Good Evening, finally it's Friday. It's been a long time coming this week.
I have not had the best week this week. Several evenings this week I have suffered from severe headaches and had to go to bed early. I think this has been caused by a combination of working with younger children in the afternoons who have more free time and are therefore louder, being outside in the sun more because of the extra free time and also since being back at work I have not been eating as well.
I haven't weighed myself for the last two weeks but I will do tomorrow and I'm pretty certain the results will not be pretty.
This week when I go shopping I'm going to try and organise quick easy breakfasts, lunches that doesn't include sandwiches and crisps and healthier dinners. I also find when I get home from work I am starving and pick like crazy so I'm going to have some fruit and yoghurt ready as that's a lot healthier than cake and crisps. I'm going to see if I start to feel better again as I felt really healthy and well through out the summer holiday.
Wednesday night this week I had to go to a meeting about my daughters upcoming residential trip the week after next and high school applications. I cannot believe that I am doing this for my daughter it feels like no time at all since she was starting school. She is starting to look forward to her residential trip slightly even though it means she will have to wear trousers and do dirty things like raft building (not her bag at all). She has promised me she will give everything a really good go.
We need to go shopping at the weekend and get her trousers and trainers, we have decided to buy them as cheap as possible because she won't wear them again once she gets home.
I am looking forward to having a fairly relaxed weekend. I hope you do too xxx
Good luck with the shopping and especially the meal planning. You've got to make it a priority, Tara. Can you prep most of your lunches on the weekends?
ReplyDeleteI know Nathalie. I think that's what I will have to do last week I cooked a load of chicken breasts and had it with couscous and a bit of fruit but when I went shopping last weekend I forgot to buy chicken breasts and because I went shopping on Sunday it completely mucked up my week. Argh. I guess I learned a lesson. I also forgot breakfast stuff for me because I was so busy concentrating on getting lunch stuff each child would eat. Not good. We haven't been running because my nine year old has a stinking cold and I've had headaches. Rubbish. All my good intentions go to pot when I'm back at work. Xxx
DeleteSorry to hear you had a rough week. Hope you feel better, over the weekend. I always struggle with figuring out what to pack for lunches. Usually, it's leftovers from dinner. But it means having access to a microwave or toaster oven to reheat the food. Would leftovers from lunch work for you?
ReplyDeleteIt's quite difficult Bless because I only get a fifteen minute break during my day there really isn't time to microwave or toast anything. The week before last I prepped chicken and couscous salad and put it in little tubs which worked well but I forgot to buy chicken last week d'oh!
DeleteI do need to organise more at weekends I think. Unfortunately I never have leftovers because even if I make more someone will always say "ooh there's more I'm still hungry". Argh men and kids!
Xxx
Oops, I meant to say would leftovers from dinner work for you.
ReplyDeleteRegarding leftovers and hungry family members, here is what I do: I set aside "leftovers" that I pack for Greg's lunch BEFORE I call everyone to dinner. Maybe you could do the same for your lunch? Just cook an extra portion and put it aside right after you cook it for the next day? Label it "Mom's lunch" and threaten anyone who eats your lunch with death? That works pretty well here, lol. I don't always do that but I definitely do it on nights when I cooked pasta otherwise my son will eat the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteI used one morning during my weekend to prep ahead lunches and dinners, and I got the kids to help. They were responsible for getting their own lunches, so they also appreciated that most of the work could be done at once. I would keep a Tupperware in the fridge that would hold some lunch items that they could pick and choose from. Wash and chop your veggies to prep an easy salad or veggie sticks with dip. Boil some eggs and shell them for a container in the fridge labelled "for lunches only". You can use these for protein in your salads or to make a quick egg salad for sandwiches. Cut some slices from your cheese blocks and wrap individual servings in saran wrap. Do you have a wide mouth thermos for soup? Just heat the soup quickly in the morning, pour it in the thermos and it should stay hot until you are ready. You could make a big pot of homemade on the weekend and it will be healthier than any cup of soup you buy. For the kids, they could prepackage zip bags with cookies, pretzels or chips so they can grab a choice for their lunch bag. Have lots of fruit and yoghurt in one of your crisper drawers. The biggest drawback to these ideas, is that you have to designate these areas as "lunch only". On the other hand, you can designate other areas as "snacks".
ReplyDeleteSuch good ideas Susan, space isn't a problem because I have a spare fridge in the garage that just has drinks in it.
DeleteHow long do things like cooked eggs last in the fridge?
I don't have a thermos but I do think I should get one because we do make soup quite often and I do enjoy it so, that would be a good option.
The kids have started to make their own lunches and I have been buying things they can just throw in their bags so that's not too bad.
I was going to go shopping today but that didn't quite work out so I'm going tomorrow now and I'm going to buy things that I can eat and prep it when I get back.
Thanks for the tips i'll let you know how I get on. Xx
Hey Tara, I keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge all the time (but I don't shell them until I use them, not sure if that makes a difference or not), and usually I can keep them 5-6 days. I've had several of them starting to smell bad at about 7 days so now I try to eat them faster! We keep ours in the door, though, which is actually not a good idea because it's the hottest past of the fridge. It'd probably be better to keep them on one of the shelves.
DeleteThanks Nathalie, I'm never too sure about things like that. I used to keep things longer but Liam always moans at me if anything is more than a couple of days old saying that I'll make myself ill so I normally keep things for two or max three days.
DeleteNow I k ow that I can cook things like eggs on a sunday and eat them pretty much till the Friday and they should be ok.
So would you keep freshly cooked chicken breasts that long?
Xxx
Hmm, I don't like my leftovers to be older than 3-4 days at the very most so I probably would not keep them 5 days. They might still be OK, I don't know, I just like to eat my leftovers sooner. Try it and see.
DeleteYou could cook the chicken breasts on Sunday and freeze some for later in the week. Just take them out on Wednesday night and keep to thaw in the fridge overnight and they should be fine for use on Thursday and Friday, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteLook at all the chatter that has been going on while I was sleeping. Ha. You have some great advice and ideas here. I have had no problems keeping shelled boiled eggs tightly covered on a shelf in the fridge for the whole 5-6 days of the work week. However, if you have concerns, keep them in their shells until you are ready to eat them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bless about keeping your lunches (even your homemade soup portions) frozen until ready to use. Like Nathalie said, it is a matter of planning out what you will eat and when. Then you do as much of the prep work as you can ahead of time, so you can just grab and go.