Menu Planning Monday - 5/24/2010

Disclaimer: My menu runs from Saturday - Thursday with Friday as a "find your own dinner" night.

Saturday - French Bread Pizza

Sunday - Corn and Crab Bisque

Monday - Not Cooking - Caterer Tasting for my sister's wedding

Tuesday - Baked Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Corn

Wednesday - Bacon and Eggs (rolled over from last week)

Thursday - Leftover Night (moved from Friday to tonight due to work crawfish boil)

Menu Planning Monday - 5/17/2010

Disclaimer:  My menu runs from Saturday - Thursday with Friday as a "find your own dinner" night.

Disclaimer Part Deaux:  I thought my husband was going to be out of town this week, so my menu is pretty kid-friendly fun stuff and nothing of true substance.

Saturday - TV Dinner night since mom was so pooped from shopping all day at the jewelry market

Sunday - Chicken Stew, Cheesy Popovers

Monday - Taco Salad

Tuesday - Lasagna Toss, Caesar Salad

Wednesday -Frito Pie

Thursday - Bacon and Eggs

Exploring Your Free Time

Free time?  Didn't know such a thing existed, right?  Well, it does and it might be right under your nose.

For me, the most obvious free time is my lunch hour.  It is a time that I can get away from both the office and home and do something either totally random or totally resourceful.

Never is it a good thing to devote your entire lunch hour, 5 days a week, to running errands.  This will make your lunch hour feel like chore time and you won't ever enjoy it.  It is, however, a good idea to set at least 2 days at week to running errands or tying up some loose ends.

Before I give you some tips on things that can be accomplished in your lunch hour, remember these things: 

Pick things that can actually be done within about 40 minutes.  This gives you enough time to grab a bite to eat and be back to your office ON TIME.

Make sure that you are UNAVAILABLE to your office during this time.  This is YOUR time and not a time to be loyal to your boss.  Making yourself unavailable assures that you will have personal time to take care of things that can't be taken care of after 5 o'clock.

Not sure what you can get done during your lunch hour? 

Here are some ideas:

pay bills, balance bank statement, make doctor and dentist appointments, manicure, pedicure, menu planning, make a grocery list, research vacation options, return library books, send emails to friends, visit the post office, online shopping for gifts, water massage, read a book or magazine, sharpen pencils for your home desk, light grocery shopping, daily prayers, take a short nap, rent a movie from Redbox, plan your child's birthday party, have your brows waxed and wrap gifts.

What are your suggestions?

Fill 'er up

I do a lot of laundry. I never ever feel caught up and I'm not going to try to give advice on how to get caught up. I have lost hope of that ever being possible. I do, however, believe that I can be more organized about it.

As a working mom, I tend to put clothes washing before I leave for the office with intentions of drying and folding the batch when I get home. It should be a time-saver.

It becomes a big ole nuisance when I forget the batch of clothes in the washer and have to re-wash it all due to a dingy smell.

I came up with a little system that helps me remember that I need to take care of pre-work laundry.

I printed these nifty little magnets on store-bought magnet paper (office supply section of your favorite store).

I keep one on the side of the washer, out of sight, and I leave the appropriate magnet right in front as a reminder.

This system could also work for the dishwasher and dryer.

Menu Planning Monday - 5/10/2010

Disclaimer:  My menu is from Saturday - Thursday.  Fridays are "find your own food" nights.

Saturday - Street Family Crawfish Pie

Sunday - Mother's Day BBQ (Pork Steaks, Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans, Canteloupe, White-Chocolate Bread Pudding, Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Monday - Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken, Angel Hair Pasta

Tuesday - Ham and Cheese Pastries

Wednesday - Baked Tilapia, Salad, Veggies

Thursday - Red Beans and Sausage, Rice (slow cooker)

You've Gotta Have A Plan

You've gotta have a plan for so many things, including meals for your family.  It is important on so many levels.  It cuts down on the number of grocery store trips you make after work.  Having a posted menu opens the communication within your family.  It allows your family to have some input.

Tip #1:  Know what your family likes. When in doubt...ask.  Have a family meeting and talk about foods that you all enjoy.  Make a list that you can reference when you are in a slump.

Tip #2:  Know your weekly schedule.  I always consider my schedule for the week when making a menu.  Nights that include late dancing practices or religion class get quick meals or things that I can put in a crockpot.  Better yet, I'll schedule something that my husband can easily whip together with little instruction.

Tip #3:  Write it down...twice.  I always start my grocery list with my menu.  I list all of the main meals at the top of the page.  It makes it easy for me to reference the menu while doing my shopping.  I might see a great item on sale and having the menu handy makes it really easy to see if there is a meal that I can use it for.  I also write my menu on our fridge.  Dry erase boards work great, but so do loose leaf pages attached by magnets.  Listing the menu allows your family to see and know what is planned for meals.  It allows them to help if they can offer help for certain meals.  It will also serve as a reminder for you when you need to take meat out of the freezer.

Tip #4:  Utilize your crockpot.  I use my crockpot at least once every two weeks.  It is a miracle appliance.  There are thousands of recipes online and there are surely one or two that your family will love.

Tip #5:  Check out sales.  Cooking meals that include ingredients on sale that week will make your menu planning super easy and super wallet-friendly.  

Tip #6:  Keep your recipes together.  In the age of fast computers and endless blog listings, it is easy to "lose" information.  I can't tell you how many recipes I've tried over the years, loved and then never found again.  I've come to the conclusion that I MUST keep everything together IN PRINT.  I have a handy dandy recipe book that my aunt gave me for my wedding.  She filled it in with some of her favorite dishes and left the rest blank for me.  I have started printing my favorite recipes and affixing them to the book.  Bookmarking the recipes is no longer working for me.

Tip #7:  Don't be afraid.  Don't be afraid to add new foods to your menu and don't look at this as another chore to complete at home.  Taking 20 minutes a week to make a menu and a good shopping list will help make you more efficient.  You'll feel so good knowing that you won't have to step foot into a grocery store again that week and you won't have to spend your entire afternoon trying to figure out what to cook that night.

Happy Planning!

Calling All Working Mommas

Whether you work in an office surrounded by staplers, memo pads and label makers or in a retail store surrounded by coat hangers, security devices and cold hard cash, being a working mom can be very stressful.

Working moms typically feel guilty about leaving their children in the care of others and most of us can't find the time in our day to finish everything that we know needs to be done.  Folding laundry and cleaning mini-blinds just doesn't seem that important after you've spent 3 hours of your day carpooling and 8 hours calculating numbers, typing letters, fixing your co-worker's mistakes and slamming your head in your office door over and over and over again.

I can hear it now.  "Just cause I don't work outside of the home doesn't mean I don't work."  Yeah sista...I gotcha.  Stay At Home Moms have it just as bad.  Most will tell you that they don't have enough hours in the day either. 

Let's face it, there is no other phrase that accurately describes moms that work outside of their homes better than Working Moms.  So get over it or find another blog to read.

I created this blog after being inspired by a recent episode of The Rachael Ray Show.  Rachael dedicated the entire episode to TIPS.  Just plain ole tips.  Tips about hair, clothing, pets, cooking, organizing, etc.  I thought that it was neat idea and I realized that I have never come across a place that has an ongoing list of tips and tricks for Working Moms: a list of ways to keep our lives a little less stressed and a lot more peaceful.

So here it is.  It won't be perfect and I certainly don't have all of the answers, but I encourage you to share your ideas.  Please ask questions along the way and let's help each other be the best moms and wives we can be.

For you Stay At Home Mommies out there - stay and share with us because most of these tips can help us all.