Category Archives: Kitchen Stuff

Planning Precooked Meals & Easy Menus For Others

Planning Precooked Meals and Easy Menus for Others | RaisingArrows.net

Last weekend, Ty and I and Creed attended a homeschool conference and left the other children in the care of Ty’s mom.  We were gone 2 nights and 2 days, and I wanted to make it as easy on Grammy as possible.

Now I need to disclose something here.  Being this organized for others is pretty new to me.  I struggle terribly when it comes to planning ahead, but I was recently inspired by another mom of many who planned and prepared a whole week’s worth of menus, of which I reaped the benefits.  I considered the plan she put in place and realized it wasn’t as difficult as I believed it to be.  So, this past weekend, I decided to try my hand at it, and boy, was my mother-in-law appreciative!

Today, I’m sharing this success with you which will hopefully give you the confidence and encouragement you need to successfully plan meals for others

Consider How Many People You Will Be Feeding

Since we only took 1 child who doesn’t eat big people food anyway and replaced ourselves with another adult, I could make the same amount of food I usually make and be fine.  But, had I been taking more children with me or had more people been eating, I would need to adjust accordingly.

Brainstorm Simple Meals

Don’t try something new or extravagant.  You are not trying to impress others with your culinary skills.  You are doing this to feed them and make things easier for them.  Think about simple meals that can be easily thrown together from the components you provide.  Also, consider what the people you are cooking for like and any food allergies they might have.

Here are the meals I chose:

Breakfast:
Cereal
Pancakes (from Homemade Pancake Mix)

Lunch:
Sandwiches (meat & cheese, pb&j)
Pizza (frozen)

Dinner:
Spaghetti (the meat was precooked and the spaghetti sauce was store-bought), Frozen corn, French Bread
Bierocks (made ahead of time and frozen), Frozen peas

You can also plan snacks, which is something I didn’t do because I knew Grammy would bring plenty of that kind of thing.  Cookies are a really simple snack/dessert that freeze and keep well.

Some other simple meal ideas are:
Breakfast:
Peanut butter/Banana toast (these are easy to put together with ingredients that keep well)
Baked oatmeal (put together, but don’t bake, and leave in refrigerator)
Breakfast Casserole (most of these can be frozen)

Lunch:
Taco salad (shred your lettuce and have the meat and beans precooked and mixed)
Quesadillas (these freeze well, but are also easy for even young children to make)
Sloppy Joes (have the meat precooked and seasoned, freezes well)

Dinner:
Crockpot Hamburgers (idea taken from Tricia at Hodgepodge)
Soup (easily frozen!)
Chili (again, easily frozen)
Lasagna (yep, easily frozen)

Grocery Shop Based on Menu

As I plan my menu, I take note of what I already have on hand and what I need to buy.  I make my list and head to the store.

Prepare Anything You Can Make Ahead

I baked several loaves of bread and fried up all the meat needed for the meals and froze in individual ziplock bags.  I made the bierocks and froze them, and put together the baking mix.  Anything you can do ahead of time and combine to make prep easier, do it!

Create and Label

I wrote out a menu for each day and wrote next to the meals where the components could be found.  So, for the spaghetti, I wrote:
Thursday -
Dinner:  Spaghetti & sauce (pantry), Frozen corn (freezer 1), French bread (fridge 2)

We have 2 refrigerators and 3 freezers, so I wanted to take the guesswork out of where I had stashed everything.  Also, remember to label all food with baking, cooking, and/or assembling instructions.

Explain Your Menu to Caretaker

If possible, explain either in person or on paper the system behind your menu.  Give them any extra instructions they need to know and put it in the simplest terms.

Planning and preparing meals like this works for a variety of situations.  It really is a simple way to bless those who are taking care of others and could use a break!

Menu Planning Ideas {WHW}

Menu Planning Ideas | RaisingArrows.netOne major aspect of homemaking is preparing meals.  It can be difficult to find your groove in menu planning.  I hopped around trying all sorts of things, and finally settled on a rather archaic method (aka pen and paper).  But, it works and that’s what is important.

menu plan on paper

When I am not shopping Once a Month, I write out a menu like you see above.  It’s a simple Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner menu for each day.  This is posted on my refrigerator and can be tweaked as needed (if I remember to write it in pencil – otherwise, it gets quite messy! ;) )

When I am Once a Month Shopping, I don’t make out a full month menu because I am notorious for changing my mind on what we are having due to unforeseen circumstances throughout the month.  Instead, I make a Master Meals List that looks like this:

Click to enlarge

I have everything on hand to make these meals, so I just pull from the list each day.

There are tons of resources on the internet for how to plan menus.  One quick search on Pinterest will have you pinning ideas for hours!  I personally like Sheri Graham’s Menu Planning ebook and I often use pre-made menu plans as a guide like the one on 100 Days of Real Food.  And of course, my own series on Once a Month Shopping has resources to help you plan as well.

What it comes down to is finding something that works for you and your family.  Your best bet is to try some of the resources you find on the internet and settle on the one that accommodates you the best.  And don’t be afraid to tweak!

For instance, say you like the concept of Once a Month Shopping and the menu plan I set up with it, but you can’t really swing paying for a month’s worth of groceries at a time.  Take the concept and make a 2 week list or even a 1 week list!

Or maybe you like to use another blogger’s menu plan as a guide for your own monthly plan, but you always find a few meals that just won’t work for your family.  Take a screen shot of the menu (use the PRT SC button at the top of your keyboard), put it in a paint program and change out those meals you don’t like so well.

And remember…pretty doesn’t make a method work.

I used to think I needed to make my menu look way more organized to be a good homemaker, but I’ve since grown up and realized you can have the best looking menu plan out there, but if you can’t follow it, you’ve wasted your time “looking” organized.

My menu plan when it is finished has notes all over it!  Things like “Grammy Coming” and “Put roast in crock pot!” are there to remind me of important events that will effect my menu.  I NEED these notes.  They keep me on track.  So, scribble away if need be!

And my dear mothers who are in a season of life that feels overwhelming, do not…I repeat…DO NOT try to create extravagant meal plans.  That time in your life is not now.  Make a menu that is easy.  In my Subscriber Freebies is a very simple Menu that is by no means healthy, but is by all means easy.  Do what you need to do to feed your family.  You won’t always be in crisis mode.  (If you’d like to access the Subscriber Freebies, all you need to do is put your email address in the box at the top right of this page, click on the link in the email that is sent to you, and the next time I send out a post, you’ll see the link and password to the Subscriber Freebie page at the bottom of that email. :) )

Now, a little bit about the link up in Q&A style…

Welcome Home link up | RaisingArrows.net

What kind of links should I add?

As I mentioned on Monday, I have moved it from Monday to Wednesday as a way to encourage you mid-week.  You do not have to link up something that matches what I write about, but you should link up only things that encourage homemakers because this is a “homemaking” link up.  However, if you have an old post that fits what I’ve written about, by all means link it up!

How many links can I add?

While I’m not going to be the link-up police, my readers would probably appreciate it if you only link 3 or less.  Remember, you can always come back next week and link 3 more!

Do I have to link back?

No, but I’d love it if you do!  There is a grab code below.  You can copy and paste the code in the box or if you’d rather, simply link back by saying something like:

This post is linked to Welcome Home Wednesdays on Raising Arrows.

But, once again, I am not the link-up police and I will not check your site to make sure you’ve linked back to me.  This isn’t about me.

When does the link-up go live?

Lord willing, every Wednesday at about 1am Eastern Time, the post with the link up should be posted.  But don’t hold me to this!

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.

Here’s the button code:

Welcome Home Wednesdays
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.raisingarrows.net" title="Welcome Home Wednesdays"><img src="http://www.raisingarrows.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Welcome-Home-Button3.jpg" alt="Welcome Home Wednesdays" style="border:none;" /></a></div>



Playing CHOPPED as a Family

CHOPPED - Family Style! | RaisingArrows.netEver since we discovered episodes of CHOPPED online for free, we’ve enjoyed watching them as a family.  Many times, while sitting down to a meal, one of the kiddos would take a bite, critique the flavors, and declare whether or not the chef had been chopped.  (They are kind enough to never chop mom!)

A few weeks ago we decided it would be fun to play Chopped as a family and we thought all of you would enjoy seeing how we put it together and maybe try it with your family!

chefs

Our oldest four children were the chefs.  Daddy, Mommy, and the 4 year old were the judges.  If you are familiar with the show, you know there is an Appetizer round, a Main Course round, and a Dessert round, each with their own set of mystery ingredients.  One chef is eliminated (chopped) after each round based on presentation, creativity, and flavor.  The kids all agreed ahead of time that it would be okay to be eliminated from the competition if they were chopped.  (If they hadn’t agreed to this, we would have let all of them cook all 3 rounds.)

The night before, I planned out the mystery ingredients.  On the show each chef has a basket of ingredients for each round.  Our family version had us pulling from one picnic basket and the kids had to share the ingredients within.  Dad played the part of host and announced the ingredients as they pulled them from the basket.

Mystery ingredients

On the show, the picnic basket always has at least one ingredient that is bizarre.  So, for instance, our Main Course round had:

  • precooked hamburger
  • oatmeal
  • pineapple
  • mayonnaise

By the way, if you do this, remember as a judge, you have to be able to eat whatever is put in front of you.  Plan your mystery ingredients with that in mind!

Once the mystery ingredients had been revealed, I set the timer and they got to cookin’!

timer

Appetizer Round – 15 minutes
Main Course Round – 20 minutes
Dessert Round – 15 minutes

At the end of the round, the children presented their dishes to us and explained what they had created.  The first round, we had them make 4 separate plates just like on the show (1 for each judge and 1 to be potentially chopped – more on that later), but we soon realized our kitchen does not accommodate 16 plates of food very well, so we decided to have them make 1 big plate for the judges to share and 1 small plate to be chopped.

After presenting their dishes, they headed back to the boys’ room where we had set up a card table and chairs and bottles of water (just like on the show!).

behind the scenes

I have to tell you the kids did such a great job it was really hard to choose one dish to chop!  When we finally managed to make a decision, we brought them out and just like on the show, we had the “chopped dish” under a lid (in our case, a big ole roaster lid!).

Now, on CHOPPED, the winner gets a $10,000 cash prize.  That’s a little steep for us, so instead, we awarded each chopped child $1, with the winner getting $2.  The chopped child also had the privilege of being a judge in the next round.

The Dessert round had the 8 year old and the 15 year old competing against each other for the championship!

dessert round

The ingredients?

  • cranberries
  • maple syrup
  • muenster cheese slices

dessert

The last round is not judged solely on dessert, but rather a culmination of the 3 courses together.  The 15 year old won our version of CHOPPED, and took home the $2 cash prize!

We saw some really neat things from the children throughout the competition.  We saw them work together, we saw them get better at putting together their dishes with each round, we saw a ton of creativity.  But what really impressed us was watching our 8 year old in the final round make a caramel sauce based off of what she saw her brother doing.  She had no idea how to make a caramel sauce, but she watched and learned and tried her hand at it.

The entire event took about 2.5 hours.  We ate the dishes they prepared as our lunch that day.

yummy

The kids spent the rest of the day talking about how much fun they had.  In fact, they still talk about it excitedly and wonder when we can do it again!  So, if you ever have a free Saturday afternoon, grab a picnic basket, a few aprons, and some crazy ingredients from the pantry, and have a blast playing CHOPPED!

Would You Like Azure Standard to Deliver Near You?

Covenant Ranch TruckingI became familiar with Azure Standard years ago, but I never ordered from them until we moved this last time.  I made a contact through the homeschool group in the city and was able to start ordering from this wonderful Christian company.  If you are looking for quality food at the best price, Azure is your company!  It is where I order my whole wheat pastry flour, my coconut oil, my palm shortening, and many other items.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to tell you more about what I order from there and how I order, but today, I wanted to let you know something really exciting!

Covenant Ranch Trucking is the privately owned Christian company that delivers Azure to states like Indiana, New Mexico, Kansas, and Kentucky.  They are looking to expand their deliveries to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio and they just took over Denver, Colorado.

If you live in any of the following areas and would like to have a delivery site near you, Covenant Ranch Trucking would love to hear from you and get you started!  Below is a list of areas they currently cover or will soon be covering and how you can contact them (please, tell them I sent you!):

Current states:  CO, NM, OK, KS AR, MO, TX, IA, IL, IN, LA, KY, TN, north west part of MS (and are adding new drops within these states very soon).

Looking to expand to: WI, MI, and OH and would like to add new drops within Denver, CO area!

Contact them at:
CovenantRanchTrucking@gmail.com
Covenant Ranch Facebook page
Twitter: @covenant_ranch
Visit their Website!

Managing Your Kitchen

Read the entire series here!

One thing I was not prepared for as a homeschooling mom was the amount of creativity and time management it would take to run one room of my home -

My kitchen.

From the moment I became a housewife, it became obvious I did not know how to manage a kitchen.  It was by far the messiest room in my house.  I would hide piles of unwashed dishes underneath towels and pretend I didn’t see the dirt and debris lurking in every corner and on every shelf.

It took me a very long time to learn the secret of a clean kitchen, but finally the mystery was revealed when I discovered the only answer to keeping a kitchen clean is to actually clean it!

However, for the homeschool mom there is another dimension to kitchen management that can quickly become overwhelming.  You are required to come up with something to eat for the entire family 3 times a day plus snacks.  Its enough to make you curl up in a ball and cry.

There are a couple of ways to tackle this chore that work quite well for the homeschool mom.

1.  Make 1 meal a no-cook meal.  In fact, you could go so far as to make 2 meals no-cook.  For instance, make breakfast a toast and peanut butter and fruit meal or muffins or quick bread you’ve prepared ahead of time.  Yes, even cereal and yogurt will do.  Set what you can out the night before and then just set the rest out in the morning and enjoy breakfast without the extra work of a hot breakfast.  This is also a great way to make time for devotions.

For lunch, go with something simple like sandwiches or fruit, cheese and crackers or chips and dip.  This is something we call Amish Lunch and it has proven to be a life saver on those busy homeschooling days.

2.  Delegate 1 or 2 meals to a child.  Recently, we handed over breakfast duty to our oldest son who really, really likes a hot breakfast.  He made an entire menu by himself and I purchased everything he needed.  He chooses from his list every evening what he feels like cooking the next morning so he can set out sausage to thaw or prep anything that needs to be prepped.  This has turned out to be a great compromise as he loves to cook breakfast and loves a hot breakfast and I love not needing to start cooking first thing in the morning.

Other ideas:

*Keep the pantry stocked with easy snacks.  I have a friend who only serves either popcorn or fruit for snack time.  That keeps it nice and simple!

*Keep staples on hand for easy lunch meals for the days that don’t go as planned.  For us, these items include tortillas and tortilla chips, a can of beans, block cheese, crackers, bread and meat.  I try to never be without these.

*Prepare the night before.  Thaw meats, soak grains, make sure you have all your ingredients or consider what leftovers you have on hand that could be turned into tomorrow’s lunch.

*Double recipes and freeze one or use one as leftovers for the next day.

*Utilize your crock pot for dinner and cut down on the prep time for dinner each day.

I also want to encourage you to streamline your kitchen chores as much as possible and include your children in everything you do.  Here is a list of age appropriate cooking and kitchen skills you can teach your children.

Today, I’m including a printable blank Table Chore Chart (you can see an example of ours here) and a Nighttime Kitchen Checklist to help you manage your kitchen.  Enjoy!

I’d also like to point you to an ebook that has helped many homemakers who feel as if they are drowning in the mess of it all …

affiliate linkDana (aka Nony, the Slob) has graciously offered all of you a coupon code which makes this book only $3.00!

Code: ARROWS
expires: 10/22/12
Get your copy here!

Teaching Cooking Skills to Children

A reader asked if I would talk more about the kitchen and cooking related lessons I hope to teach my children as they grow older.  While I really don’t have a hard and fast rule as to when I want to teach certain things, I do have an idea of what I want to teach and a generalized idea of how old I think they ought to be.

Before I go any further, I do want to put in a plug for GNOWGLINS and their new Real Food Kids series.  They have done a great job showing how to get kids involved in the everyday preparations necessary for cooking in a more traditional way.  Plus, they have put it together by age so you can tailor your kitchen needs to your child’s age.  You can check it out here: Real Food Kids:  In the Kitchen

OK, so what are the kitchen fundamentals I am either teaching or planning to teach by age?  Here they are…

Babies

  • Basic table manners: sitting quietly, prayer time, learning how to use a sippy cup and utensils, waiting for their turn without screaming

Toddlers

  • More basic table manners:  Saying Please and Thank You, carefully passing condiments & lighter weight plates/bowls, using a napkin, etc
  • Beginning Table Chores – I usually start with wiping down chairs and cleaning up anything that has dropped on the floor.
  • Begin assisting in food prep.  I love these knives for this purpose.  Pampered Chef also sells a version of kid-friendly knives.

Preschool

  • More food prep like stirring and mixing, cutting with their set of knives, using cookie cutters, etc.
  • Beginning of helping to set table
  • Helping put away groceries (learning where things go in the kitchen)

Ages 5-7

  • More food prep, but still nothing that might burn them (ie griddle, stovetop, etc).  Basically anything they can pitch in with that doesn’t involve outright cooking, I try to include them.
  • Beginning measurements.  Mostly 1 cup, 1 TBSP, 1 tsp, and leveling ingredients.
  • How to make coffee (that’s what my son is doing in the photo above), hot chocolate and tea with tepid water.
  • Easy snacks – things like Ants on a Log, cheese and crackers, buttered bread, etc.
  • (this is the age I usually give them their very own apron!)

Ages 8-10
Here’s where I really start investing more time in their cooking skills.

  • How to read a recipe.
  • Learning to add ingredients by themselves and mix completely.
  • Learning to use a hot griddle (we usually start with something like quesadillas or pancakes)
  • Putting away dishes from dishwasher (by this age, I expect them to know where everything goes in the kitchen, so they know where to find something when they need it)
  • More measurements – 1/4 cup, 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, etc
  • Beginning to make simple meals like Taco Salad or sandwiches.
  • Learning what it takes to keep a kitchen clean
  • Learning basic kitchen safety – garbage disposal, how to use hot pads, fire safety

Ages 11-13

  • Cooking without my supervision.
  • Learning to double and half a recipe.
  • Learning how to use a stovetop and oven.
  • Learning how to cook and clean various pans (we use cast iron and stainless steel)
  • How to load a dishwashwer.
  • Learning how to put away leftovers, as well as basic food safety.
  • Learning how to clean out a refrigerator/freezer and oven.
  • Meal planning
  • Beginning baking – I like to start with my Pizza Dough recipe.

Ages 14 & up
Time to let them fly!

  • Complete meal planning & cooking.
  • Budgeting and understanding the cost of food and how to get the best deal.
  • Bulk purchasing & storage
  • Serving others with food (ie taking meals to others, hospitality, etc)
  • Carving meats and other more difficult knife skills
  • Grilling
  • More “technical” cooking – broiling, basting, steaming, using a double boiler, etc.
  • Mastering baking.

My son is 14 and can pretty much man the kitchen by himself (pun intended).  Recently, he’s taken on the job of cooking breakfast for the crew since he loves a hot breakfast and is often one of the first ones up (and alert ;) )

My 11 year old planned all our lunches for this month and my new 8 year old is becoming quite the kitchen helper.

It would be lovely if my kitchen weren’t quite so small so I could get more the of the kids in there at one time, but for now, this is the way it is and we just take turns.

I’m sure I’ve missed something, so I’ll probably come back to this post occasionally and revamp it, but it’s a good start and I hope it helps those of you looking for more tangible ways to get your children involved in the kitchen.