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We just ended the first installment of Someone Else’s Shoes with the first experience being Working Full Time and Real Foods.
The purpose of the week was to experience a schedule of working full time outside the home. While I have done this in the past when doing temp work, I knew that for the series Someone Else’s Shoes this was an important piece. And I am so glad that I did! The week was really helpful to me also.
What I Learned
Sometimes I think since I am home (I work from home) that I have more time than I really do. Being forced to follow a schedule this week resulted in me being a lot more organized than I usually am. And to know that during set hours I would not be doing housework or playing in the kitchen was very freeing in many ways. I hope to continue some of these good habits.
What I Would Do Different
If I was working outside the home, there are somethings I would attempt do different. I didn’t plan any extras. We usually have dessert on Friday nights. I didn’t plan for it so we didn’t have any. If I would have thought ahead, I could have had something quick and easy ready (like this Chocolate Cake Recipe) to go when my day was over. Not that missing dessert once in a while is going to kill us… Also I was worried about our time in the mornings so I prepared baked oatmeal early in the week and breakfast cake last in the week. Both of these are delicious! Even though homemade and certainly better for us than many other things, I think we do better on high protein simple things. Eggs fried in ghee (or poached in broth) with sourdough bread or a simple soup for breakfast are a better choice for us. The time to make fried eggs in minimal and if I planned ahead and put soup ingredients in the crock pot before bed our breakfast would be ready.
What I Hope to Continue
Things I hope to continue include the Sunday clean up. We spent one hour on Sunday cleaning things up as a family. It made a huge difference for the entire week. A couple of short 15 minute clean ups during the week kept things in check. I also loved that I had all of my Standard items done on Sunday. Usually I’m making one or two things each day. This week, I started the week off with the things I needed to create our meals.
A Good Thing
Even with a time constricted week, I was still able to do a few creative things. Nothing fancy for sure but using my simple casserole method, I created a very good dish reminiscent of the Chicken Divan shared by Teryl. Method or formula cooking is a life saver for busy times and also to help keep food costs low.
In fact, I believe so much in formula cooking that I’ll soon have a short eBook available. You will love this eBook! You will learn tons of ideas for not only saving time and money in the kitchen but reducing waste, increasing variety and even adding probiotic foods to your meals while designing simple and tasty dishes. And because I think this information is so important, this eBook will be free when you sign up for my newsletter. Be sure to sign up for my RSS feed so you know when this launches.
Bonus!
Today, as a bonus, I’m sharing the Menu Plan, To Do List and either Recipes or Links to many of the dishes made this past week for the experience Working Full Time and Real Foods. This is in PDF form so you can download it and print it (if you wish).
Working Full Time and Real Food
Interviews
As a part of the series Someone Else’s Shoes, I’ll be doing interviews with real food enthusiasts so we can see just how real food works into different people’s lives and circumstances. The first interview will go live on Thursday. This is going to be a wonderful addition to the series! I know we all like taking a peek at what works for others and gleaning from them.
Let’s get on with New, Revisited and Standards
New:
I’m not sure if this qualifies under this week or last week. I made them Saturday night (last week) but we ate them starting on Sunday. So, I think we’ll call them this week especially since I didn’t share them last week 🙂 I made Wardeh’s Best Homemade Tortilla Chips. Ever. They were super good. We had them as a base for Frito Boats.
Revisited:
Radish Sprouts. Last winter I did quite a bit of sprouting but hadn’t done any this winter. Sprouts are such a great way to add green foods into our diet. I love the flavor of radish sprouts. Just a bit of a bite to them makes them wonderful.
Quinoa. This is something that I have used some in the past but it had been several months. I had forgot just how good it is. We did ours simply with butter (lots of butter) salt, pepper and powdered garlic. It was so good. And I made enough for two night which really helps when time is an issue.
Standards:
I made several ferments this week (on Sunday). Mayonnaise, salsa, salmon, eggs, kombucha. Also yogurt and butter. I like keeping cultured/fermented products on hand. Keeping these items in our diet is a great way to help keep our guts healthy.
Share!
What’s been happening in your kitchen? Try anything New? Any items you Revisited? What is Standard at your house? Or just share favorite recipe.
I think a weekly menu plan is the only way I will actually cook and work full-time.
A menu plan helps so much! I use one most weeks even working from home. It is nice to know in advance what I’m doing. Plus my husband likes to ask me early in the morning what’s for dinner. He really likes it when I have an answer, especially if it is something he likes. He says he ‘looks forward to it all day’. 🙂 He’s a sweetie!
Just had a chance to read your series. I like how you focused on prep and planning as that is key. I work full time out if the home, and have for nearly thirty years, through two marriages and three kids. What gets dicey is when you expand beyond one carefully planned week. Throw in baseball games, band concerts, travel for work, and weekend events that cut into your planning and prep time. Then you have to get really creative. :). But, thank you for showing folks with a little planning they can do much better than frozen pizza and take out.