Food prep vs. sleep

[prairieportia]

Hi all:

 

I am on day 26.  All is going well.  I have not noticed dramatic changes, but I had already eliminated grains from my diet and never ate a lot of processed food.  I've enjoyed the sense of control this plan has restored, and have learned that fruit, nuts, and seeds can be dangerous for me.  I will probably continue to eat this way most of the time, in hopes of getting down to my fighting weight.  I never had any big health/digestive/inflamation issues, so I don't think that the reintroduction of the various prohibited foods will have a dramatic effect except for occasionally causing me to over do it, calorie-wise.

 

Anyhow, sleep has been a challenge for me, since I work full time, have two young children including a nursing infant, and my husband travels for work a lot, leaving me alone to handle all household chores and childcare when I'm not at work.  Since starting this plan, however, I've gotten even less sleep, because I need to stay up and prepare all of the next day's meals.  I try to get ahead of the game on the weekends, and make extra for lunches, but there is still usually at least two hours of dishes and cooking every evening.  Making mayonnaise, making ghee, prepping veggies, cooking meat.  And this doesn't even count pureeing fruit and veg for the little one and getting that in little containers, and washing the bottles from daycare!  Or the laundry or other housework.  And then the baby wakes to nurse.  Aaaah! I want to keep this up past 30 days, but I'd also like to get to bed before midnight, since I have to wake up at 5:30.

 

Love to hear your ideas and experiences.

[missmary]

...but there is still usually at least two hours of dishes and cooking every evening.  

 

It gets easier. One thing that has helped me is to reduce variety, the other is to get systems in place for the things I do make. I'm single, so that does make some things easier, but life has been chaotic and stressful, so here's what I've been doing lately to cope:

 

Breakfast is always the same: cut up red and yellow bell pepper, steamed broccoli, one HB egg, a generous portion of turkey/blueberry meatballs (combine 1lb ground turkey, one egg, a little salt and 1/2 pint of blueberries. form into balls, bake 25 minutes at 375--this makes 3-to-4 servings for me).

 

Lunch is always the same: salad of baby greens, sliced roasted beets, steamed green beans, cultured carrots, capers, cherry tomatoes, one HB egg, 1/2 avocado, 1 can wild planet salmon, ume plum vinegar. 

 

Dinner is often: lamb burger (I get a pound of ground lamb and make it into three patties, cook them and have the leftovers the next two nights), wilted greens (either the greens from the beets or baby kale or power greens mix or any combination. sometimes broccoli or green beans here too), some starchy veg (rotating winter squash, sweet potatoes, etc.), occasionally more cherry tomatoes--all of this gets thrown in a hot cast-iron skillet with some coconut oil, sprinkle of salt and done.

 

None of these meals are super fancy, but they satisfy me. On nights when I have more time I might make a recipe or something, but I always have these options on hand, making sure I steam broccoli and green beans; roast beets and other starchy veg; hard boil eggs and make meatballs on the weekend (the meatballs freeze ok, so any portion I don't expect to have within 3 days goes in the freezer). If I'm out of lamb burgers, I'll throw applegate hot dogs or compliant bratwurst into the mix. There is something extremely satisfying and calming about having a weeks-worth of containers lined up in the fridge, and not thinking about what to make for meals all the time is just opening up tons of space for other stuff right now.

[Carlaccini]

It's just my BF and I and sometimes I get overwhelmed.  I can only imagine how busy you must be with 2 little ones.

 

BF is great with helping out during the week (he cooks most of our dinners because he gets home before I do) but weekends it's generally up to me (not always, always, but mostly) to do a weekly cook up. 

 

I have been eating this way for a couple of years now.  It takes some practice, but in the begining it's very overwhelming.  Especially when you are too busy on the weekend and can't get around to a weekly cook up. (Like this past weekend for).  Here are a couple of key points:

 

1) Make meal plans for the week and keep the recipes as simple as possible. 

2) Make "emergency" protein, and cook/cut up "emergency" veg.  I use "emergency" very loosely here.  It's basically a ready to eat protein and veg meal that you have ready to go if you can't think of anything else to eat.  Basically they usually land being my lunch.  My go to emergency protein is roasted seasoned chicken thighs. (Litterally takes 5 minutes to prep and the 1/2 hour in the oven) canned tuna, and seasoned cooked ground beef.  My go pre prepped veg is salad, cubed roasted sweet potato (or lately squash), and spinach.  I also like keeping on hand a couple of pre diced onions in the fridge ready for the saute pan.  All of my emergency protein is prepped on the weekend.  For the veg you can always cook some extra sweet potato, saute some spinach and apple, then puree it together for the little one. 

3) Frozen veggies are a time saver.  Buy a few bags when they are on sale.  In a pinch you can always throw some in a microwave with some water and in 3 minutes you have cooked veggies that you just salt and drizzle a bit of olive oil and you have your veggies done.  Not the most exciting thing - but it works.

 

4) I know what you mean on the washing of dishes.  We do not own a dishwasher so everything is washed by hand.  If I am doing an afternoon of cooking (or an evening for that matter) as soon as there are dishes that start filling the sink, the sink gets filled up with hot soapy water.  I wash as I go, so I don't have a big huge pile at the end.  So as I am waiting for onions to saute a little, I am washing some dishes. If meat is cooking on the stove top, I am washing dishes.  Of course it helps that my sink is pretty close to the stove.  But I have realized not everything needs to be watched like a hawk.

[Carlaccini]

Also just to add another thought here:

 

If you are to be roasting broccoli, carrots, kale, whatever for dinner.  Take some time the night before (after the kids go to bed) to cut the broccoli, or carrot up then put it in a covered container in the fridge.  Then the next night all you need to do is wash and cook.

[Mary Carmosino Beougher]

Crockpot, Crockpot, Crockpot

Pretty much every week, I do a roast and a whole chicken in the crockpot. That gives me enough meat for lunches and dinners for most of the week.

For me, I found if I make a plan, the prepping goes much faster. I make a list of everything I need to prep and organize it so I'm not wasting time. I've done it enough I don't have to make a list anymore. It takes me about 2 hours. Check out theclothesmakethegirl.com She has a blog post about doing the weekly cook up and seeing how she organized everything helped me put my own plan together.

[Mary Carmosino Beougher]

Here's a good one. http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2013/12/29/whole30-2014-week-1-meal-plan/

[ladyshanny]

I'm all in with the meal plans too....I usually write my menu on Thursday morning, shop Thursday evening and then do my cooking over the weekend (Fri pm, Sat am and some on Sunday....so it doesn't feel like I'm in the kitchen for any huge length of time). 

 

Usually I can predict what is going on that weekend and into the next week so I can plan meals based around that...if the husband is on OT, it's just food for me, if we're busy on the weekend, it's things that are much quicker and need less prep.  Usually, with about 3 hours on the weekend, I can do about 20 minutes of prep for dinner every night and then the leftovers of dinner are our lunches.  If I had to cook for more than 20 minutes every night, I'd be a wreck....

 

You also get really efficient at the cookups as you practice more and more...bake the chicken thighs, roast the roots and bake a yam all in the same oven at the same temp, get the soup simmering and then sautee the ground meats.

[KayKay]

I hear you! My kids are a little older, but I've just started back to work full-time (5 days after starting my W30--great timing!) and yes, I can't seem to get into bed before midnight. Since I don't want us to be eating dinner at 7:30, I've been doing a lot of prep and cooking at night so we can eat as soon as we get home. Add to that packing three different lunches the night before, plus all the clean up and yep, it's been a challenge.

I think it's all about prep - and not prep spread out, but one-day prep if you can manage that/get your husband or someone else to help with the kids for a few hours. Spend Sunday afternoon washing and chopping all your veggies, cook up your meats for the week, plan out your meals and lunches, puree your baby foods, etc.

I honestly can't imagine doing all this when my kids were still little and nursing -- hats off to you! But don't be afraid to ask others for help so you can spend some time each week prepping and making the rest of your life easier. Good luck!

[Karen]

I bought a food processor maybe 25 days into my first or second Whole30 and it made all the difference.  As someone else posted on here, it's a robot that cuts all your veggies!  What used to take me 20 minutes to prep for stir fry now takes me 5 at the most.  

[prairieportia]

All fantastic advice!  Thank you all.  I definitely think simplifying is the key.  I'm feeling motivated to shop and cook this weekend!

[Kate C Mayone]

I think over-planning everything is my Achilles' heel.  That and Pinterest!  I can consume an entire Sunday just planning meals (aka trolling the web); making a list; shopping and then prepping for the week.  Even still, I come home every night and spend at least 2 hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning.  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy it.  But I don't think I can maintain this life once kids are in the picture which is hopefully in the near future.  I need a course in time management  I've been cooking for the last ten years and I've definitely gained a lot of knowledge and experience.  But I can turn a simple meal into an all night adventure if you let me.  I think being recipe-obsessed is my biggest weakness.  I can throw together a meal on my own but I'd prefer to spend 15 minutes checking out someone else's blog and re-creating their meal to a T.  I also seem to have trouble with planning meals based on items I already have...hence the all day planning/shopping.  I tell myself I like the challenge but on the nights I don't cook I realize how wonderful all that extra time can be.  You are not alone but I give you the utmost credit for keeping it up with two kids and a traveling husband!  My sisters tell me I won't be able to live this way once I have kids!

[KayKay]

I think over-planning everything is my Achilles' heel.  That and Pinterest!  I can consume an entire Sunday just planning meals (aka trolling the web); making a list; shopping and then prepping for the week.  Even still, I come home every night and spend at least 2 hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning.  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy it.  But I don't think I can maintain this life once kids are in the picture which is hopefully in the near future.  I need a course in time management  I've been cooking for the last ten years and I've definitely gained a lot of knowledge and experience.  But I can turn a simple meal into an all night adventure if you let me.  I think being recipe-obsessed is my biggest weakness.  I can throw together a meal on my own but I'd prefer to spend 15 minutes checking out someone else's blog and re-creating their meal to a T.  I also seem to have trouble with planning meals based on items I already have...hence the all day planning/shopping.  I tell myself I like the challenge but on the nights I don't cook I realize how wonderful all that extra time can be.  You are not alone but I give you the utmost credit for keeping it up with two kids and a traveling husband!  My sisters tell me I won't be able to live this way once I have kids!

Kids ARE a time management course!

I too am a Pinterest addict. Sometimes my kids need to watch another tv show or stay outside longer just so mommy can cook more

[TinaH]

The crockpot is my friend too.  1 week's worth of a meal with little effort = <3

 

I also have a few "ready to go" things (in 1 week quantities) prepped in the fridge. 

• Dozen hard boiled eggs
• 2 containers full of roasted vegetables (costco sells diced butternut squash and I am so thankful!)
• 2 lbs of cooked ground turkey
• Aidelle's chicken&apple sausage from costco which is precooked and delicious
• Oh yeah - and canned tuna. 

 

I can mix and match those with bagged salad greens, or in a broth for a quick soup, etc.  Not very creative or fancy, but I don't need fancy to be satisfied.  Ensuring I get my fats is my issue, so I also have a batch of homemade guac at all times (or, the single serving guac cups that my costco sells are compliant - yay!), and a bag of coconut chips from Whole Foods. 

 

I hope you've read some responses in this thread that will help!