Food is kind of my thing. The house won't be cleaned for days but you will have a good, healthy meal in your belly. Meal preparation for a family of 6 (ok..Griffy isn't really eating yet)..takes quite a bit of work. After 16 years of marriage, I think I have it down. I'm all about planning. On Sunday, I could tell you what we are having for dinner on Friday...ok, pizza..I just told you that...but you get the idea. I spend the weekend looking through cookbooks, magazines, and online recipes to figure out what we're having for the week. I take into account nights that are busier than others..like Tuesday. Tuesday I drive kids all afternoon...CCD, ballet, baseball..so that night is usually something in the crockpot or something that I've made in advance. For me, there is no worse feeling than wondering what we're having for dinner at 5:00. Heck, I don't like to feel that at noon.
My meal planning doesn't just stop at dinner. There are 2 other meals plus snacks during the day that I have to consider..I told you this was time consuming. For breakfast I usually feed the kids pancakes, french toast or oatmeal...usually with fruit that has been pre-cut. I will make up the pancake batter the night before. I make Steve's lunch the night before also...yes, I pack his lunch everyday..unless he has a business lunch out. Usually he takes a salad, hummus/veggies, yogurt or leftovers. Stephen buys lunch everyday...Hannah and Will both bring their lunches everyday. Neither one of them has ever bought lunch. Let's stop and do the math here...That's 15 breakfast's and 15 lunches Monday through Friday. That's a lot of food! Hannah usually takes soup, yogurt, hummus/pretzels, salad, or grapefruit...Will has a ham/turkey sub. Now, that's just their lunch...there are also 2 snacks each in there. I don't do pre-packaged snacks, cookies etc. I do my best to make homemade banana breads, muffins, cookies.
O.k, so they've had breakfast and lunch and they're now home from school. Snack time. Usually it's a smoothie..we make a lot of these. Yogurt, fruit, flax oil, protein powder....I need to mix these up a bit though. Time for a smoothie cookbook! And a new blender..mine is on it's way out.
We hardly ever eat out...it's too much work and too expensive for our whole family to go out. Plus, I'm a bit of a food snob I guess. I get nervous about who is touching my food back in the kitchen....weird I know. So, here we are back to cooking dinner. I try to change up the meals quite a bit. We don't eat a lot of meat...I try and cook fish at least once a week. I could eat it every night but the rest of the family wouldn't be happy. In the winter I do a lot of soups, stews and crockpot cooking. I have a great crockpot cookbook that isn't all that Campbells cream of crap...it's all real food...It's called....Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook...I'm too lazy to get up and find the author for you right now. I'm sure you could google it if you're interested or if anyone is even reading this still. Anyway, in the summer we grill..a lot...
So when someone asks me what I do all day long while home with the baby...I'm cooking, planning, shopping, cleaning up after cooking, putting groceries away...man that is a lot of hours put into our meals! But, it's my thing...scrubbing floors is not my thing.
When I get it together I'll post recipes....I LOVE blogs that have their menu for the week on the side. I need to learn how to do that! Computers aren't my thing either...it's amazing I'm even here.
Wow~you are amazing! I can honestly say that I don't know anyone who goes through the same amount of planning & shopping & cooking! I recently tried a minestrone soup recipe from Sabby (go to http://sabbyinsuburbia.blogspot.com/ & click on March..Sabby's Soup Kitchen) My family loved it & you can adjust the ingredients to your family's liking! Also, I still call it CCD, but around here it is called SOR (School of Religion). I think you are doing an amazing job on your blogging & computer use!
ReplyDelete#1--don't diminish how much skill and work goes into making food for a baby. Your body's working all the time (at least that's what I try to tell Brad!)
ReplyDelete#2--Wow. I wish wish wish food and cooking was my thing. I am so impatient that I usually can't be too bothered. I do make a menu plan every Monday, but it's not that creative or cool. Just functional. After the wedding, I'm vowing to become better at this.
#3--and I'm serious about this: I have a great blender that I was going to give to Goodwill (because I have a mixer that has a blender, and I rarely even use that one). Email me your address, and I'll send it to you. Seriously. It'd only be a couple bucks . . .
#4--Is it spring yet? I hope it's getting closer!
March 24, 2010 6:32 AM
You are blowing my mind! Pam-you are simply amazing. A mutual friend of ours, CC, does the same. You planners! Your family is blessed to the brim. I'm exhausted just "hearing" of your week. Love you so...
ReplyDeleteYay for food planning! It makes such a difference! And to cook healthily all year around does take planning! Great for you!
ReplyDeleteWOW. Pam... you are amazing. REALLY amazing. My hat is off to you dear friend! And.. I hopw you never get tired of me saying this.. but I LOVE the way you write!! You ALWAYS, (and I mean ALWAYS make me smile) :) love San
ReplyDeletePam..great post. I too HAVE to plan...feeding 3 teenage boys is no small feat :) The crockpot is my best friend...especially in the winter! I might have to grab that cookbook! We used to eat out at least once a week on the weekend, but it is just too darn expensive...for us the bill is never under $80 and it usually is alot more...nobody wants to order off the kiddie menu anymore...except Lucy :)
ReplyDeleteI always joke with my Husband when I am making lunches that I make 27 sandwiches..it really is only 5 but at 6:30 in the morning it feels like 27! I cannot make lunches at night because I cannot stand my own sandwich to be made the night before, so I can't do it for the kids! One of my "little issues".
Smoothies are HUGE here at our house...we have a Magic Bullet and it is the BEST! It works great for the boys. Now the boys are not dragging out my blender 3-4 times a day, and I make a smoothie after my workouts...I put flaxseed in my oatmeal and I just got the flax oil for my smoothies ( it is much better than the ground flax in them, which is what I was doing)
This time is precious..and I try to remind myself of that as Powell just turned in his class schedule for his Senior year!!!
Glad you are here though. Its amazing how much one learns by doing. So if you keep up with learning the computer I might pull out my crockpot. I need to start planning. It is definitely not my thing, but I think my life would be so much less stressful if I made it my thing.
ReplyDeleteOh Pam you and CC should exchange menus. She does the same thing and all with a smaile on her face. I wish I was sitting at your table. xoxo
ReplyDeleteYou are an amazing mom Pam, and someday your children will really thank you! Glad you have this blog for them to read one day.....
ReplyDeleteSound like my day...except throw in a yoga class or a run! Anyways...do some research on blenders. I got the Vita-Mix. It is super expensive, but if you do make smoothies regularly, you will love it. It is my favorite thing in my kitchen. There also the Blend-Tec, which people love. Money well spent. I do 3 c water, kale, spinach, oranges, frozen berries/bananas, flax, hemp powder...etc, Remind me to give you the almond chocolate one, it's incredible, the kids will love it. The vita-Mix also makes great soups. Ask Erin about my amazing root veggie soup. Google Green smoothies....super nutritious!!! I think when you cook and just read recipes for fun, like us, it's hard to go out to eat, since we always know we can make it better....
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog bloghopping and I've loved reading your posts. I feel exactly the same way you do about cooking. Some days it really does feel like food is all I do between the shopping, planning, prep, actual cooking, and cleaning! But it's great!
ReplyDeleteLove reading about your happy life. Thanks so much!