Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 135

Weekend Reading: March 2, 2013

source: mandiehman on Instagram

Born at 37 weeks and 1 day at just 6 lbs., 7 oz. after being labeled an “inevitable miscarriage” in the first trimester, this tiny peanut has always held a very special place in my heart. She was a mama’s girl from the beginning, but she wasn’t exceptionally colicky like our youngest; she just needed mama. And I was okay with that!

In just five days, she’ll be 7, and I’m finding myself a little weepy over the idea. How did she get so grown up — reading chapter books, caring for our pets, making fruit salad for lunch and watching over her baby sister?

She is the most tenderhearted of our girls, and you can almost always find her at the table crafting or outside with our cat when she has free time. When it comes to schoolwork, she’s hardworking and diligent, quickly working through her list of independent subjects and always ready to do more and take on a challenge.

I’m so proud of her and thankful to be her mama, and this week I’m trying to focus on that instead of my own sadness over yet another year gone by!

Have you subscribed to our new weekly newsletter? Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future issues!

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading to see the other posts that make me stop and think. You’ll find new posts all week long!

Food {Eat Well, Spend Less Q&A}

Favorite Grocery Stores | Keeping the Kingdom First


Introducing New Foods to Your Kids | Food for My Family


A Personal Q&A with 7 Bloggers Behind the Series | Simple Bites


Budget-Friendly Meals That Kids Like | Life As Mom


What We Waste, and Don’t | Denver Bargains


Frugal Priority Number One and Biggest Splurge | Kitchen Stewardship

Family {Every Moment Counts}

Seven Ways to Embrace Motherhood | Finding Joy


She Crawled. | Parks & Recreation


Is Praising Kids Bad Parenting? I Don’t Think So. | The Happiest Mom

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: March 2, 2013 is a post from Life Your Way

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Dear Readers…, Desktop Calendar & Sponsor Shout-Out {March 2013}

To download the image above to use as your desktop wallpaper, simply click the image (or this link: February 2013 Desktop Calendar) and choose Save Image As… Then, open the picture, right click and choose Set as desktop background.

Dear Readers…

In trying to take a photo for this month’s desktop calendar, I came to the conclusion that March is just an ugly month. No snow on the ground, but no green either, and it’s a bit sad and depressing as winter draws to a close!

That said, I’m excited that spring is just around the corner, and we decided that these gorgeous sunrise clouds capture that promise quite well for March’s desktop calendar!

We’ve also got lots on the calendar for spring, including our Spring Cleaning Made Easy series. And be sure to join us each Monday for the Weekly Reads Online Book Club!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the new Life Your Way newsletter, be sure to do that so you don’t miss and more issues!

And now, meet our March 2013 sponsors:

The Confident Mom

Susan at The Confident Mom offers a variety of practical tips and resources for busy moms. From her popular weekly household planner to her new ebook, Become the Confident Mom You’ve Always Wanted to Be, Susan is helping empower moms and strengthen families every day!

Save $2 on The 2013 Confident Mom Weekly Household Planner with coupon code MARCHMOM! Valid through March 31, 2013.

NeuYear

The innovative NeuYear calendar is more than just a desktop calendar. This gorgeous one-year calendar shows you the whole year at once so you no longer have to page through a traditional calendar (or your small computer screen) to see the whole year. Unlike other calendars, this one has no space between months, which helps you plan your weeks even when they span two months. And each calendar is two-sided so you can choose between a vertical and horizontal calendar.

Save 50% on a NeuYear calendar with coupon code LifeYourWay. Valid through March 31, 2013.

Thanks so much for being part of the Life Your Way community. I look forward to your comments and emails, and you all truly make this site what it is!

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Dear Readers…, Desktop Calendar & Sponsor Shout-Out {March 2013} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Life Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Book Inspired Popsicle Stick Puppets

The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:

source: Kristina Buskirk

We love reading books and have fun creating book inspired activities and crafts. One of our favorite ways to make books come alive is by making puppets. Puppets are fun to create and a fabulous way to help kids practice retelling stories and learning about sequencing and other important story elements.

Today we wanted to share a quick and easy way to make book inspired puppets using popsicle sticks. These puppets can feature your child’s favorite children’s book characters.

Supplies:

popsicle or craft sticks (we used ice cream sticks for ours)
markers
Elmers glue
floss or yarn
pencil
colored cardstock
scissors
tape
googly eyes

Instructions:

Grab some popsicle sticks and start creating! We colored the sticks first and then added details using glue.

My daughter decided to design a monster (like the one in Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley).

source: Kristina Buskirk

It is fun to draw parts of the character’s bodies on cardstock, and then cut them out and add details to them with markers too. Once they are detailed and cut out, just add some glue and stick them to the popsicle stick! As you can see below, my daughter had fun just coloring the sticks and adding googly eyes for her monster popsicle stick puppets.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus is one of our favorite books from Mo Willems, so we had to make a pigeon puppet. I drew pigeon’s body on cardstock, cut it out, and then my son helped add on his eyes and a few other details (yarn feet, white strip on his neck).

source: Kristina Buskirk

We’ve also been reading a lot of Dr. Seuss books because his birthday is coming up (March 2nd), and we are spotlighting him as part of our Virtual Book Club for Kids this month as well. We decided to make some puppets to help us tell some of our favorite Seuss stories.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Once our puppets were dry, we grabbed out books and read and re-read them while making the puppets read along or act out the story for us. Puppets can be used to help teach simple spatial relationship words like over, under, up, down... along with helping kids learn more about the characters in a story and their actions.

source: Kristina Buskirk

Puppet making is addictive and pretty soon your kids might want a book inspired puppet to hang out in ALL of their books

Here are a few of our favorite book inspired activities:

Fizzy Footprints inspired by The Foot Book by Dr Seuss
Recreate 10 Apples Up On Top by I Can Teach My Child
Charlotte’s Web Sensory Bin by Mommy & Me Book Club

What is your child’s favorite book character?

Kristina is a mom of 2 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

Book Inspired Popsicle Stick Puppets is a post from Life Your Way

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Follow my Whole30 Challenge at Wholein30.com

source: mandiehman on Instagram

Last week I began a 30-day food challenge known as the Whole30. If you’ve spent any time in the blogosphere or on Facebook or Instagram lately, chances are you’ve heard of it.

Developed by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig of Whole9Life.com, the Whole30 challenge is not a diet or a fast; it’s a program designed as a nutritional reset to break bad habits and create good ones while getting all of the icky stuff out of your body so that you can truly learn how different food groups (like grains, legumes and dairy) affect your body.

Their book, It Starts with Food, is an important read, and it’s packed full of information about how the systems in our body respond to various food groups.

What I love about this approach is that the Hartwigs are so rational in their thought process. They don’t just set out a list of rules for the rest of your life; instead they invite you to take part of this challenge and then evaluate for yourself how it feels when you eat different foods.

Although I haven’t completed my 30-day challenge yet, I can tell you this: on day 12, I feel amazing! Despite having recently discovered that I’m pregnant, I have more energy than I’ve had in years. I’ve also found myself eating an amazing amount of delicious food that I’ve been ignoring — things like brussel sprouts and spinach — and I’m eating more veggies in a day than I normally do in a week.

This program is designed to be the launching pad for permanent changes in your life, and I truly can’t imagine giving up the breakfasts and lunches I’m eating every day (although I will admit I’m looking forward to enjoying homemade bread with my family every once in a while again!).

Because I didn’t want to hijack Life Your Way with daily updates, I’ve set up a new blog, Wholein30.com: From SAD to Whole in 30 Days. Join me there to see what I’m eating each day (including recipes) and to hear about my experience now and after the 30 days end!

Have you heard of Whole30? What’s holding you back?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Follow my Whole30 Challenge at Wholein30.com is a post from Life Your Way

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Instant Heart Rate {iOS App of the Week}

Back in December when I had the flu, I took Sudafed one night to try to clear my nose so I could finally sleep. Unfortunately, I reacted badly to it (most likely because I took it after 2 days without food), and my heart raced all night, to the point that I almost woke my husband to take me to the ER.

I tried several times to take my pulse myself, but I was slightly delirious, and I just couldn’t get a good count. A few days later, my sister-in-law used the classic line, “There’s an app for that!”

Sure enough…there is!

Instant Heart Rate uses your phone’s camera to detect the pulse from your fingertip – by tracking the changes of the color of your fingertip. Pretty crazy, right?

To take your pulse, you simply place the tip of your index finger on the phone’s camera. It begins to track your pulse, beeping and recording every heartbeat on a chart. You can also save your heart rate measurements and tag them with things like #morning, #postworkout, etc. to see patterns.

It took me a few tries to figure out the best way to hold my finger, but now I can get a pulse within seconds. It’s pretty addicting to see how it varies at different times of the day and while I’m working out!

Download for your iPhone, iPad or iPod: Instant Heart Rate ($0.99)

This one is also available for Android or Windows Phones.

See all of our featured apps here.

Instant Heart Rate {iOS App of the Week} is a post from Life Your Way

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FREE Budget Worksheet Printable!

I’ve gotten quite a few requests for a budget printable since I first created the Life Your Way printables more than 3 years ago, and I kept putting it off because I just wasn’t sure how to make one that would work for everybody.

However, last week I got two requests from readers within hours of each other, and I decided to just dive in and put one together. The result is a 3-4 page budget worksheet (3 full sheets or 4 half sheets) that you can use for your monthly budget.

This worksheet not only helps you project your income and expenses, but there’s also space for you to record the actual dollar amounts at the end of each month so you can compare your budget with your real-world spending. I think that’s important because it lets you see where you’re being unrealistic or undisciplined so that you can budget more accurately — and stick to your budget more faithfully — in the future!

Click the links below to download or print your budget worksheet:

Budget Worksheet {Full Size}


Budget Worksheet {Half-Sheet}

See all of our home management notebook printables here.

What other printables do you think are missing from our collection?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

FREE Budget Worksheet Printable! is a post from Life Your Way

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Including Independent Work Time in Your Homeschool

The following post is from Victoria of Snail Pace Transformations:

source: Mandi Ehman

When I began homeschooling I was in the most stressful season of my life to date. I had a newborn a two year old and a 6 year old with learning delays. I had just moved over 1000 miles away from my extended family and friends. I knew no one and one month after arriving my mother discovered her cancer had returned.

I needed a homeschooling plan that gave me breathing space each and every day.

Little did I know that out of this stressful period of life I would create a system of homeschooling that would cause my children to become the independent learners my husband and I desired them to be years before we thought it possible.

Independent Learning Resources

Here is what I have learned about setting up independent learning sessions for my kids:

Learning happens outside of textbooks.

My children learned scripture from the Hide Em in Your Heart CDs, math from Math Blaster and alphabet recognition from LeapFrog: Letter Factory.

Now that they are older Spelling City gives them a daily spelling test, Teaching Textbooks teaches them math and they work on grammar skills using the Editor in Chief program from The Creative Thinking Company.

Curriculum can be adapted to suit independent learning.

My children love Mystery of History which is intended to be a read a loud book, however I purchase the CD version as well as the book and have the children listen as they read for 3 days of the week and then on the 4th day we do the activities together.

Choose workbooks they can do on their own.

Sometimes I think we moms tend to hover too much when we homeschool, not allowing the child to stretch their learning abilities.

Step away from the school table for a few days and see what books the children bring to you for help and what they just need you to mark.

source: Mandi Ehman

Creating Independent Learning Sessions

Once you have researched what is available beyond the textbook, you have found adaptations for others and have spent sometime observing what each child can do on their own successfully; it is time to sit down and map out your school day mixing independent work sessions with time with

Make a plan.

Your plan is going to be as unique as your family. Here is what we have done over the years.

When most of children were pre-readers, I rotated independent learning time with mom time. My eldest would have an ½ hr with me, then my third child, then my second child. This allowed me to work on reading with each child individually while giving my two oldest children a full hour on their own and my youngest child two ½ hour sessions on her own.

Now that all three read well, all three spend the morning working independently allowing me to work at my work. I spend my afternoon going over the work they did that morning, teaching science, history and whatever else is needed.

They are able to work 100% on their own each morning due to a well thought out plan that is printed out for them to follow.

Keep reworking the plan.

When you are switching over to independent learning sessions not every thing is going to flow well the first day.

I plan for a week off of all other activities beyond homeschooling at the beginning of each school year. This allows me to help the children get use to their new routines and work out kinks.

For instance, one year I had all three children listening to different books on CD at the same time causing the noise sensitive child much mental stress until I went running to the store for headphones. Another year, I had not allowed enough time one child to finish with the computer before the next one needed it.

Is independent work time part of your homeschooling routine?

Victoria writes at Snail Pace Transformations about frugality, food, faith, fitness and sometimes homeschooling. She believes in life long learning even if it is only at a snail’s pace.

Including Independent Work Time in Your Homeschool is a post from Life Your Way

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4 Home Remedies to Knock Out a Cold

The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:

source: Mandi Ehman

Editor’s note: There are a lot of great posts in the archives here at Life Your Way that don’t get much attention anymore, so I’m sharing a couple of my favorites each week. This post was originally published in 2010, and our family has since used all of them (as well as a few others) with success as well!

Feeling that tickle coming on in the back of your throat?

Besides the hundred other reasons that feeling sick usually makes me frustrated, I always get a bit overwhelmed and feel inadequate when I consider the “treatments” for run-of-the-mill sick bugs.

I don’t really like taking medicine, over-the-counter or otherwise, because I don’t trust chemicals if I can help it. I get really nervous if anyone in our family is prescribed antibiotics, because I know they’ll throw off our intestinal flora for quite some time and may contribute to overall antibiotic resistance in our world.

The alternative solutions kind of intimidate me, too. For a long time I didn’t know where to buy fancy herbs or essential oils, and when a child (or self) is struck sick, that’s the last time I have brain power to try something totally new and rather daunting.

What if you could at least initiate a minor attack on germs using normal supplies you already have in your kitchen? Knowing these simple tricks makes me feel better, in more ways than one.

Tackle a Sore Throat with Salt Water

source: hyku on Flickr

Gargling with salt water can bring instant and lasting relief for your scratchy, on-fire throat.

Get the concentration of salt as high as you can by using hot water and 1 tsp. salt to a cup of water, even more if you can make it dissolve.
Mix and gargle for a count of 20, then repeat a few times.
Spit out the salt water.

No special equipment, ingredients, or fancy techniques. Just a salty taste in your mouth. Rinse it out and be glad you found something simple.

There are a few other additions to a gargle rinse, including apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, honey and mustard seed that my poor husband will be trying tomorrow. I still say simple is best, so I’m sticking with salt water and maybe vinegar.

Stomp Out Colds Early with Cinnamon and Honey

source: Pink Stock Photos

Want your kids to take their medicine? Try this one and they’ll be begging for more.

I just read about using honey and cinnamon as a simple cold fighter at Health, Home and Happiness last week, although I’ve known about the health benefits of cinnamon and raw honey for quite some time:

Mix ¼ tsp. cinnamon with 1 tsp. honey (preferably raw, local)
Eat, up to twice a day.
We’ve mixed our into oatmeal, on fruit, and had it straight.
Start at the first sign of a cold. Yum!

Beat Ear Infections with Garlic Oil

source: Felipe Gabaldon

Last winter my son was prescribed antibiotics for an ear infection, and I was a mean mom and didn’t give them to him.

Just kidding. About the mean part.

Once we were at the pharmacy filling the prescription, his pain was gone. I told myself we’d try a natural remedy and if the pain came back, he could have the scrip. We never needed it.

Just crush a garlic clove or two into a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small pot.
Heat over low heat until warm, not bubbly.
Allow to cool slightly by putting some on a spoon – it will cool fast – and then drip some warm oil (no garlic chunks) into your child’s ear while they turn their head on its side.
Massage the glands below the ear near the jaw gently for a minute or so, then allow the child to tip the oil out into a cloth.

The warmth soothes the pain, and garlic is antibacterial and antiviral. (Here are some other ways to fight sick bugs with garlic.)

My pediatrician says that the garlic would never make it behind the eardrum where the infection is anyway, but she also was pretty clear that most ear infections clear up without antibiotics anyway (in children over 2), and some are viral and wouldn’t be touched by antibiotics anyway. I’ll still leave the garlic in next time, because it’s a well-known old remedy and makes the house smell delicious, like an Italian restaurant.

Loosen Congestion with Steam

This one almost always helps when my little ones have a hacking cough and can’t sleep.

Turn the hot water on in the shower and allow the room to fill with steam.
Keep the child as close to the steam as possible (but not wet).
Lately I’ve been using the sink (saving water) and tenting two bath towels over me and the child while we breathe the steam.
If you have mint leaves, throw them in too, but they usually fall under the “weird ingredients that I don’t have on hand” category for me.

Tip: Tape a piece of paper with ideas like this to the interior of a cupboard door in your kitchen, or the inside of your linen closet door. Information at your fingertips!

Don’t forget to get enough sleep and drink your fluids when you’re feeling ill, and try to have homemade chicken stock in the freezer to help everyone in the family feel better and boost their immunities.

What’s your first line of defense when you’re getting sick?

Disclaimer: I’m not a health professional, just a mom, and one who was raised on whiskey and honey cough syrup at that! You know of course that you must check with your own doctor before believing anything I say.

Katie Kimball is a mom of two who spends a ton of time in the kitchen making real food with whole ingredients and then blogs about her successes and failures at Kitchen Stewardship. She believes everything in life is a gift from God and should be taken care of wisely.

4 Home Remedies to Knock Out a Cold is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Green Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Free Kindle Books {2/28/13}

One of the most popular features of our sister site, Jungle Deals & Steals, are our free Kindle book lists. With 15-20 free ebooks every day, these are a great way to load up your Kindle without breaking the bank, and Kindle books can also be read on smartphones, computers and tablets with the Kindle app from Amazon.

Here’s a quick list of some of the freebies that are currently available, but be sure to head over to Jungle Deals & Steals for new freebies today…or subscribe to our daily freebies email so you don’t miss a single book!

Fiction

Small Kindnesses by Fiona Robyn 

Genre: Family Life


Reviews:  (43 reviews)

The Mine (Northwest Passage) by John A. Heldt 


Genre: Time Travel


Reviews:  (106 reviews)

The Blade (The Mafia Trilogy Book Two) by Jonas Saul 


Genre: Crime


Reviews:  (15 reviews)

Summer Melody by Toddie Downs 


Genre: Family Life


Reviews:  (20 reviews)

The Accidental Siren by Jake Vander Ark 


Genre: Coming Of Age


Reviews:  (27 reviews)

Dog Food and Diamonds: A Romantic Comedy by K.C. Scott 


Genre: Humor


Reviews:  (16 reviews)

Ireland Rose by Patricia Strefling 


Genre: Christian


Reviews:  (84 reviews)

Nonfiction

Autism – A Practical Guide for Parents by Alan Yau 


Genre: Special Needs


Reviews:  (43 reviews)

Slow Cooker Comfort Foods by Bonnie Scott 


Genre: Cooking


Reviews:  (4 reviews)

Stop Negative Thinking: How To Stop Worrying, Relieve Stress, and Become a Happy Person Again (Stress Relief) by Doc Orman MD 


Genre: Stress Management


Reviews:  (2 reviews)

Living in Financial Victory (The Kingdom Agenda) by Tony Evans 


Genre: Stewardship


Reviews:  (6 reviews)

2013 Grocery Buying Guide by Heather Schisler 


Genre: Seasonal


Reviews:  (3 reviews)

YouTube Strategies: Making And Marketing Online Video by Paul Colligan 


Genre: Marketing


Reviews:  (8 reviews)

Why do we sell low and buy high?: The guide you must read BEFORE you invest by Amir Avitzur 


Genre: Investing


Reviews:  (8 reviews)

Children’s Books

Millicent Marie Is Not My Name by Karen Pokras Toz 


Genre: Girls & Women


Reviews:  (48 reviews)

Road Trip by Petra Craddock 


Genre: Transportation


Reviews:  (1 review)

Why? Because I Love You! (A Little Pup Book) by Mary Lee 


Genre: Animals


Reviews:  (34 reviews)

Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz 


Genre: Boys & Men


Reviews:  (54 reviews)

how to draw the forest fairies (step by step) (how to draw comics and cartoon characters) by Amit Offir 


Genre: Drawing


Reviews: No Reviews Yet!

Super Secret Birthday Party (A Beautifully Illustrated Children’s Picture Book; Perfect Bedtime Story) by Beáta Noémi Bálint 


Genre: Holidays


Reviews:  (8 reviews)

See more Kindle freebies here.

Free Kindle Books {2/28/13} is a post from Life Your Way

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8 Reasons Why Freezer Cooking Can Work for Anyone

The following post is from Kate of Modern Alternative Mama:

source: Modern Alternative Mama

Lots of people love freezer cooking. In fact, Jessica, a fellow contributor here at Life Your Way, is something of a freezer cooking guru, having published a cookbook all about it.

It’s taken me a long time to get on the freezer cooking bandwagon. I’ve been trying it off and on for over five years, in fact. But the thing is — a lot of freezer cooking just doesn’t work for me. Here are my major gripes:

I don’t like to pull pre-cooked meals out and reheat them: I want something fresh.
I don’t want partially-cooked meals either; I will probably get sick of it before it’s gone.
I don’t like the texture of certain foods when frozen (especially potatoes).
I don’t see that it’s all that hard to brown some meat when I need it, or do other basic prep.
I like to cook!

Still, life has only gotten busier over the last few years. We’re about to welcome baby #4 (just a week or two now!), and the other three are five and under. Add to that homeschooling and running a business and you’ve got limited time. Despite the reasons above, I have been determined to find a way to make freezer cooking work for me.

I think I’ve finally figured out how, and you can too:

1. Figure out what you really eat.

A lot of people seem to freeze things like pasta sauces, pre-made burritos, casseroles, etc. We just don’t eat a lot of that sort of thing. My kids don’t really care for soups or stews, either (although my husband and I love them). A lot of the typical “freezer cooking recipes” simply were not going to work for us.

Instead, we like to eat pizza (you can freeze the components separately or you can make pizzas and freeze before baking; we’ve done both), meatloaf, smoothies, and things like this. (Try these pizza balls for even faster meals!)

Most dinners can be pulled together quickly regardless (how long does it take to grill a chicken breast and steam some veggies?), so I don’t bother to do any freezer cooking for those. For our lunches though, I do, because we often need something on the table now. Knowing what we realistically will eat has helped me plan.

2. Figure out what takes so long.

I’m all about convenience if it doesn’t change the taste or texture and if I have freedom with the stuff (see the point below!). I know if I’m making chili, it’s the soaking and cooking of beans that takes awhile. Or any soup, making stock. Or with sandwiches, soaking and baking the bread or buns. I intend to cut down on prep time by doing some of these things ahead of time.

I can brown meat in 5 minutes so that is not on my list of items to do ahead of time, and neither is quickly chopping a few veggies or anything else that goes quickly. Maybe I could save a bit more time, but it’s not worth it to me.

3. Freeze ingredients/meal components.

This is my favorite thing ever. While I don’t like to freeze cooked meat or certain other things, there are a lot of items I do freeze. I freezer pre-soaked and cooked beans, many bread products (pitas, waffles, English muffins, tortillas, buns), fruit (for smoothies or snacks), shredded cheese, stock, chicken nuggets, etc.

I freeze what I use a lot of. Then, I can quickly pull out components to make a meal “fresh” in 10 – 30 minutes, which significantly cuts down on my time in the kitchen, the last-minute panic (since I can pull meals together fast), and still gives me the fun of “cooking fresh.”

4. Expand to the pantry and fridge.

Why stop with just the freezer? I often keep cut, fresh fruit in the fridge for quick snacks or part of a meal. I also keep stock in the fridge (if you put it in glass when it’s still hot and put a lid on it, then store in the coldest part of your fridge, it will last a few weeks at least if you don’t open it). I like to mix up spices (like taco seasoning) and keep that in the pantry. Some people like to do baking mixes or granola or other such items. And I have a whole bunch of canned items….

5. Try out canning.

Some people prefer the freezer because the cooking required before freezing is minimal compared to canning. But others don’t like the texture out of the freezer (like me) or don’t have the freezer space to put everything. For that reason, canning can be awesome. I can applesauce, apple pie filling, peaches, pears, tomato sauce, tomato soup, salsa, and sometimes a few other items. Those are the ones we eat the most.

For Christmas I got a pressure canner, and I’ve been canning jars of soup. These will be awesome when we need lunch “right now” after baby comes, and there’s no defrosting required. In fact, we could even eat it straight out of the jar if we wanted! Canning is a great way to get some homemade convenience foods stored in your pantry.

6. Pair with fresh.

It’s so easy to have a fresh meal if you pair a freezer or pantry item with something fresh. We’ll use the taco seasoning I made to quickly season ground beef and serve it with “lettuce sticks” (the center of the romaine leaf; the kids think this is fun), some sliced or grated cheese, and whatever fruit is lying around. I often have cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, bananas, apples, pears, etc. So, I grab one or two of these and stick it next to whatever else I’m making and call it lunch. For myself, I might make a quick salad. It’s easy and delicious!

7. Sometimes, cook fresh.

If you have the time and inclination, don’t pull something out of the freezer. Take the time to cook the meal from scratch. I’m not up for it most days now (unless it’s quick), but sometimes I feel inspired to “create” and enjoy! On these days I go ahead and take the time to cook and really enjoy what I am doing.

For days I need something a bit quicker, I have a repertoire of easy fresh-cooked meals that I use. I’ll make pork chops and rice (which simply bakes in the oven), chicken and stuffing (again, it just bakes), Italian chicken and mashed potatoes, roast chicken (it takes awhile to cook but it doesn’t need any attention), scrambled hamburger, etc. All of these (except the roast chicken) can be on the table in about 30 minutes.

8. Try 0ther time-saving tips.

I have a roaster oven that is constantly on my counter. It stays filled with bones and water to make stock all the time. I always have fresh stock ready to go when I need it. Or, if I’m making baked potatoes for dinner, I might make a few extra to turn into baked potato soup the next day (it’s super fast if the potatoes are cooked already).

If I’m making soup for my husband to take to work for lunch, I might make a double batch and can the rest. It doesn’t have to be freezer cooking or even pantry staples; there are lots of little ways to save time. You could even exchange meals with friends if you’re all into it.

Using these ideas, I have managed to make freezer cooking work for me. I’ll never have “big freezer cooking days” where I make up a ton of meals at once. I’ll never freeze soups and casseroles. I’ll never even freeze most of the meals I serve! But I’ve found ways to save myself some time and still cook fresh, as I prefer.

Do you do freezer cooking? How do you make it work for you?

Kate is a wife and mommy to 3 and is passionate about God, health and food. She has written 7 cookbooks and is planning to release more in 2012. When she’s not blogging, she’s in the kitchen, sewing, or home schooling her children. You can find her at Modern Alternative Mama or contributing to Keeper of the Home.

8 Reasons Why Freezer Cooking Can Work for Anyone is a post from Life Your Way

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