Household Management
I have a serious, non-ironic-about-gender-stereotypes-etc., question:
How do you run your household?
You give me a single project and tell me to own and love it, I can do it. But give me a department to run and it’s going under.
The problem here is that running an house is like managing a department of some sort. Maybe not anything super important, like IT or accounting. But something like …. human resources? Because we’re humans and we’re like resources?
I have no idea. But this department is definitely not meeting quotas and whatnot.
The main topic of this post is cooking. Didn’t see that one coming, did you? We blow a depressing amount of money on take-out food. The girls almost always eat at home, but by the time they’re in bed and the day is done, I’m beat. I go through fits and spurts, but for the past few months we’ve been eating out probably four to five times a week.
(And don’t tell me to eat with my kids. Who the hell over the age of eight eats dinner at 5 p.m.???)
Anyhow. That’s a lot of money. And money is something we definitely don’t have to burn. Especially since we’re planning to finally take our honeymoon in two years, and by golly, that’s one project I WILL manage to achieve.
Vacation. Vacation. Vacation.
Oh, and the whole short-selling-the-house and three-kids-on-one-income things. Those are a real financial drain, too.
I’m trying to say that I’ve rededicated myself to cooking at home again, and I didn’t set my sights low, either. I decided to plan out a month’s worth of meals.
Note the key words there: Plan. In advance. A month.
Naturally, I don’t expect myself to actually succeed at this for a full 30 days, but I’m going to try, by god.
Vacation. Vacation. Vacation.
So, back to my question: How the hell do you do this? I’ve planned four days so far and I’m exhausted. How do you do that whole thing where you buy your groceries once a week and know exactly what to buy and the chicken lasts three days for three different meals and there are coupons and stuff?
I go to the store as often as four days a week to buy food as needed and there’s never anything to eat here except 18 bags of chip crumbs, some dented cans of crushed pineapple and three gallons of olive oil.
If I can make dinner with these ingredients, let me know. Otherwise, share your household management tips. Please. Even if you don’t have any. A mutual lack of housewifery skills will at least make me feel better.
22 comments
I have no living clue how to do this either. I can recall my mom doing it (she also worked FT while raising us, big ups to her). But there were A LOT of casseroles, chicken nuggets, soup…basically things you can turn into two meals and a lunch. It wasn't great food, though. There were things I absolutely dreaded having to eat. Poor mama.
We're in the same fat sinking ship, take-out wise. It's pathetic. And the funny thing is, I cook meals for the toddler every day: veggies, pasta, rice, sauces. Why the hell I can't expand this cooking to include two adults is beyond me.
And even though I cook for him, none of it is planned. It's basically, hmm, what's in the house that E can eat, let's make that, where's the pizza. So sad.
And I don't even have the excuse of it being winter here in the Northeast. Veggies are everywhere. I suck.
I do my best with as few ingredients as possible and one dish meals……………..I suck as a cook but here are a couple of things that are kinda tasty and you can make them as plain or flavorful as you wish
Ramen Noodle Dish
1/2 pound of hamburger cooked and drained
1 1/2 cups of various veggies that you enjoy (I use peas, corn, and red peppers)
2 packages of Ramen noodles and the flavor packet
3 cups of water
Put everything in the pan, put on the lid and stir every 5 minutes until the ramen noodles are tender
Breakfast for Dinner
1/2 package of Ore Ida shredded potatoes cooked golden brown
6 slices of ham from the packaged lunch meat aisle cut into small strips
4 eggs whipped with a little milk
Kraft square cheese (3 slices)
Shredded cheese (about half cup?)
Add the eggs and ham to the cooked shredded potatoes and stir frequently until almost all done
add the square cheese and stir
top with shredded cheese and add the lid until all melted
I hope this helps with two days……….If you like these, I can come up with a few more.
OK I'm definately no expert at this but I can add my two sense.
Coupons
Google: smart source coupons.. and you can click on what you want and then print them out. They're the same as what you get in the Sunday paper.. without having to buy the paper and waste time
Multiple Use Poultry…
First Night..
Italian Chicken. Marinate the night before, or the minute before you put the chicken in the oven with some italian dressing. If you want to get real fancy, you can marinate chicken in milk for 24 hours and it gets verrry tender (then add dressing).. Serve with rice or a pasta side dish and some frozen veggies
Second Night… Take left over chicken and make a chicken pot pie. Cut up chicken into small pieces, add your frozen veggies and a can of Chicken Soup (dont add extra liquid). You can even buy the premade pie crust and keep it in your freezer for a long time.
Third Night (if you need it)
Chicken Salad!! You can figure this one out..
Apparently it wont let me write a book.. Here is the other half ..
My other favorite chicken recipes are..
Put boneless skinless chicken breat in the crock pot with maybe 1 1/2 cup water with a cut up onion and green pepper. Set on low for 6-7 hours (depending on your crock) After the 4th hour ( or its at least cooked) the chicken should be real tender, you can shred it with a fork. Then add your favorite BBQ sauce for tasty pulled chicken sandwiches..
For leftovers you can take your pulled chicken and make them into pulled chicken tacos.. add letuce and your favorite veggies and its yummy!!! You can also do the same thing with a pork roast.
Hope that helps!! Remember you can always utilize your crock pot and you dont have to worry about dinner until its time to serve it. AND save time, buy the crock pot liners at the store so you dont have to spend hours cleaning the dang thing.
Food blogs/websites are probably the best way to go. I know there are some specifically for meal planning and spitting out your shopping lists but I can't remember the names of any of them right now. If CoolMomPicks.com has a food related category I know they've posted about some really amazing recipe sites in the past.
(I totally eat with my kids at 5:45-6:30.)
I have a serious – no serious serious – lack of cooking skills. So we suck at this also. My husband can cook, but we just find we're out of time between working until 5/6, kid playtime and golfing or exercise classes for the grownups and then bathtimes on some days for the kids. We end up alot of the time making four different things. Toddler only eats fish sticks. Given pretty much any choices…fish sticks she says. The older one eats pretty much anything, but we usually let her choose something we have around. We do alot of eating out too. About two months ago, we had the same idea as you – plan ahead. food. We did it for about a week. And we continually say we're going to do that again..but so far not so much. We might I guess – but i think the key for us will be planning more than a week. and then making a list of all of those ingredients and buying them every month, no deviations except to plan and integrate a new meal. It's difficult right now with the toddler's aversion to anything non-fish stick.
do not do a monthly food menu/shopping list. Its not ideal. I do it weekly, I spend about an hour or so, I pick one of my many books(or think of what I might want that week) and go from there, I write the days of the week and start with dinner/supper/evening meal whatever you call it. You pick 7 of those…and work down. Kids like pb and J…hey make sure you add onto the shopping list that you have made for the recipes you have chosen for the dinners. and then you suddenly have options for lunches. Now I do things differently because being a Canuck, we don't have some of the coupon options that are in the states so what I do do from time to time, I look at the grocery flyers and make up whatever else I might need and do the list from the flyer, some weeks are great some not so great in deals. If you budget out a weekly budget on food you should be able to work from there. I have adjusted my budget to my growing family(and we both know that means the man boys that don't stop eating) I count toddler tummies in half..ie Thad and Heath are equal to one adult stomach and I portion meals accordingly. I got lots of ideas, message me
lol
2 words: farmer's market.
Every Saturday morning we all go the farmer's market and pick up as much fresh food as we can. Arlo has a blast hanging out at the market, and I'm able to get a ton of delicious and cheap food. Then I spend the rest of the morning planning our meals for the week and getting the remainder of the shopping done. Barry and I try to make it a fun process for Arlo and us.
We keep our list of meals posted on the fridge, and I try to get as much prep work done as possible during the weekend (i.e. chopping and the like). So, I can quickly boil up some pasta, add some fresh kale, tomatoes, and cheese, and I have a delicious and healthy meal that cost me very little. I make a ton and the leftovers are our lunch. I go for quick and easy meals that are made w/ super fresh ingredients.
I also LOVE my crockpot-have beans (or a roast, if you prefer) once a week. You can throw them in with some water and ham or something if you like, and by dinner time you have a meal. Almost no work, AND you have a ton of leftovers that kids like, AND it cost you less than $5 for everyone.
how much time do you have to cook? And, how many times a week do you want to eat chicken? People have lots of good ideas for the bird, so I'll skip that. Ground beef is where I excel! Get 2lbs. Cook burgers one night. While hubby grills them, brown the rest of the meet. Then store half to save for adding to a jar of spaghetti sauce. With the other half, add taco seasoning and then store for taco night. In both cases, you can freeze the cooked beef and it warms up easily.
And check out mealsmatter.org They have a meal suggestion page for quick meals.
One thing I just started doing is buying fresh frult, wash it and cut it, mix different ones and put in the snack size baggies. They are in the freezer. I dump a bag in the blender, add some juice, and breakfast! (or snack, dessert, etc.)
I plan out 2 weeks worth of 'dinner' menu. Make list of what you need and stick to it! We buy our meat at Sam's club in bulk. I shop at Walmart for groceries and 2 weeks worth of grocery items for dinner costs only $50. Except when we run out of meat, add in another $50. I also plan meals that typically don't use meat as one main item for dinner (like chicken breasts or burgers). I do stuff where the meat goes a lot farther that a main item. Because of that, my 2 weeks worth of meals easily lasts a month or more. Since what I make generally has leftovers to feed us the next day for dinner. So planning those 14 meals, that lasts us 30+ days costs a total of $100 (thats if we need to buy meat, which we only have to every other shopping trip) My last shopping trip for 12 meals cost $41.
We all eat dinner together too -at 5:30-6pm at the table. I grew up eating meals together at the table every night, and that is what I want for my family too. – Crock pot meals are great too, you really don't have to stand there and cook dinner. check out this site for lots of crock pot recipes http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/crockpot/in...
oh boy, i feel ya. i'm really better at micromanagement. not looking-over-an-employees-shoulder-and-suggesting-pointless-nitpicky-edits micromanagement, but the act of managing small things. i suck at macro?management. too many things to focus on. i'm a multitasker by trade, but you add house, yard, food, baby, and home maintenance shit on top of regular work tasks and sparks start shooting out of my neck and my head spins wildly.
that said, we usually pick one or two meals over the weekend that will feed us for the week. this has been good planning-wise and very budget friendly. i can eat the same meal every night for about two years (remember eating lettuce-wrapped tofu crumble tacos in grad school? i ate those every night from 2002 to 2004). but midweek adam gets tired of the repetition and suggests fast food. i get weak and acquiesce. as for the baby? he eats cardboard boxes and scavenges food from the trashcan, so we're set there. as you can imagine, we're proud of his resourcefulness.
For starters, don't try to change too much all at once. A weekly plan, rather than a monthly plan. Commit to cooking 5 nights per week, rather than all 7. Etc.
We do a weekly plan and post our planned dinners on the fridge. Because we both work, we have no time to grocery shop other than on the weekends, so we were forced to get into this habit. Here are some ways we keep it simple:
Make a big batch of tomato sauce once a month or so, freeze it in portions, and plan to have pasta once a week.
Once a week we have fish, cooked real simply in the microwave, plus rice or (microwaved) baked potatoes and an easy side veggie (usually we just put the veggie in the dish with the fish).
More ideas:
Embrace leftovers. Right now, we're feeling especially short on time in the evenings, so we're experimenting with making a double batch (of whatever) on Sunday and have leftovers on Monday; make a double batch on Tuesday and have leftovers on Wednesday. That leaves Thursday, which can be your pasta night; Friday can be your fish night. It's not gourmet, but isn't it better than takeout? Heck, even leftover burgers heated up in the microwave are better than another round of takeout, as far as I'm concerned.
If the full leftovers plan sounds too repetitive, at least try to make double of some things. I recently realized that cooking up a fresh veggie every night is too time consuming (sad but true). So this week we're making twice as much veggie every time we cook, and having leftovers every second night.
I second the breakfast-as-dinner idea. Last week one night we had scrambled eggs with ham mixed in, toast, and canned baked beans. What it lacked in yumminess it made up for in speed and easiness.
Um, okay. You officially win an award for this. Way to go!
I'm planning through July 19th, when my mom comes to visit for 2 weeks — and I plan to not cook if at all possible.
Yeah, my first step is just to plan with some semblance of being conservative. I'm not planning around coupons or sales or anything. Money is super abstract to me, but a calendar is pretty doable. I'm planned through the 19th, when my mom comes to visit and I'll have someone here to do lots of cooking!
Yeah, I'm in a big rut for the girls' meals too. They aren't planned but they're generally somewhat balanced. God knows they get more fresh fruit and vegetables than we do.
We did breakfast for dinner last night! Eggs, toast, bacon, OJ. I love doing this and I always forget about it. Thanks for the reminder!
When I was preggo with West, I used http://e-mealz.com/. I have two other friends that have enjoyed using it as well.
You pick a meal plan and a store – and it is gives you a week of simple recipes plus a SHOPPING LIST. Super fast. It is like $6 a month.
I thought the food was good – we had one failure. It could be a little bland at times, and relied on some processed food. It could be a good jump start for you.
I'm bit of a foodie, so now I go with the plan-a-week-at-a-time method, which allows me to try new recipes and ingredients.
One thing that has helped save me time and money is to buy a lot of chicken and/or ground beef (our two meats of choice) when it is on sale.
I trim up all of the chicken at once and then freeze them (I use a FoodSaver, but a ziploc would work too) in smaller amounts. For us this is usually two chicken breasts or 3/4 lb burger). That way I can just set out a pack in the morning or dinner that night.
I hate having to trim up the chicken, so I just do it all at once to get it over with. And it saves me a lot of time when I am trying to cook our meals.
Steve and I are crazy detailed when we go shopping, we rarely ever eat out and are on a serious budget because he's only working part time (damn economy).
We decide what meals we want for the week before we go, write all ingredients down on the shopping list (I actually write my list according to where everything is in the store !) Then, I go through and see what coupons I've clipped will work for the meals and write notes in the margin of my list…yes grocery shopping is a PRODUCTION, but we only go once per week and we go together AND it usually only takes us a half hour at Wally-World.
I never embraced frozen foods until Steve. Walmart sells a bag of chicken breasts for $7 that has easily about 5-6 good size pieces in the frozen section. Likewise with fish…
Some super crazy fast easy recipes :
Mac n' Cheese n' Beans
Cook mac according to box, after mixed, add baked beans (you can also cook up a pound of ground beef/turkey and add as well)
Good ol' past n' sauce, again add turkey/beef if desired
Sausage n' pasta –
cook onion, peppers and 1 clove of garlic (I get the already diced garlic in a jar) over medium in olive oil
Add chopped up sausage, cook until browned (not pink in center) bonus — use turkey sausage to cut calories
meanwhile, boil water for noodles/cook noodles
When sausage mixture is done cooking, combine with drained, cooked noodles. Add 2 cans of tomato soup (yes, soup!), mix well and add cheese if desired. Boom! Enough for 2 adults and 2 hungry kids (tested on Steve's two hungry boys)
I have a million of these since Steve n' I are crazy busy people who can't afford to eat out, um, ever. Feel free to hit me up
we eat dinner every night at 5 together, and we're over the age of 8!
i try to get out my recipe box every friday or saturday morning and pull out what i want to make for the week. then every saturday or sunday we go grocery shopping as a family to get what we need for the week. i have no advice for the coupons, i don't take the time to use them. i buy frozen chicken breast and just pull out what i need when i need it. and if there are leftovers, they eat them the next day for lunch. we do a lot of casserole type stuff that i can prepare and just put in the oven. and everything we do is quick and easy for the most part because i have two screaming toddlers at my feet in the kitchen.
i think this is something all moms struggle with! let me know what you come up with!
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