Easier meal times

Easier meal times are not simply something you have to dream about, you can actually achieve them!

Now, I must clarify, I do not have some sort of secret that's going to make your life easier, I just simply have been thinking about this a lot in the last few weeks and even with the small changes I’ve been making (which I’m capable of, by the way - I’m not learning a new skill) I can feel a sense of ease in my life. Meal times have become easier, and I want to talk about it.

In the last handful of months, as we prepare to embark on our fertility journey and try our hands at becoming mums, and as I spend countless hours with babies of other incredible people - I’ve come to be bombarded with ways to possibly make things (that we’re already doing) easier and less time-consuming.

Easier meal times are something I keep coming back to in conversations I’m having and while they are about babies and toddlers, what I’ve realized is that the same principles can (and should) be applied to my life.

One of the families I have chatted to actually has a freezer full of toddler-sized portions of dinners in their freezer. Instead of just admiring the idea of prepped toddler food, they do it - and I was there the other day around lunchtime and it was such a breeze. I didn’t spend all my time trying to figure out what to feed their child all while keeping her entertained and safe, instead, I popped one of those delicious meals out of the freezer and when lunchtime arrived - viola. A masterpiece.

Sure, one could argue that making multiple toddler-sized meals would be easier than meals for a full-grown adult - and the argument would stand true. However, the concept of it really is the same and the reward for accomplishing is worth it.

I went on to brag to some other parents I know about this friend of mine and guess what? They are doing the same thing for their twins. They just freeze a bunch of meals and when it comes time to feed their children, the thought process is much shorter and, viola - easier meal times.

If parents can do it, why can't I?

Well, the answer is - I can. And, so can you!

So here's what I’ve been doing and I can promise you that it hasn’t taken a whole lot of time, effort, or (wo)man power. 

When I make dinner I purposely make more than I know I’ll need. If you’re a recipe follower, I suggest doubling that bad boy. Once dinner is over and I’m on cleanup duty, I have two options - I either portion the leftovers into two containers so that I can have one portioned out perfectly for lunch for myself and one for my wife. If there are more leftovers than what's suitable for us for a lunch each, I’ll pop it into a larger container and plop it in the freezer so that I have at least one dinner waiting for me if I ever don’t feel like cooking (which sometimes is the next day and I wonder why I didn’t just put it in the fridge).

I’ve also decided randomly during the week that I want to make something (right now it's a Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie) and what I’ll do is I’ll make a big batch of that and purposely freeze multiple portions that will serve the two of us for a dinner.

On top of things like this, I’ve also started washing and prepping vegetables before I want them. Washing and cutting up the celery and having it in a dish with water just waiting to be eaten has been a game changer. Pre-washing my kale and making sure it's gone through its cycle of coconut oil and lemon juice (two things that make kale bearable and actually beneficial to your health) makes having a salad for lunch take ⅓ of the time to prep. 

Another thing we have noticed is that between the two of us, my wife and I, we’re pretty consistent with our meals. We have a good breakfast, we usually have some sort of leftovers for lunch, and dinner is something we prioritize having together. However, aside from our meals, we recently realized that our snacking game sucks. It’s terrible. For two women who love to eat, it's shocking that we haven’t yet gotten into the routine of having snacks readily available to us so that we don't feel low and hungry throughout our days.

We used to be so great at snacks when we had a big kitchen and a big fridge back in Canada, but then we travelled for a few years and lived in a tiny apartment without really any kitchen space, which resulted in us kind of just getting worse and worse at snacks. We didn’t have the space, or the energy to be preparing our own snacks and we also don’t like buying things, so we kinda just stopped. 

However, we live in a house now with a great kitchen and we decided it was finally time to get back to doing things that make sense. 

This week, before I started my work for the day, I spent the morning making energy balls and I even made a batch of muffins. I didn’t have the ingredients for the muffins I wanted nor did i want to go to the store, so I just made what we already had work and now there are over 12 muffins in the freezer that can be defrosted whenever we need them. I usually go mad for a banana muffin or a blueberry muffin (pictured below) but this week I went for a vegan zucchini muffin (RECIPE HERE) and they are the perfect amount of sweet that makes me feel like I’m making a good choice for my health ;)

I guess my point is this - meal prepping sounds like, and can even sometimes be, this time-consuming and terrible thing that only people with their crap together can do. However, creating easier meal times in a way that is achievable IS within your reach. The advantage to making too much dinner is that you now have a lunch you don’t have to think about this week. The advantage of making way too much dinner is that now you have lunch and dinner you don’t have to think about this week. 

Meal prepping doesn’t have to be an all-day Sunday sort of event, instead, it can simply be something that you do when you have the time. If you want to spend an afternoon making meals and snacks to freeze - please, do. However, if you don’t, you definitely can still find ways to make mealtime easier.

A few tips I have to make mealtime easier:

- make too much food when you’re cooking so that you can simply heat up your leftovers and have a meal sometime in the future. 

- make way too much food sometimes so that you don’t have to make food as much

- wash your fruit and vegetables ahead of time so that when you’re feeling peckish, you don’t have to worry about prepping anything you can simply just grab something you want

- pre-make and store all the ingredients you like in a salad so that when you want to have a taco salad for dinner all you need to do is portion out your lettuce, your beggies, your protein, and then add your sauce - vs having to cut each individual thing and make everything from scratch. Prepping your salad ingredients can save you so so so much time and can also make you more likely to eat things like salads and vegetables

- prep a crap ton of rice, or quinoa and just have it in the fridge so that when its nearly dinner time you don’t have to always ask yourself “what do you want to have with the chicken”

- ask yourself what you would ideally like to snack on and then make yourself some (whether it be energy balls, muffins, hard boiled eggs, overnight oats, trail mix, etc). Having snacks that excite you readily available is going to free up a lot of your time, and your mental capacity because honestly, theres nothing worse than being peckish and having nothing to snack on

- make two dinners at once if you have the space to do it. Imagine its thursday and you’re at home making dinner anyways, why not throw together something that can be either used for friday, or frozen for the week ahead. The way i see it, you’re in the kitchen anyways, may as well get more bang for your buck

- when freezing leftovers (lets just say its rice and veggies with beef) I suggest portioning out all three components of the meal into the same container. I like to put what is normally the top of the meal (the veg and beef) on the bottom of the container first and then top it with rice. If you layer it this way it makes it so that when you dump it into a bowl or on a plate, the rice (or noodle) hasn’t gotten all soggy from sitting with all the flavorful stuff but also it ends up being back on the bottom of the meal when you go to eat it again. I would hate to have my veg in one container and starch in another container because when i go to have luch, I have to get both out and decide what I want - where if i just do it from the start, all i need to do is grab my lunch and I’m off to the races

- lastly, my only suggestion is that when you’re done dinner (if you have the time and capacity) I highly recommend washing all your dishes and putting them away. Theres something about a clean kitchen to start your day the next day that really sets you up for success.

These S’Well bowls WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE are amazing but if you’re not into buying new containers, and you don’t like the shape of these (let’s admit that shape does matter) then go ahead and use what you’ve got. I like to reuse take-out containers until they have zero life left in them and rotate through a few that I currently have.

I would love to hear your tips on how you have created an easier mealtime experience if you have any and would love feedback on the above if you try any of them!