Simplify....

I have had the last week off and it has been amazing! I have come to realize that I would NOT be bored if I didn't have a job. As a matter of fact I would still be just as busy as I am with working. This week was about refocusing for me. Not everything goes as planned but I tried very hard to refocus on more important things. Things I have let go of recently because I am too busy to do them (and people ask me when I am going to have kids!). Things I really enjoy.. but who has time for joy right? Anyways, I got alot on my list accomplished. There is so much more that I want to add. Yesterday, Bryce and I (and by that I mean mostly me - I still love him!) tried to tackle our bi-weekly menu and grocery shopping. I hate grocery shopping on Saturdays! I feel like a cow in a herd or something. This is where Bryce comes in - when he is with me I keep my sanity... If I was going to have to take on the burden of walmart, Sam's club, Costco and Harmon's on a Saturday Snowy afternoon, so was he. Before I left I mentioned to him that I wanted to simplify our meals. I have added a new thing to my schedules on Tuesday night (more on that to come) and that leaves 3 days to cram in hair if I want the weekend off. Things I love are becoming chores and I am getting to the point that I dread doing them. Like cooking for example. After working a long day at work, pulling in 10+ hours and then coming home for a 45 minute break of what is suppose to be making dinner and eating, then going back to work for 4+ hours is exhausting. Grab and go looks very enticing. Bryce tries so hard. He really does, but lets face it... chicken, rice and veggies is not something I wanna eat 4 nights a week. So here we are, on my getting back on track week off from work and work (hair), I decided I want to simplify more. How do I do this? Well here is how.... My list of bi-weekly meals consist of mainly this:
At least 2 beef meals, we eat alot of chicken in this household.
At least 2 crock pot meals
At least one meal that is a salad
At least 1 soup - if it is colder, I try to incorporate 2 soups
At least one meal has rice.
At least 1 meal a week is a new recipe
I plan 8 meals for 2 weeks. It gives us some freedom from not wasting food if we don't take some for lunch we can eat it for the next nights dinner or we go out to eat - stuff like that.
*If I have something like tacos - I will always have lettuce and tomato left over - I always try to incorporate another meal to use the left overs on... like a salad. If i do something like enchiladas, I will always have tortillas left over since I don't eat the corn and Bryce cant have the flour. So I will do another meal where I can use them: Breakfast burrito or fajitas. I am horrible at freezing tortillas and I try to use as much fresh as I can.
*I try to make fish for Bryce every now and then. I don't eat seafood so I will always keep a pizza or frozen meal in the freezer for myself. I am not a fan of cooking 2 meals but I will for fish, or I will go without. 
*Last but not least, I always make enough to take to work the next day for both of us - so it eliminates us eating out.

It seems like alot already as I am writing down - it took me a while to get into the swing of things but it is possible and it saves me so much money, compared to running to the store here and there. before I get into my 'simplify' I thought I would give you my bi-weekly meal plan that I put together yesterday so you can see what I am talking about (we did 7 meals because Bryce really wants pizza. and thanks to my sister who gave us a gift card to a GF pizzeria, we are going out to eat instead of making it in home):
Enchiladas
Crock pot Italian chicken
Taco soup
White Chili
Taco Salad
Hawaiian haystacks
Peppered steak

 *Peppered steak and Hawaiian haystacks are eaten with rice
* I made burritos a few days ago so I already have the tortillas - so we are doing enchiladas so we are not throwing away food.
* Taco soup and white chili are both soups.
* White chili and Italian chicken are both crock pots
* Taco salad is my salad and part of my at least 2 beefs (hamburger)
* peppered steak, taco salad and taco soup are my beefs
(no new recipe this week)

 When I follow my 'rules', making the bi-weekly meals is a snap! I just make sure to change it up as to what kind of 'soups' or what kind of 'beef'. Simple... right? Ok now to 'simplify'. Those who know me know I am crazy busy. Right now I am working 10 hour days only to come home and do hair for 4-6 hours a night. NOW I have added a class on Tuesday nights that not only require taking up a couple of hours on Tues (no hair on Tuesdays) but also require some time from me on Mondays prepping for my Tuesday class. To work a full schedule at work, come home do hair and cooking dinner and clean up seems impossible. Even with Bryce's help. So we had a discussion yesterday. I see simple as crock pot: Who doesn't love shoving raw food into a pan and leaving it all day and come home to a yummy meal that smells delish! right? But how many crock pot recipes can you take in a row. To live off of a crock pot would be pretty amazing. I also buy my beef in large quantities and separate it, date it and throw it in the freezer. Dethawing is part of the cooking process and sometimes I just don't have time. So this thought occurred to me.... We eat so much chicken, most of which has to be pre-cooked before we add all other ingredients. I have boiling chicken because it is a pain. Crock pot chicken always turns out nice, moist, soft and shreds itself. Beef - it is a pain to dethaw, only to have to ground it up afterwards. I am already separating it and throwing it into the freezer. So my 'simply' is to throw at least 2 meals worth of chicken into the crock pot with any kind of sauce: Ranch dressing, Italian dressing ( I keep alot of dry packets in my food storage since we use them so much - throw one of those in with 2 cups of water and there you have your flavoring!) or even bullion. Let it cook all day and come home and throw one part into the fridge for the next meal and use the other part for the meal that night. Like enchiladas... pull it out, put it into the tortilla, add toppings, and repeat til done and throw it into the oven to bake. Saves the hassle of me cooking the chicken when I get home and shredding it.  Next night: Hawaiian haystacks, the chicken was done in the crock pot the night before so I just have to pull it out, make some rice and chop up the fresh fruits and veggies to put on top and I am done! Saves me one again from having to cook chicken. This also gives me a whole night to throw the crock pot into the dishwasher and get it cleaned before I have to use it again. (we only run our dishwasher every other day or so because there is only 2 of us).
Now to beef. I am already prepackaging it all. Why not ground it before I throw it in the freezer? It saves me time from having to put it in cold water for hours to dethaw. If it is ground I can just pull it out and throw in in a pot/pan and continue on my way. Example taco soup - It already has to simmer for 30 minutes for best flavor. Throw in the frozen ground hamburger with the rest of the ingredients and I am done, instead of standing at the stove for 20 minutes while I ground it... not to mention waiting on it to dethaw.

I am sure that people are smarter than I am to come up with this idea. Scratch that! People have more time to sit around and come up with ideas like that. I think we already discussed how much time I DON'T have right now. I personally think it is a brilliant idea that I am going to put into action (even if someone came up with this years ago).


*If any of those recipes sound good or you have no idea what they are and would like to know, leave a comment and I will gladly email them to you. :)