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| Photo by nathnborror |
I've mentioned before that I have three kids under five and a husband that works evenings so as you can imagine it's not always easy for me to get a healthy dinner on the table. You may be in a similar situation or you may work long hours at the office. Either way, the key to eating healthy food during a hectic day is planning. Here's what I do:
Cook large batches.
There are two ways to do this. Double your recipe as your cooking dinner so you have plenty of leftovers for the next few days or designate a set cooking day and make several meals at once to keep in the freezer.
Some examples of good meals to keep in the freezer are meaty chipotle chili, coconut flour pancakes, marinated chicken or meatballs.
Prepare ahead of time.
The other big thing I do is the night before, after the kids are in bed, I ask myself "What can I do now to make tomorrow easier?" I plan out exactly what we will be eating the next day and I do the prep work such as setting meat out to thaw, chopping veggies, or preparing a sauce.
You can extend this to other areas of your life too such as setting out your clothes for the next day or gathering up the library books that need returned.
What do you do to make cooking a little easier on busy days? Tell me about it in the comments.
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Kara, I find that keeping a week-long menu calendar helps me plan better. Then I know what chores I can do today to help out my meals tomorrow or the day after. But I think you could start teaching your little ones how to do things like husk corn, peel veggies and other things like that. A coordinated two year old can husk corn decently albeit slowly. A four year old can certainly peel veggies. I have ten kids and if they didn't help cook they might never eat!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ubermom.
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to have my children helping me more. I try to do it some but then the kitchen gets a lot messier! I need to keep trying though- it's good for them.