Eating Well by Eating Locally

Stocking your pantry with food grown by local farmers is a great way to eat fresh, interesting, ever-changing meals all year long at low prices. You can find a listing of local foods are currently in season in your state at the National Resource Defense Council's website along with recipes and other helpful information.

More On Multi-Meal Preparation...

Here are links to websites, blogs and forums that may be useful anyone interested in learning more about this topic...

Frozen Assets

Recipe Zaar

Make Ahead Meals

Friendly Freezer

I hope these are helpful!  Until next time...

                                                                Kathy

Eating Well While Spending Less Time - Multimeal Preparation

OAMC ... OAWC ... freezer meal preparation ... multi-meal preparation ... assembly cooking...What do all these terms have in common? 

1. They are all strategies used to prepare more than one meal in a single cooking session and then store the extras so they can be eaten later.  
2. They can shorten food prep time by hours to days each month.
3. Using one of these strateges can decrease transportation, grocery, and utility expenses more than you can imagine.

I generally do mult-meal preparation once each week and store between 4 and 5 meals.  I purchase enough of whatever meat is on sale and double or triple each of 1 to 2 recipes that freeze well.
A few weeks ago, I purchased two 3# bags of fresh chicken tenders.  I had 2 bottles of jamaican jerk marinade, a bottle of italian salad dressing, and the fixins for vegetable soup in the pantry.
-- From the first bag of tenders, I divided the chicken equally into 3 freezer bags, poured jerk chicken marinade over them, squeezed as much air out of each bag as I could and placed the sealed freezer bags flat in my freezer.
-- With the other bag of chicken tenders, I used a third of the chicken for chicken vegetable soup which we ate that night with cornbread.  I sauteed the rest in italian salad dressing for chicken salad dinners, divided the cooked chicken pieces in two freezer bags and placed the sealed freezer bags flat in my freezer.
--Once all the chicken meals were frozen, I turned them on end like old fashioned album covers. 
All 5 dinners took less than 30 minutes to prepare, cost less than $22.00, and used less than 2 inches of freezer space!

Strategies for Eating Well While Spending Less Time

       For years, I ate just about whatever I wanted.  Sounds great doesn't it.  But after so many years of eating "well", I was much heavier and didn't feel physically fit.  Lots of my time, money and energy was focused on eating and food preparation...shopping for it, cooking it and eating it.       Something had to change!  I wanted to look and feel more like I did years ago AND I wanted to keep more of my time, money and energy for other areas of my life.   So, I developed strategies to help achieve each of those goals and stuck to the plan... Almost two years later, I am smaller and more healthy. I eat well but don't spend nearly as much time, money or energy focusing on eating or preparing food.

GOAL:  Spend Less Time on Food Preparation   
     Most people spend 30 to 45 minutes each time they do spontaneous grocery shopping.  If you stop by the store spontaneously 4 times each week, that's 2 to 3 extra hours of time you could have back again.  Here is a strategy you can use to shop only once each week.

1. Take a look in your pantry & refrigerator, and see what staples you have.
2. Review the weekly circulars for the week in your area. 
3. Create a menu for the week based the two weekly circulars in your area with the best sales, and what you already have in your pantry.
4. Develop a grocery list based on your menu and any items you purchase on a weekly basis.

It really works!  Until next time...

Kathy

PS.  Do you have a time saving strategy for grocery shopping?
  

A Simpler Life

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season!  My family and I had a very thoughtful, meaningful Christmas this year.  Our holiday was filled with extended family and friends, good food and relaxing times. 

This year we concentrated on "the reason for the season"...There was less  "keeping up with the Jones" or "shopping until we dropped".  We participated in less activities, visited with friends and family, and gave gifts that were meant to provide a feeling of love and friendship.  We decided not to rush through December trying to "beat the clock" before the 25th arrived, rather we slowed down a bit and just enjoyed the moment.

After it was all over, my family has decided that we like this new, slower and more deliberate way of life.  So, we are going to try to keep the feeling going by living a simpler life in 2010. 

What is your primary goal for 2010?