Staying in the kitchen:)
 

Hi guys,
Just a little worn out:) I just finished making dinner, packing up lunches, buying groceries, putting them away, and now need to go and do the dishes. Whew!! This girl is beat. I'm loving the way I feel, but I had forgotten how much prep is involved...It's so good for me!!! I know it!! Gotta stay motivated! Any tips on tackling the sheer volume of cooking and cleaning;)

LOL....I often realize how much work eating healthy is! I guess that's why they call them "convenience" foods.

My only tip....I eat the same 1-2 things for lunches during the week. Soups in the winter, salads in the summer. Thank goodness I live where it's seasonal!

It is very hard, I find that I always have lots of "tupperware" that needs to be washed! If you cook lots of servings at a time and then divide them up for maybe dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow, and freezer for next week, then that at least cuts down on the cooking and pots and pans to wash...

Oh the tupperware! Drives me bonkers! But I'd rather have that battle than the one with the bulge.

I try to make extra when I cook and make freezer meals for those days when I'm running short of time.

I have a continuous batch of salad veggies which are chopped and ready to add to the lettuce.

I have started to buy certain items in bulk that I used to always seem to be running to the store for. I have a reserve of black beans, white beans, oatmeal and lentils.

I've recently started preplanning all my weekly meals. I look at the events of each day and try to plan a certain meal based on how much time and energy I'll have in the evening.

When I'm cooking I load things right into the diswasher which helps with the mess factor. A big thing for me was recognizing that my DH (I don't have kids) could help with the clean up. I'm also getting better at asking for a little prep help if I feel it's something he could do.

When you're running short on energy or patience just take a moment and reflect how your desire to prepare healthy meals for your family will matter somewhere down the road.