Prepping madness

It's becoming increasingly clear that left to my own devices, I will do just about ANYTHING to avoid vacuuming. So, at a loose end today, what did I do?

I chopped and pre-cooked some meals.

I'll give you a moment to recover from the shock. I know. Me, the most disorganised and slovenly housewife ever, actually cooking ahead? What madness is this?

Don't get too excited. This was no Once a Month Mom marathon of magical kitchen goddess-ness. It was purely an experiment.

So I went out and did the grocery run, the only thing different I did than usual was buy 1kg of mince instead of 500g. I definitely had no room in the budget to be buying in bulk this week, but if this works I certainly will be considering it.

When I got home, I got out two saucepans and chucked the mince and sausages on.

While they cooked, I chopped two onions and put them in with the mince.  Then I chopped veges. Then I diced some chicken breast. I also peeled a heap of potatoes and put them on to boil for mashed potato.

I couldn't be arsed cooking the chicken so it went into the freezer raw, but I am happy in the fact that it is one less thing I have to do on the night we have it.

So this is what it ended up looking like, minus the mashed potato which took ages (I went off and watched half an episode of The Walking Dead waiting for it).

So the meal plan this week looks like: Spaghetti Bog, Sausage Curry, Chicken Stir Fry, Pasta of some kind (no meat or chopping required!) ... and whatever C wants to eat on Friday because I will not be here.

All this? Took about one hour. I'm so hoping it will be worth it. I shall come home from work, defrost the meat and throw together the rest of the meal.

I'll let you know how it goes. C thinks that too many episodes of Doomsday Preppers is starting to mess with my head.

Do you cook and freeze ahead? Any tips on what NOT to freeze?

My vow to be more organised

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This afternoon my other half and I were driving home from a spontaneous hot-chip lunch at Redcliffe. It being PM, and me being me, my thoughts were already turning towards what we would be having for dinner.

I moaned about how I never know what we're going to be eating more than a day in advance and secondly how I never seem to be able to keep the fridge, freezer and pantry stocked with appropriate ingredients.

I wondered aloud if there was some app that could turn me into a meal planning diva. I have already tried kikki.K's lovely paper planner with limited success.

C suggested we do what his parents used to do: every night gets designated a meal. Seven days, seven meals and we always know what we're having. He pointed out Friday night was already Pizza Night, so that meant just six other evening meals to pick and assign.

I had concerns this would get a bit boring, but he pointed out that The Plan isn't set in stone. He also pointed out if I write it down and pin up The Plan behind the pantry door, he'll know if he has to get meat out of the freezer in the afternoon before I get home.

So, having no other good suggestions or ideas myself, I agreed. The Plan starts on Sunday, which gives me a night and a day to put it together. To keep it varied, I'm going to try to keep it generic, eg. Monday night is Pasta Night. This could entail simple pasta sauce dumped on penne, a pasta bake or even spag bog.

I'm really looking forward to seeing if this works. Wish us luck!