same time Meredith does. I’ve found that if I try to stay up later it’s completely unproductive and uninspired time anyway, and the next day I’ll be tired and sluggish. I have to be realistic about my limits and capabilities.

One last thing. Some of my fun projects aren’t routine, like Project Life, but are bigger and more long-term. Redecorating the house and teaching myself to make a quilt are examples of this. I love these type of projects and they keep me inspired and growing, but they can be very overwhelming. The way I make progress is to break it all down into smaller components and lists. For the house I am really focusing on one area at a time, but I also keep a list for each room of items I’m looking for (so I know what not to pass up at a thrift store) and things I want to do. Having it written down frees up that space in my mind. Again, I use the Things app for this – you can create unlimited “project” lists in it. For the quilt I broke it down into steps and am completing one part each month.

I know not every personality type would thrive in a system like this, but the key for me is planning, starting each day rested, and using all my time productively. I don’t have it all figured out yet – I am just barely getting a hold on meal planning and cooking, for example – but usually I feel pretty good about the state of things. Let me know if you have any questions!

May 23, 2013