Focused Friday

Welcome to Focused Friday. If you remember last week we talked about how to balance the cooking and the family time. If you missed that post, you can read about it here . This week I thought I would share a few of the major questions that I get from a lot of people on how I do that. Cooking for 1 week is very easy. You just have to have it planned. Set aside the 1-2 hours to do it and as Emeril would say "BAM!" there it is in the refrigerator cooked and ready for the week. Boy it has changed our life!!!!!! Not to mention the budget!!!!!! So I thought I would share the top 3 questions that I get asked the most.

1- How do you know what to prepare?
You can do this one of two ways. First, look at what you already have on hand. What is in the pantry and the freezer? What are you hungry for? What is the weather? If is is snowing, cold and rainy, you may want a nice warm bowl of soup or stew. If it's hot and humid you may way a grilled chicken salad with fruit. You get the idea.
2-How do you go shopping?
I ALWAYS make sure that I have the STAPLES in my pantry. Flour, sugar, favorite seasonings, cream of _____soup, rice, pasta, and cheese. Those types of things I always get, especially if they are on sale. I have a grocery store that will every once in a while put things on "Buy 2 get 3 FREE" That is just a No-Brainer for me. I will get all 5. See what is on sale at your local store and always check out the Costco or Sam's if you are a member. For Example- We eat a lot of Ground Turkey. At the grocery store, the turkey that is 93/7 is about $6 per pack. I can get 4 packs of 93/7 at Costco for about $12. Same with the turkey burgers that my husband adores!!!!! 10 frozen burgers of $9.99. They are either 1/4 or 1/3 pound burger at $1 a piece. Here again,,,,,,No-Brainer!!!!! Just look for what your family likes or the one thing you want to try out.
3-How long does it take to do this?
Both Ashley and I do ours on Sunday afternoon. I have a 3 year old and typically try to do it while he is down for nap. She has 2 and one takes a nap and Steve takes care of the older and she can get in the kitchen and get it done. It typically takes NO LONGER THAN 2 hours. We use the crock pot at least once a week most weeks. A soup, a stew, a roast, or pulled BBQ pork. If you cook it on Sunday night, then place it in the frig. and all you have to do is heat and eat. Our goal is to post what we prepare during the week and PLEASE join in and send your ideas and your recipes. The more, the better!!!!! More ideas, the more choices that we have!!!!! It really is a lot easier on you, your family and your budget. Even this past week I was tired and worn down and just out of old habit asked my husband "What do you want for dinner?" His response...."We have all of that food at the house, let's just do something there" Yes, he was right and it would only take 10 minutes to heat and we saved $25 from going out to dinner.

Just something to think about. If you would like to get more information about "Mass Cooking" or some tips, tricks or suggestions, please leave something in the comments and I'll be happy to get with you. Maybe we can plan on doing a women's event and I can teach you how to do it.!!!!! What do you think?
Pam