I woke up at 730am and decided to head to Whole Foods so I wouldn’t have to deal with the larger crowds and increased traffic later in the day.
There’s a Whole Foods on P Street NW that I had been to once before with Paul, so I decided to go to that location since it’s closer to my place than the others in the area. It’s only about three miles from my apartment but it took 15 minutes to drive there (too many traffic lights in-between).
I spent a few hours in the kitchen this afternoon doing food prep. I chopped a head of cabbage and braised some of it to eat later, made hard boiled eggs for future breakfasts, and chopped onions and grated carrots for a dinner coming up this week. I’d rather save time and do a bunch of prep at once while I have the cutting board and knives out.
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and a tilapia filet, 1 sweet potato
Snack: 1 nectarine
Lunch/Dinner: Cuban Picadillo with braised cabbage
I had some thawed ground beef in the fridge I needed to use, so I mixed up a batch of Cuban Picadillo (I’ve made Turkey Picadillo in the past that uses bottled sofrito sauce, but I liked this version because I didn’t have to purchase that bottled sauce.) Verdict? Very good! I like the sweetness of golden raisins with an otherwise savory dish. I’ll be eating this for lunch over the next few days.
(Reminder: I’m following the Whole30 for the month of July. Here’s why.)
I love doing prep work ahead of time. Definitely helps to have all the ducks in a row. We’re working on cooking more and being more organized in general, and this is something we’re moving toward slowly. We get into a pattern, and then we go away for a weekend and don’t resume the habit afterwards.
Leah! If you go away for a weekend, pick back up with your routine! When I go to Richmond this weekend, those few days aren’t going to throw off all the planning I’m used to doing. Schedule the time/tasks on your calendar if you have to, just like you’d do with your classes at school. :)
you=smarter than me :-) We are in progress. We have started (mostly) using a calendar for things (read: I use a calendar and put matt’s stuff on it). We are in the midst of a huge apartment reorganization so that things have a home and cleaning is easier. We anticipate these things will help free up enough time for cooking at home.
My main goal this school year is to avoid the cafeteria. Matt gets free meals through his work. The food is okay, but I get really sick of it. Also, it’s buffet-style, so it’s hard not to overeat. And I don’t know what exactly goes into the food. I really appreciate all your crockpot ideas, and I’m looking forward to trying them as we get into the fall. I also like seeing all your meals and realizing that it is okay to build my regular menu off of 5 or so core recipes and then add other recipes in just to spice things up.
I’m not smarter than you, Ms. Teacher Lady! Different people are just better about prioritizing different things. :) I didn’t always used to be so into meal planning; I’d say it’s really just been the past 8 months or so.
You’ll find when you cook some of those CrockPot (or other types of) meals that you’ll find ones that you don’t mind eating regularly. And once you’ve made them a few times, it gets even easier to put them together because you know exactly how long it’s going to take and what you need to do. You definitely don’t need to make an entirely new meal every day!