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Menu Plan and “To Do” List

Sunday, the beginning of the week! I used today to plan and prep for the week. I have all of the grocery shopping completed, a menu plan made, a daily to do list ready and have pre made a few items.

I have to admit, I spent more time in the kitchen today that I had planned on. Partly, due to adding in a few things. This is what my day looked like;

8:05 AM to 9:15AM

Made 2 loaves of bread and got them in the pans to rise
Made a 1/2 gallon of yogurt and put in the cooler to yog
Started Baked Oatmeal by soaking the oats
Finished up the Menu Plan for the week and Put in the “To Do” notes

L to R: Bread rising, Oats soaking, Covered cooler with yogurt

Around 1:30 I went back to the kitchen and made;

Mayonnaise
Butter
Ground up antelope for chili and started the chili cooking (Sunday Dinner Frito Boats)
Macaroons from the egg whites left after making mayo (Impulse cooking that I thought would be good for lunches but they were gone by 5PM!)
Kombucha
Pickled eggs (for lunches/snacks)
Fermented salmon (for lunches/snacks)
Lacto-fermented Salsa (for Tuesday’s dinner)
Whipped up Pimento Cheese (Game Food!)

This took me just under 3 hours with interruptions. I timed the pickled eggs, salmon and salsa ‘just for fun’.

Eggs: I had precooked the eggs on Friday so they just needed peeled and put in the brine. For the brine I used leftover Bubbies pickle juice and some of the brine from the previous batch of pickled eggs which I’d made using the recipe from the GNOWFGLINS Lacto-Fermentation eCourse. Total time was less than 15 minutes. If I would have needed to make the brine then maybe another 5 minutes. They go quick!

Salmon: This only involves a bit of chopping/cutting and brining. Also less than 15 minutes. Another winner from the Lacto-Fermentation eCourse

Salsa: This one takes a little bit longer with all of the chopping. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro all adds up. It still came in at less than 30 minutes and I have 2 quarts that are each 3/4 full.

Normally, I would not be doing all of these ferments at one time.  But since I knew I’d be doing this experience this week, I put off a few of them to share here. Since learning about fermenting eggs and salmon in the Lacto-Fermentation eCourse, I’ve been trying to keep both on hand. They are a wonderful addition to lunches and make a quick snack.

Sunday After Dinner:

Kiki had dishes this evening (we don’t have a dishwasher), I spent 15 minutes in the kitchen finishing up the Baked Oatmeal and getting it and the bread made this morning into the oven.  Before bed, I’ll put a couple of small venison roasts in the crock pot. The roast will be added to lunches this week. Kiki and Lulu (ages 16 and 15) both pack their own lunches. I’ll pack up lunches for Joe, Christopher and me in the morning.

To be quite honest, I’m pooped. While none of the items I made were particularly difficult or even time consuming on their own when it was all added up, it was quite a bit.  Part of what added to things was the extra Super Bowl foods which didn’t seem like much but when already making a long list of things it adds up. Plus early in the day, when I still had energy, I impulsively made macaroons. As I mentioned, I normally wouldn’t be doing so many ferments but I might do something else like this Tortilla Recipe or maybe Katie’s Crackers to add to meals so I guess it would all equal out in the end.

I’ll post my next update to Working Full Time and Real Foods on Wednesday.

Do you do meal prep on the weekends to make your week go smoother? What kinds of things to you make? How long (on average) do you spend on the prep?