In this week’s podcast episode, I introduce you to Tiffany King. Tiffany has a website called EatAtHomeCooks.com where she shares meal plans, recipes, and encouragement to busy people to cook healthy meals at home.
The topic of this week’s podcast episode is not one you’ve heard me talk about often. My dislike of cooking is something that I have shared with you more than once! However, with Tiffany’s help I have cooked five days in a row this week. For me that is a real achievement. To put it into context, I’ve probably only cooked about 10-15 days all year! My husband, Greg, does all the cooking in our house… read on to find out why.
I realize that if I prioritize cooking, I’m actually quite good at it. Right now, cooking is a priority for me since I’ve committed to cooking one meal a week for my close friend whose husband is very ill with cancer.
I want to send my friend decent, tasty, and interesting meals. I decided if I can do it for them, then I can do it for my family, too. But I need HELP! So I turned to Tiffany for ideas and recipes.
On the podcast, we discuss my history with cooking and why I lost interest, why I’m changing my mindset when it comes to cooking, and why we go through cooking ruts during certain phases of life.
Why I Don’t Like To Cook
When my kids were young, I took extreme cooking measures in order to try and help deal with their health issues for about an 18-month period. Believe me, they were very extreme, to the point that I eliminated 35 foods from their diet. I even went so far as to bake my own bread. These science experiments in the kitchen cost $1,400 each month for food and about 30 to 40 hours a week to prepare every morsel from scratch. Exhausted from the cooking, turmoil in my career, and other family situations, we reverted to fast food options. This was all during my accumulation phase of life.
In 2012, when I was in my survival phase of life, I outsourced (in fact, abdicated!) the shopping, planning, and cooking duties to my husband. Now in 2017, my children are in high school and, being adolescents, they are unenthusiastic about eating what is prepared at home. Basically, I am reluctant to put forth the effort toward something my family doesn’t want to eat.
But thanks to Tiffany, I made dinner five nights in a row last week... and I feel great about it!
My Week Of Cooking
I went to Tiffany’s website, EatAtHomeCooks.com, and ordered three months of meal plans. Meal plans come with grocery lists, with everything really well organized and color coded.
On the podcast, Tiffany explains all about how her meal plans work. She explains that there are three different categories: whole foods, slow cooker, and traditional. Included in each of these categories is a slow cooker meal and a 15-minute meal each week.
It just so happened that my husband worked overtime on both Saturday and Sunday this week. If I had not taken over the cooking this week, he might have lost his mind! But since I assumed that responsibility, it really helped our family a lot!
Throughout the week, I cooked buffalo chicken sliders, skillet chicken and dressing casserole, and maple balsamic roast chicken (all traditional). I enjoyed making enough for two meals so that all of the effort carried over to another day. I share more detail of my experience with these meal plans so far in the podcast.
Tiffany’s Story
Tiffany started EatAtHomeCooks.com in 2008. With four school-age children who were involved in school activities and sports, her family spent a lot of time travelling to and from sporting events. She realized that she was packing food and planning dinners while so many other families were eating their meals in restaurants picking up fast food. She questioned the financial abilities of families to absorb this expense; her family certainly couldn’t! Realizing that she had a talent for efficient meal preparation, she started her website to help others.
On the podcast, we discuss how Tiffany was somewhere between the accumulation and survival phases of her life back in 2008. And with such an active lifestyle, she realized that she needed a different approach to meal planning. She realized that she could still provide healthy meals for her family by using a slow cooker or pressure cooker, and by packing some meals to eat on the go. She also did what she calls “grocery store drive through,” making a quick stop at a supermarket which was more economical than fast food and usually offered healthier choices.
You will want to check out the full blog post and podcast to hear about: How we deal with picky eaters Cooking patterns in each phase of life Tiffany's and my time saving tips
Read the full blog post here.
Cooking Effectively Gives You Time To Focus On Other Priorities
When people do the 100 Day Home Organization Program, the only way to make time is to stop doing something else. It is the same with cooking. Using your cooking time efficiently allows hours to be devoted to other priorities, such as a business venture, or driving children where they need to be, or whatever it is that's important to you. Preparing meals in advance is a time commitment with a pay off!
People who use Tiffany’s EatAtHomeCooks.com program save a lot of time and enjoy having the family around the dinner table more often. The very aroma of a home-cooked meal is an enticement in itself!
I’m SO pleased to share that Tiffany is offering a great deal for my Organize 365 audience. Go to Organize365.com/EatAtHome to review the various plans available and purchase with a 25% off discount code (organize365) during November, 2017.
Bon Appétit!
View the complete post here: https://organize365.com/203
