So far in the
Today I want to emphasize something SUPER important. If you are in a busier-than-usual, intense season of life right now, don’t plan a ton of really time-intensive, unfamiliar recipes that will require more time and energy than you have. Don’t! It will only set you up for failure. You and I both know that if you have been running all day long and you look at your meal plan and see that you are “supposed” to be cooking paella for dinner and a lemon meringue pie (from scratch) for dessert, you will probably opt for takeout instead.
And if you have a WHY and you don’t want to be ordering takeout, this takeout order feels like failure. And I don’t want you to fail! You don’t want to fail!
So the solution?
Plan simple meals. It doesn’t have to look like the cover of Gourmet. The editors from Fine Cooking do not have to approve. You do NOT have to post pictures on your Instagram feed! Keep it simple.
Simple meals can be just as delicious and nutritious. If your WHY involves saving money, you definitely save money with simpler meals. If you WHY involves nutrition concerns, simpler meals don’t have to be empty calories.
And if you really have a hankering for something a little more time-intensive, try to plan ahead for a day when you will have the time and energy to prepare it the way you want to. If you have been working all day, just picked up a child from an after school activity and two more from sports practices only to attend an Open House and rush home to get kids bathed and fed and ready for bed, you are going to need something fast and simple.
Some of my favorite tools for days like that are:
- a Crock-Pot {When I come home from a LONG day and open the door and smell something delicious, I feel like I’ve won! Most slow-cooker recipes are pretty simple and can be done early in the morning or prepped the night before and tossed in the next morning. We love salsa chicken and roasts.}
- a bread maker {We originally bought one at a fundraising auction and we’re now on our second one and consider it a staple in our home. Want to fancy up a simple spaghetti meal? How about a loaf of freshly baked bread? And a bread maker couldn’t be simpler: you just throw the ingredients in and push the button! A few hours later, you have fresh bread. Most even have a timer function so you can set it to have the bread timed perfectly with when you want to eat. You can also prepare doughs this way. Want to simplify making cinnamon rolls or your favorite dinner rolls? Toss the ingredients into the bread maker and it can be doing the mixing and rising prep work while you are doing something else! Rotting bananas but no time to whip up some banana bread? Throw them into a breadmaker the night before (follow a banana bread recipe, of course) and set the timer so that you’ll have freshly baked banana bread first thing in the morning–it’s amazing!}
- an Instant-Pot {I know these are all the rage right now and I am running the risk of being stoned for saying this, but I still prefer my slow cooker to this. Maybe I’m too old school? But, if you have forgotten to throw your food into the slow cooker ahead of time or you just need something cooked faster, having this pressure cooker available can really help simplify the process. It also works great as a rice cooker, egg cooker, and veggie steamer.}
- a good hand-mixer {Whether you’re mixing melted cream cheese or shredding chicken, this is a great tool for so many reasons. I don’t have a huge kitchen, so I opted for this instead of a big stand mixer. We’ve been using the same one for 16 years now and love it.}
While we are on the subject of kitchen gadgets and simplification, let’s consider one more thing that will help you reach your goal of cooking dinner.
Simplify your kitchen!
If you have three can openers, four whisks, seven spatulas, and thirteen mixing spoons, you might have a hundred other things in your kitchen that are just getting in your way. And if your kitchen is too cluttered–like you can’t open that one drawer all the way because a utensil has shifted and jammed against whatever it’s above–you won’t want to cook in it. You will feel frustrated every time you go in there. I know: I’ve been there.
And you kinda have to go into your kitchen to cook dinner, you know?
So before you think about adding a time-saving tool like the ones I mentioned above, I challenge you to take a day and go through your kitchen drawers and cupboards. If you haven’t used that squash peeler from your friend’s home party in four years, take it out of that prime location.
I took the Home Organization Challenge with A Bowl Full of Lemons this year. When I cleared out my cupboards and kitchen drawers, I felt so much better about my kitchen! I can open every drawer without getting angry! I can find the spices I need because I only kept the ones that I actually use (that didn’t expire 3 years ago). It was a game-changer. At
So today, we are focusing on SIMPLICITY. Keep your menu simple, especially on busy days. Keep time-saving gadgets that make meal prep easier. And cut the clutter in your kitchen so that you have the space to cook AND it is easier to find the things you actually use. Keeping things SIMPLE will make them do-able, especially on “those days”–you know what I’m talking about.
