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2006/10/05, 04:59 PM
Are you finding your trips to the grocery store are more frequent and you feel like you're spending too much time preparing meals? Perhaps taking a new approach to meals for your family could be the answer to your goal of shopping and cooking more efficiently.
By preparing meals a week (or even a month) in advance, you can save a lot of money and a lot of time. You'll only be chopping once and cleaning up once. Taking three or four hours each week to prepare can save you 10 to 20 hours a week.
The key is to decide ahead of time what you'll be eating. Divide your shopping list by areas of the store. As you go through your menus, add ingredients to each section where you'll be able to find them when you shop. Here are some other great tips for simplifying your life with a week's worth of prepared meals:
PICK A TIME. Set aside one day or afternoon when meals will be prepared. Involve the family and it will go even faster. The extra help will not only help speed things along, but you can begin to create a family tradition at the same time.
APPOINT A TEAM LEADER to be in charge. Depending on the age of your children, allow one of them to organize the recipes and direct the preparing of food. This can include chopping, grating, packaging and wrapping, and generally supervising the prep.
IT'S OKAY TO BE MESSY. If you're a 'clean as you go' kind of person, you'll have to let it go for your weekly prep. It will be more efficient to use every utensil, spatula and pan you can get your hands on. Just think - you'll be able to load the dishwasher, run one sink-full of hand washing and you'll be finished with the bulk of the weekly dishes all at once.
FREEZE EXTRAS and left overs. You may find you have a little extra celery or red pepper. Chop these vegetables anyway and put them in freezer bags for later. They'll be great to add to soup or pasta sauce. Making cookie dough ahead of time and rolling small balls can make a batch of cookies a breeze. Be sure when packaging foods that you allow space for things that expand and never freeze foods like mayo, custards and lettuces.
LABEL EVERYTHING. Include the name of the dish as well as the date of preparation. This will assist you in rotating things through the freezer. Foods kept longer than a few months can get freezer burn. Before going out for dinner check your freezer and be sure to use up what needs to be cooked so you're not wasting food (and all of your hard work!)
I have been doing this for years now and it works out great for those who have full times jobs!
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Bettia.... You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
-Mark Twain
ravenbeauty@freetrainers.com
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