Cooking and the Working Mom (or Dad!)

Cooking can sometimes seem like the most daunting task in a day!  It requires time, planning, effort, and sometimes, creativity!  However, with a little bit of effort it can seem like less of a burden!

One thing to do is to make a weekly menu.  It doesn’t have to be set in stone or adhered to no matter what, but this tells you what you will need that week at the grocery store so you don’t have to stop in daily and make best friends with the cashier. (and it might save you a little bit on groceries as well!).  What I do is look at what is on sale each week and try to plan a daily menu with my weekly grocery needs-my menu is planned around the weekly ads  and my stockpile (I am a mediocre couponer-so when I can I use my talents for my family’s benefit!).  However, if you are lucky enough not to have to pay attention to the price of food items, then just sit down and plan what sounds good for the week. 

Once you get your haul home and put away, keep your menu close at hand.  Keep in mind what extracurricular events you have during the week and plan what meal to have what night based on the time you will have to prepare it.  For example, I have a meeting this week after work.  That night we will be having crock pot roast so that it will be ready when I get home from the meeting. 

This brings me to my next point…If you are limited on time in the evenings; make best friends with your slow cooker.  With this wonderful invention you can insert all ingredients in the morning, turn on the slow cooker, and it will be ready and waiting on you when you get home in the evenings.  You can make anything from chili to soup to even roast and potatoes!  There are several sites that focus just on slow cooker recipes.  Crokin’ Girls, a newer blog, even posts YouTube videos with directions of what to do for different meals. 

So, to summarize… take a little time on the forefront to plan and purchase materials so that they are all on hand-this will save time when preparing a meal.  In addition, slow cookers are a working parents’ best friend!!!