Have You Been Robbed, Or Are You Giving It Away?

 

We live in a day where saving money and pinching pennies is imperative, especially on mundane items like food - we need so much of it. So how do we justify buying and preparing foods that are healthy or even worse, organic?

 

Hold on to your seats friends, I've found the answer!!!!

 

You've heard the old adage, "Time is Money". It just occurred to me that we are being robbed! Of our money? In a sense, yes. What is it that we all spend our extra time doing? You guessed it - the wonderful world of Internet, Net Flix, Hulu, Cable, FaceBook, Email, iPhones. We hurry hurry and at the end of our exhausting day we plop for our nightly entertainment. While it is true that these expensive inventions can be time savers, they have also robbed us of something precious. Some old fashioned goodness. Namely, home cooking and face time. Think about it. What conjures in your head when you think of good 'ole home made cooking? - Homemade pies filling the kitchen with the aroma of apples and cinnamon, savory smells of beef stew cooking all day. Stuff your grandmother did, right? We don't have time to cook like that. We need something fast, quick, convenient and subsequently unhealthy.

 

What did our "grandmothers" do the first thing when they got up in the morning - turn on their computers, check email, FB, news? Of course not, sillies (Gollum LOTR). Their mind was on efficient and economical ways of keeping their families fed. Maybe they started a bread dough, a tomato sauce, or a stew; maybe they went out in the garden to pick what had ripened overnight. Their first hour was probably food prep - and without a microwave, mind you. Their time was their money.

 

Lots of our money is gobbled up in electronics - and I love my electronics as much as the next gal. But when people say "I don't have MONEY to buy organic" or "I don't have TIME to cook from scratch", I wonder if our priorities are just topsy turvy. A 24-hour day is still a 24-hour day.

 

Back in the day when women had the luxury of staying home they did a lot of, what we call, the mundane chores, together - baking, quilting, ironing. Well, we women still need "girl time" but the focus has shifted...we "do lunch" or catch a chick flick.

 

But lately, some of my friends who want to save time and money while eating with healthy ingredients have gotten together like women of old to cook together (older times mind you, not old in age). It has given us back something which we've been robbed of, home cooking with girl friends! Why not have fun learning and sharing together while saving time in the kitchen and subsequently saving money? It also takes away the drudgery of cooking - we're having fun with friends!

 

Our supper swap looks like this: each bff brings a healthy recipe and all the ingredients (you can change up the amount of people or the quantity of recipes depending on your needs). Together in one of our kitchens, we each cook our own recipe. We laugh, chat, eat and have fun together (all the components of girl time). Once we're done, we divide the finished meals into containers. If there are four of us, we've each made one big healthy meal and go home with four small ones. What a time saver!

 

Instead of spending money to "do lunch" or ordering out a quick pizza, our extra cash is spent on healthy organic ingredients and our robber of time and money has been vanquished.

 

I know we can't be asked to save money by canceling cable, or "doing lunch" less often - we need it, right? Of course we do. But what if we switched it up occassionally and got together like the ladies of 'ole and had some good "old fashioned" girl time - while keeping the time and money robbers at bay for awhile.

Are You Kidding? Who Has Time To Cook Healthy?

 

Exasperated? Overwhelmed? Too busy? Frustrated? Dumbfounded? Tired?

 

Do these feelings flood over you on a daily basis? Put on the brakes. Grab a cup of tea and let's have a heart to heart. Did you know that a few minutes of planning can save you hours of time and brain space each day/week/month?

 

When I get overwhelmed with all I have to do, I grab my notebook and pencil and start writing it all down. Somehow the act of brain to paper unloads my heavy burden as I attempt to tame my day. Once the page is full I give each task an ETA (Estimated Time of Accomplishment) and then add up the minutes on the page. This tells me whether my duties outweigh the hours. Another words, can I actually get it all done? If not, I see if there's anything I can move to the next day. Then I give each duty a number of importance and a time frame.

 

30 min. - 7:00-7:30 - Lemon "tea", email and FB
45 min. - 7:30-8:15 - Work out
30 min. - 8:15-8:45 - Water garden
30 min. - 8:45-9:15 - Shower and dress
15 min. - 9:15-9:30 - Eat breakfast
30 min. - 9:30-10:00 - Meditation
30 min. - 10:00-10:30 - Clean kitchen
15 min. - 10:30-10:45 - Choose recipes
15 min. - 10:45-11:00 - Make ingredient list
90 min. - 11:00-12:30 - Grocery shop
60 min. - 12:30-1:30 - Make and eat lunch
60 min. - 1:30-2:30 - Put away groceries
10 min. - 2:30-2:40 - Make quinoa and rice
60 min. - 2:40-3:40 - Prep vegetables and put away

4:00 tea

10 min. - 3:40-3:50 - Prep carrot lemonade juice veggies
10 min. - 3:50-4:00 - Prep beet juice veggies
10 min. - 4:00-4:10 - Prep lemonade fruits for juice
10 min. - 4:10-4:20 - Prep Kale apple juice veggies
30 min. - 4:20-4:50 - Tea and snack time. Answer emails.
60 min. - 4:50-5:50 - Clean kitchen
55 min. - 5:50-6:45 - Plan gluten free recipes for cooking class
75 min. - 6:45-8:00 - Pizza with hubby
13 hours
 

Lately, this has been necessary since I now must make all my food from scratch. Being gluten and dairy intolerant means I can't rely on quick food fixes anymore. Priorities have shifted. So, I thought I would share "A day in the life of a gluten free, dairy free chef".

 

Today is grocery shopping day. The first thing on my list:

1. Choose 7 recipes (1 or 2 new; the rest from my Keeper binder)

 

I have 2 three-ring binders. One I fill with new recipes found online or in magazines or cookbooks that I would like to try. The other is filled with "Keepers" - those recipes which I've tried and which taste good (very important to taste good).

 

I finally have at least 14 recipes which both I and my husband like, so these have become a 14-day rotation. In a month's time we only  have to eat each recipe twice. Again, a time saver since I don't have to rethink "what's for dinner" every night.

 

Next, I make an ingredient list from my seven chosen recipes.

2. Make ingredient list

 

If you're crunched for time this step can be eliminated. Just take the 7 recipes with you to the grocery store and check ingredients as you shop. Not as efficient, but doable.

 



Left overs

Next, of course, is to get the groceries.

3. Grocery shopping

This usually takes me an hour in the store, plus travel time. It's better if my refrigerator is cleaned out (eat all leftovers the night before) to make room for new stuff; and if my counters are cleared.

 

Groceries bought and back home. Now it's time for efficiency.

 

I eat a lot of quinoa since it's gluten free, a complete protein by itself, and is an alkaline food. Since it will stay fresh cooked for the week, I check all recipes, see how much I need, and make it all at once.
 

4. Make quinoa for the week, cool, then refrigerate

 

I do the same with rice (brown or black, depending on the recipes chosen).
 

5. Make rice for the week


 

Another way to save time is to prepare all vegetables needed for your recipes at once: peel carrots, scrub potatoes, wash celery, chop onions, scrub beets, cut and wash Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Once you get going, you get on a roll. If time permits, you could also put vegetables away grouped according to the recipe.

 



5 pound bag of carrots scrubbed and ready to package

6. Prep vegetables and put away
 

 

Since I usually juice at least once a day, I also prepare juice ingredients and package them in ziploc bags per recipe.

 

7. Carrot lemonade: Wash 6 carrots, 1/2 small lemon, 1 apple, 1 stalk of celery - ziploc it. Make two.
 

8. Beet juice: Scrub 1 small beet, wash 1 large cucumber, cut a 2" piece of fresh peeled ginger, cut pineapple in quarters - ziploc it. Make 2

9. Pink lemonade: wash 2 apples, wash 1 small lemon, scrub 1/4 beet - ziploc it. Make 2

10. Kale apple juice: wash 10 kale leaves, wash 1 apple, wash 1 cucumber, 1/2 whole lemon - ziploc it.

 

Now all seven juices are ready for the week - no more thinking required.

 

Another time saving tip I've found is to make sure I make twice as much for dinner as we need from each recipe, then we have leftovers for lunch the next day. Double for your trouble.

 

Wow, lots of prepping done. As a reward, it's time to order pizza out. Yup, I can get a gluten free, no cheese, delicious, vegetable pizza down the street at Stone and Paddle where one of my sons works. Sometimes I get a quick visit with him if he's not too busy.

 

Every time I'm able to do this prep routine at the beginning of my week, it leaves lots of brain space left for the rest of daily living, like blogging, teaching cooking classes, and making new recipes.

Now let me hear from you. What timesavers have you found helpful to make your life less overwhelming?