Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How I Get Ahead and Make Mealtime Less Stressful!

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I have discovered lots of tricks through the years for putting meals on the table quickly and simply. But this is by far the best one I’ve found for how to get ahead and make mealtime less stressful!

How I Get Ahead and Make Mealtime Less Stressful

Ready for the tip? It’s simply this:

Make as much of your meal as you can before you actually need to serve it.

Eh?

Here’s an example: While my family was finishing lunch today, I made tonight’s Sloppy Joe Meat. Then I got out a couple of cans of pineapple, olives, and buns and set them on the counter. Carrots and ranch are already ready in the fridge to pull out. When dinner-time rolls around, I’ll simply warm up the Sloppy Joes and we’ll sit down and eat.

sloppy_joe_1

Why do I try to do this?

Well, right now we have eight kids living in our home. Five of those kids are high maintenance and some are even labeled “intensive.” So most of my time is spent caring for and chasing babies while helping traumatized teenagers learn better coping skills. Or I’m talking to case workers, or making therapy appointments, or changing diapers, or trying to help my older boys with whatever they need, and hey! I’m even trying to take care of myself too. Ah, and my hubby/favorite teammate. (UPDATE: I wrote and scheduled this post in April. We’re back down to just 7 kids for now. Praise God, he found other homes for the traumatized teenagers!)

All this – plus there’s all the normal laundry, food, and other homemaking tasks that need to be done.

So now more than ever, I’ve found that I must both keep our meals simple AND prep food ahead of time if possible. Otherwise meal prep is quite stressful.

I don’t always get food made ahead.

Not even close. Sometimes I’m throwing food together at the last minute. Sometimes I haven’t even had a chance to think of a plan for a meal before it’s actually meal time.

But if I possibly can, I try to think ahead and do as much prep as possible (and of course, I get every capable boy involved in helping with this prep!). Making food ahead is about the only way I can stay functional in my kitchen right now because we never know when someone might have a melt-down or a blow-out or another big need.

Ways to make food ahead of time

1. Make part of dinner during and/or after lunch. 

While the family is still at the table or still in the kitchen after lunch, it works wonderfully to get veggies chopped, meat browned, or at the very least needed ingredients rounded up for the evening meal. Our Take Ten Challenge books give you great options and tips to help with this!

2. Make breakfast after dinner.

This is the same concept as making dinner during lunch – but I find it’s key for being able to get ahead on all of our meals the next day. If I have an ounce of energy left after a long day, it’s nice to mix up tomorrow morning’s muffins or pancake mix or breakfast bars in preparation for the next day. Even if we’re just going to have cereal, I can have one of my kids get the boxes out along with bowls and spoons so we save a few minutes the next day.

There’s something really refreshing about waking up and knowing I don’t have to do much work before feeding everyone the first meal of the day.

3. Start a crock pot meal cooking right after breakfast.

This is even better than making dinner at lunchtime because the meal prep has been done before I day gets started!

4. Do some sort of meal prep any time you find a few minutes to spare.

Sure, sometimes we might feel like there’s not an extra 5-minutes anywhere in the day. Or it might seem like 5-minutes isn’t worth much. But I find it to be amazing what I can do with a spare 5-minutes here and there. That’s when I’ll grab ingredients for the next recipe I’m planning to make. Or throw meat into the crock pot and dump on sauce. Or wash some grapes and put them into a bowl for later. Or stir together a loaf of Stir-and-Pour Bread. Or start grinding wheat so that I’ll have flour ready to bake with another time. Or give instructions to my big kids about what they can put together for a meal.

What are some helpful tricks that help you get ahead in the kitchen?

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Is it Worth the Money to Buy a Blendtec?

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Today’s the day I discuss with you whether or not I feel like it is really worth the money to buy a Blendtec. (You probably already know the answer.)

What is a Blendtec?

Well now. A Blendtec is a regular blender – but it is NOTHING like a regular blender. I used to regularly spend $25 to purchase cheap blenders at the store, only to have them burn out on me in less than a year. Not only would a regular blender die quickly, but its capabilities were also very limited. Not so with a Blendtec!

Regular blenders make sort-of-smooth smoothies. Regular blenders take a long time to sort-of mix ingredients. But a Blendtec??? This beauty of a blender is such a high powered machine that cream goes from liquid to whipped in less than 20 seconds. I can put big pieces of frozen fruit into my Blendtec and have a perfectly smooth smoothie in just a few seconds! And, the seeds from berries? They get blended in too! So picky kids (and adults, ha!) don’t have to worry about chunks or seeds in their food!

Ultimately, a Blendtec is a regular blender with many more capabilities and much more power. After so many years of using a Blendtec, I still am amazed at how much time it saves me and at how beautifully it blends or whips or purees our food!

How do I use my Blendtec?

I use my Blendtec multiple times each week, and sometimes multiple times each day.

I mix batter in it, whip cream in it, make smoothies in it, whip mini cheesecake filling in it, the list goes on and on. From cakes to muffins to pancakes – the Blendtec takes away my need to stir and mix. Cream goes from liquid to perfectly whipped in less than 30 seconds. Recently I dumped in all the ingredients for these Mini Crustless Cheesecakes and had them in the oven within a grand total of 5 minutes. Beautiful!

Here are some of the recipes I use my Blendtec for regularly:

In addition, I’ve started using my Blendtec to make our Homemade Applesauce. Once the apples are cooked down, it takes 30 seconds to blend them into super smooth sauce – peelings and all!

Why should I spend more money on a blender, bite the bullet, and buy a Blendtec?

In so many ways, my Blendtec makes my cooking and baking so much easier. It is extremely high powered, which is reflected in the price. A $25 blender gives only $25 of effort (and in my experience, lasts less than one year in my kitchen). The Blendtec, though much higher in price, comes with a warranty and is so high powered that it turns frozen fruit into liquid in just seconds. Unbelievable!

I highly recommend saving up and investing in a Blendtec. Oh the time and energy you’ll save! I acquired a Blendtec several years ago, and it is still going strong. So my larger money investment has already saved me $25 many times over and will continue to save me for years to come!

While money saving is nice – I consider the time and energy saved even better. The fact that I can dump ingredients into my Blendtec and whip or blend them so quickly and easily truly is a refreshing help in my kitchen. I LOVE not having to spend extra time whipping or stirring. Lazy? Absolutely not. Efficient? You bet!

So is it worth the money to buy a Blendtec?

Oh yes. So very worth it. The Blendtec has changed my kitchen life, and this is no exaggeration. Because I make so much food from scratch, while still striving to keep our recipes as simple as can be, I find the Blendtec to be invaluable! I don’t know how I ever lived without it, and that’s the truth!

What is your blender experience? Have you invested in a high power blender like a Blendtec yet?

Sidenote: My understanding is that a Vitamix is of the same quality as a Blendtec. So while I don’t have experience with those, I do recommend them also!

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3 Big Ways I Cheat in My Real Food Kitchen (Without Compromising Taste or Health!)

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Want to hear the 3 biggest ways I cheat in my real food kitchen without compromising what actually matters? Come closer, my friends. Learn a little bit more about my crazy (or perhaps brilliant?) ways and methods.

First a story —>

Malachi (our 13-year old) had a friend over this summer who watched incredulously as I opened 7 pounds of frozen hamburger meat and put it into my Instant Pot.

Malachi’s friend: “What are you making with all that meat?!”
Me: “I’m not sure.”
Friend: “Uhhh???”

Just another day at the Coppinger house in which I affirm that Mama Copp is a little bit nuts.

While it doesn’t seem to make sense that I would cook a huge batch of hamburger meat without a firm plan, it actually makes perfect sense in my mind because when I have 7 pounds of cooked hamburger meat on hand, I can very quickly make up any of these 33 meals:

Hmmm, seems that Mama Copp isn’t quite so crazy after all. (Except that she is, but hey, at least she has lots of good food on hand.)

That is just one of the ways I get ahead in the kitchen in order to make our real food life so much simpler. If you ask me, when trying to keep up with a busy family without having stress over those 3 meals a day everyone must eat, keeping it simple is THE ONLY WAY.

3 Ways I Cheat in My Real Food Kitchen (Without Compromising Taste or Health!)

1. Cook meat ahead of time (so you can throw together meals quickly).

I obviously just shared this above, but the same goes with chicken and other favorite meats that are easily stirred into casseroles or soups. Cook meat in large batches, then freeze or refrigerate in meal-sized portions. Meal prep goes so much faster and simpler this way!

2. Serve easy fresh fruit and veggie sides.

I cannot emphasize this enough (though if you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, you know that I do say it over and over!). It is ridiculously easy to wash strawberries and serve them with your pizza. It takes no effort to steam green beans, peas, or broccoli to go with your casserole. Make your simple main dish, then slice a few peaches and set out a salad. IT IS SO EASY.

3. Buy mixed greens so you don’t have to make salads.

Please allow me to remind you of the magic of a container of mixed greens. This fabulous container takes all the work out of making salads. Plus it provides excellent nourishment and did I mention that THERE IS NO WORK INVOLVED? No washing, no prepping, no work. Just set it on the table and have at it. Add baby carrots and grape tomatoes if you want more in your salad than just greens.

And there you have it. My three favorite cheat methods for putting great meals on the table without going to extra trouble or compromising on nourishment!

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Peanut Butter and Ranch Dressing – But Not At the Same Time {You Can Do This! eCourse Bonus Tip}

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ECourse1BonusTips

I am very excited that so many of you are taking part in our You Can Do This! The First Five Steps To a Real Food Kitchen eCourse!

As an added bonus – for those of you who are participating in the course and for those who aren’t – each Monday for the next few weeks, I plan to share a Bonus Tip to encourage you along in your Real Food Journey. Remember though, these are just bonus tips. If you take the eCourse, you’ll get loads more information, guidance, downloads, recipes, and worksheets – all for just $5! (Click here to purchase if you are interested.)

Today, I wanted to share a little bit about how my Real Food Kitchen works and how I manage to make healthy, whole foods in a timely way.

Last week, I found that I was out of two items that we eat often:  Ranch Dressing and Peanut Butter. Now, of course, we don’t eat the two together, nor would I recommend it to you. But I did make them at the same time, just as a way of being efficient. (I’ve talked about this a little bit already, and this new post is an example of how I put this method into practice.)

Side Note:  I had to be careful not to pour minced onions or parsley flakes for the dressing mix into the food processor with the peanuts. Wouldn’t that have been…icky. ;)

I first poured peanuts into my food processor, told everyone around me to plug their ears, and turned on the machine so that it could start to make peanut butter.

homemade_peanut_butter

While it was turning peanuts into peanut butter, I looked up my Ranch Dressing Mix recipe and began getting out the ingredients I needed. I then proceeded to go back and forth between the food processor and the ranch dressing mix until I had four jars of peanut butter and a triple batch of ranch dressing mix all ready to go.

ranch_dressing_mix

Beyond encouraging you to be efficient with your time in the kitchen, here is actually the main tip I wanted to share:

When working to develop your Real Food Kitchen, try to plan ahead and work ahead just a little bit as you have time. This will save you time in the long run.

I wasn’t actually planning to serve ranch dressing or peanut butter the day I made them. But I often do need them both, and since I had neither of them on hand, taking a few minutes to make them one afternoon will be very convenient for me later, when all I’ll have to do is reach for them at a moment’s notice!

What is one thing you can make this week that will help you to get ahead in your Real Food Kitchen?

Interested in learning more about our
You Can Do This! The First Five Steps To a Real Food Kitchen eCourse?
We’d love to have you join us!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!