When it comes to work, I'm a hard worker. But only when I have to be.
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In my Pizza Night meal planning book, there are 14 lunch/dinner meals that take 30 minutes or less to prepare. This is a decent time frame, but it doesn't account for cleanup time. Instead of taking 30 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cleanup (I don't have a dishwasher), using the following method I can cut preparation down to 30-45 minutes and cleanup down to 30 minutes for both meals. Instead of two hours of meal-related work per day, I can cut it down to an hour or so. That is like eliminating HALF of the work!

The Problem With Make-ahead Freezer Meals
Before I talk about 2-for-1 meals, let me tell you why I don't do crock pot freezer meals, or "dump dinners". I adore this idea. Healthy, yummy food and hardly any work! However, there are a few things with our lifestyle that make freezer meals not practical.

1. Not enough freezer space. Our freezer is already full of meat and homegrown vegetables during the winter, and during the summer I use it for farmers market ingredients.

2. A waste of plastic bags. I don't like the thought of going through so many plastic bags to save time, nor do I like the idea of washing those plastic bags. After a couple uses, the bags get holes punched in them anyway.

3. Not efficient for canned or frozen food. At this point, almost all of our produce and meat comes from the freezer or pantry. It wouldn't make sense for me to open three bags of frozen veg and four cans of meat/sauce, mix it all together, freeze it, and then have to thaw it again.

In fact, I tried making my own frozen stir-fry mix, but with the different seasonality of vegetables it wasn't worth my time to freeze the snap peas and take them out several months later to mix with other vegetables when they were ripe. Now I just keep large bags or each vegetable (sliced peppers, cauliflower chunks, peas, broccoli, etc.) and throw in a handful of each for a stir fry. It's less wasteful AND allows me to make a different stir fry mix every time. 

The Solution: 2-for-1 Meals
One solution I've come up with is a 2-for-1 meal. In short, I do a whole day's cooking at one time. Typically this is around 11:00 am. I'll do a lunch that is either on the stove top or baked in the oven, and at the same time I'll put something in the crock pot for dinner, or if it is an oven-baked dish I'll prepare it and put it in the fridge until an hour or so before dinner. 

For example, if I'm having ham/potato soup for lunch and roast/vegetables for dinner, I can peel and cut all of the potatoes and onions at one time. This means I'm only washing the cutting board and knife once, only wiping the counter once, and only dealing with vegetable scraps once. It also means I have a bigger chunk of time in the afternoon to do things I enjoy.

With some extra planning, you can do a 3-for-1 meal by cooking enough meat/veg in the crock pot for the next day's lunch. For example, using leftover chicken meat for sandwiches.

I don't do this every day, but it's definitely a useful tool, especially for gardeners/homesteaders. We do enough work with freezing and canning already!

Adapting Meal Plans
In order to implement the 2-for-1 idea, I've started to rearrange and adapt some of the Pizza Night meals. I'm also looking at a few seasonal meals/dishes to try, for when the garden produce starts coming in. After two years we're getting tired of some of the old standbys, and we now have different ingredients (like lamb roast!) to incorporate into the menu. Plus, with all of this new-found freedom from cooking, what better to do with my free time than cook new meals?!

Have you done batch cooking before? What are some of your tips or maybe things that didn't work for you?

1. Made yogurt.

2. Sold four dozen eggs.

3. Made a mini-greenhouse with an old cookie container to spout thyme seeds in.

4. Started oregano seeds. Both my thyme and oregano seeds were SUPER fast to germinate... like, three or four days when it was supposed to take 1-2 weeks.

5. Started sweet potato slips with some sweet potatoes that were given to us. My mother-in-law does this every year and it seems to work great for her. I cut one potato in half and left the other two whole to see which sprouts better.

6. Started chili pepper seeds.

7. Transplanted some basil seedlings.

8. Reorganized sewing room. My sewing room is kind of a multi-purpose craft/storage room and there wasn't really enough space to walk around in there, let alone accomplish anything. Until recently I had been bringing my sewing machine and ironing board out to the kitchen every time I wanted to sew. Then a few weeks ago I had Hubs build me some shelving for storage (sleeping bags, Christmas decorations, extra canned food, air mattress... things we only use a couple times per year). Last week I moved some things around so that my ironing board had a permanent spot with some more shelving for miscellaneous items (hem gauge, pattern pieces, fabric scraps, shears, pin cushin, etc.). 

The last thing I did was nail some clothespins to the wall. This allows me to clip up the pattern instruction sheet and not have to continually get it out, put it back, fold, unfold.

My apologies for the dark pictures. I was just so excited about it I couldn't wait to take pictures!

This new arrangement has already helped immensely in my sewing. Everything is so much faster and streamlined, and I am going to save a ton of time not running back and forth from the hobby room to the kitchen when I sew, knocking things off the ironing board accidentally. 

9. Worked on a new apron. I was almost able to complete this one, thanks to my new sewing set up and pre-cut pieces. This pattern is from the 1940s as well, though it is printed, unlike the last one. I'm trying to follow the authentic instructions and not deviate from the pattern as much as possible. This can be challenging when you are working with a random piece of fabric from a garage sale. I alternated white with the printed fabric, but still didn't have enough green to use for the waistband. Instead of an entirely white waistband then, I decided to make a kind of rosette in the center with the green fabric. I think it worked out well. I'm looking forward to doing a separate post on this apron in the future.

10. Made lip balm. I didn't get around to making any soap this week, but I was able to make 17 tubes of Peppermint Patty lip balm to sell with my soap. I still need to get some labels on these, and then they'll go into my Etsy shop.

11. Made homemade oven cleaner. In 2016, my hope is to gradually phase out most of my generic household cleaners and replace them with non-toxic homemade cleaners. It's something I've always wanted to do, but was just low on the priority list. One of the most expensive of these is oven cleaner. Not only was it expensive, but I found myself coughing and wheezing and gasping for breath whenever I got a whiff of it. That can't be good for a person! 

My new homemade oven cleaner was just equal parts baking soda and vinegar, with a few drops of dishwashing soap (I really like Ajax). The cleaner worked pretty well. The only thing I noticed was that some of the spots still had slight stains after I had scrubbed the baking soda/vinegar off.

I will admit that we've done a bit of purchasing "stuff" lately, in the name of saving time.

Mop Bucket
We bought this "real" mop bucket for about $10.00 at Walmart. I LOVE it. Previously I'd been using a huge mixing bowl for mop water. Not only did I have to wash the thing with soap every time I used it, but it hardly fit in the sink and I had a hard time rinsing it without splashing water all over. The new bucket fits in the sink easily, AND I can just rinse it out because it never gets used for food.

The main reason why I hardly mopped is because I had no way to wring out the mop, which left the floor sopping wet and took forever to dry. Then I'd have to walk on it and the dirt from my feet/shoes/slippers would smear into the wet floor and get it all dirty again. Talk about frustrating! Now that I have the wringer bucket, the floor dries quickly. This purchase was SO worth the $10.

Mini Greenhouse
Another thing we bought at Walmart this week was one of these mini-greenhouses for starting seeds. Our greenhouse box had 72 cells for $5.00. I am going to try to use this for my tomato and pepper seeds. While my current seed starting method works fine, using the $5.00 greenhouse would eliminate the need to transplant seedlings. Last year during the transplanting process I got my varieties mixed up and some of the plants died. Hopefully using the greenhouse will fix these problems, and if I'm careful I can use the greenhouse again next year.

And FORGOT to Use My Coupon!
We stopped at TSC this week to get some salt/mineral blocks for the goats, and also some lice-killing powder. I like using tea tree oil, but the Pygoras have so much wool it is hard to use. The wethers also refuse to stand still for a daily treatment, so I've done nothing to get rid of their lice. Anyhow. I had a 10% entire order coupon to use on all of this stuff, and when we were almost home I realized that the coupon was still in my pocket. Bummer! 

Goals This Week
1. Make a batch of soap.
2. Make labels for lip balm.
3. Finish green apron.
4. Start pepper seeds.
​5. Start tomato seeds.

One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is review my goals and check off ones I have completed. It's so satisfying to see everything- on my list of goals or not- that's been accomplished over the last year. I've added a few new skills to my repertoire and notches to my belt, and proud of it!

2015 Goals Completed:

1. Have a farmer's market stand. This was my one big mammoth goal completed this year. You can read about it here. It definitely pushed and stretched me in more ways than one and I learned a TON. I got to meet a whole new group of people that I look forward to seeing again next year.

2. Milk & breed goats. My first season EVER of goat milking began in January and ended in October. I absolutely loved it! After a year or two of buying milk, it was like a miracle to see a quart of milk in our fridge every single day. It meant doing chores twice a day, but I didn't mind the chores too much. I actually looked forward to doing chores with Hubs (it was kind of like a date), seeing how much milk I could get and checking up on our broody hen and her chicks.

In November we bought a buck and I got to learn how heat cycles work in goats. It was so entertaining to me to sit and watch the does and buck interact, him wagging his tongue and she wagging her tail in between "fighting" with each other. And yep, I got to experience the famed "goaty" smell from Mr. Buck.

3. Get chickens and feed sustainably. Though I'm still working on the sustainable part, we were able to get nine chickens over the course of the summer. Some of these chickens were a broody hen and her chicks, which were a joy for me to watch. I got to see mama hen calling her chicks, finding food for them and keeping them literally under her wing at night. We watched the chicks grow bigger and bigger until they got to be teenage chicks and mama kicked them out of her nest and actually started pecking on them when they got too close to her. What a funny analogy of how life really works.

Later in the year we were blessed with a whole coop of hens and also some free Craigslist roosters. This is when I got to try some of my sustainability experiments, including alternative animal feeds, co-habitation with goats and a sheep (the sheep didn't work out, by the way) and butchering the Craigslist roosters for meat. It took a while for us to butcher the roosters because we are novices, but the meat was excellent- not tough at all.   
4. Grow some of my own spices. My new gardening experiment this year was growing mustard seeds and chili peppers. Both were grown for free from seeds I already had (you can grow mustard from the store bought "mustard seed" spice). The mustard seeds were a lot of work, but I will definitely be growing chili peppers again next year.

I also learned about some other spices that grow wild here in Michigan- things like sumac and shepherd's purse.

5. Learn one new Spanish tense. In October and November I completed the Duolingo Spanish language tree, and in the process learned several new tenses.

Things not on my goal list:

1. Learn to drive a motorcycle. This was something that got pushed to 2015 from my 2014 goal list. This summer Hubs helped me drive his motorcycle around the yard and practice here and there... when I was feeling brave, which wasn't very often. As the summer drew to a close, I decided it was time to get down to business and take a class to get my endorsement. In the end, I went from being terrified and, at the best, NOT confident in my driving abilities to being able to hop on the motorcycle and make a run to the grocery store with (almost!) no fear. This was huge for me! 

2. Do an Ebay selling blitz. In May I found some Ebay-worthy sewing patterns at a garage sale. I have regretted not keeping track of Ebay earnings in the past, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start. In addition, a blitz would tell me if it is really worth my time to be an Ebay seller. Finally in November my life slowed down enough to do it, with phenomenal results.

3. Make goat milk soap. This wasn't technically on my list for 2015, but I have always wanted to make soap successfully. Not only did the soap turn out, but I was able to sell some of it at the farmers market.

4. Try lasagna gardening and raised beds. This experiment actually started in the fall of 2014 after a horrible summer of weeding. Hubs made me three raised beds and I filled them with "lasagna" of kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, manure and compost. I put some newspaper on the top and left them over winter. In the spring I poked holes in the newspaper and transplanted a bunch of home-grown tomato and pepper seedlings into the beds.

For the entire summer I did hardly any work (weeding, watering) on the beds. The tomatoes absolutely thrived, enough to choke out most of the peppers and overflow into my other plants. I made a few mistakes (planting vine-type tomatoes without supports, planting too many in one area, not pruning, etc.) but overall the experiment was a smashing success and this fall we were able put out and fill four more lasagna beds and two raised beds for strawberry transplants. Paths between the beds will be covered with plastic and mulch to almost entirely eliminate weeding.

5. Teach piano lessons. At the beginning of the year, one of my sisters-in-law asked if I could give her piano lessons. Specifically her request was to learn how to read sheet music. In the course of a few months she went from being able to read NOTHING to reading and playing music by classical composers like Mozart and Bach. I was super impressed that she did in a few months what it took me years to do as a kid taking lessons.

At the end of the year I was able to work with a few younger students aged 4-12. This was a completely different ball game! With a little bit of internet research I discovered many games and fun exercises to use with younger students in order to keep them motivated and having fun (which is the biggest challenge). Again I was absolutely blown away at how well the different teaching techniques worked. Some of my students have been able to learn a new piece every week. After this experience, I feel like I was ripped off as an elementary piano student. Why weren't MY teachers doing games and aural training?? Oh well, I guess they didn't have the internet back then. 

Cumulative Effect of Learning New Things
You'll notice that over the course of an entire year I only have only completed five of my official goals and five unofficial ones. However, even these ten things will have a massive effect over the course of a lifetime. Getting experience in something is so valuable, and I got a lot of it this year! I will never have to wonder if selling on Ebay or doing a farmers market booth is worth my time. I'll never have to look back and wish I would have learned to ride a motorcycle when I had the chance. How many hours of weeding have I prevented by discovering raised bed lasagna gardening? And I've helped five people learn to play an instrument and hopefully fueled their desire to become better musicians.

To some people, a year seems like forever. Others just see it as a small part of a lifetime. If a year is going to go by anyway, why not do something fun, exciting and rewarding with it? Certainly I can set aside less than 2% of my lifetime to learn a couple new skills and improve the remaining two-thirds (God-willing) of it.

These ten things will quite possibly become stepping stones for what I will accomplish next year. 2016 will bring (hopefully!) more profit and a better experience at the farmers market. It will bring more eggs, meat and veggies to the table. This next year will bring more new people into my life and new opportunities. The year hasn't even started yet and I've got some things planned that make me nervous. But it's good to stretch yourself.
 
Nobody's Perfect
I've talked up my ten goals and accomplishments from 2015, but even so there were just as many that didn't get done. I missed the deadline for some, forgot about some, and some of them were completely derailed by things that happened out of my control. However, I don't feel disappointed. Nobody is perfect, including me. There will always be things that don't get done (or done on time), but what's important is to be thankful for and proud of what you did accomplish with the time that you had.

Happy New Year!
-Bethany

When I was growing up, my mom kept a FlyLady notebook full of routines, menu plans, and other housekeeping information. I expanded this idea, and now have an old blue binder that I use for life planning and household management. Keeping goals, plans and records all in one place makes it easier to evaluate progress. Having phone numbers and other important information on paper is great for when the internet doesn't work. This kind of notebook is easy to make. 

Find a three-ring binder and some lined notebook paper. Find a three-ring hole punch to use on printed pages. I have dividers for the following sections:

Personal 
I keep the following information in the first half of my notebook.

1. Household Information: phone numbers, birthdays & anniversaries, routines and/or to-do lists.
2. Dreams & Goals: long-term goals (5-year, 10-year, someday), my ideal day, and short-term goals (yearly, quarterly, monthly).
3. Personal Development: people skills, productivity, and personality type info. I keep a summary of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and a summary of Getting Things Done in this section.
4. Money/Finance: monthly budget. You can also keep your financial goals, investment ideas or other money-related information in this section.
5. Health & Fitness: nutrition information, workout plans, fitness goals and health records. Each month I try to take some measurements, weight and body fat percentage and write it in this section. It takes about 5 minutes. You can also keep a log of exercise and/or weight lifting records here. Keeping records will tell you if you're making any progress and help you keep on track to meeting your fitness goals.

Homemaking
 I keep the following sections in the last half of my notebook.

1. Cleaning: Daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual cleaning check-list.
2. Gardening: garden plans, seed inventory, dried herb inventory, quarterly canning checklist, planting instructions, garden records from previous year, other gardening information.
3. Cooking: recipes (only complicated ones too big to fit on a recipe card), freezer inventory, pantry inventory, other cooking information.
4. Decorating: home decorating information, pictures of homes that I like (a physical Pinterest board).
5. Relationships: mostly notes from marriage books that Hubs and I have read together. You could also include date ideas here.
6. Foraging: information on identifying plants and trees in your area. 
7. Goats/Animals: breeding and other care records, information on hoof trimming and other husbandry.

And that's all folks! It's good to review your notebook once a month, or at least once quarterly. Sometimes I make copies of this information and put it in other places: menu plan gets posted inside a kitchen cabinet, phone numbers should be beside the phone, cleaning checklists by the cleaning cart, etc. Most of my recipes are in a recipe card holder in the kitchen.

In addition to this notebook, I also have a small monthly planner from the dollar store. I use this to scribble "unofficial" records in- things like when the maple sap is running or how long it took for the tomato seeds to sprout. This way I don't have to get out my big notebook if I want to make a quick note of something. Later I transfer the scribbles into the appropriate sections if necessary.

Another thing you may want to keep is a calendar of events. Hubs and I don't have very many events to write down, but this may be helpful if you have children.

How do you plan and keep organized?

For the past few days, I've been on the topic of decluttering; getting rid of unneeded "stuff" in your house or on your calendar. Many times we are making things hard on ourselves because of too many choices. It's too complicated and not simple enough. Another problem? Lack of planning ahead.

For example, making supper. It gets to be 4:30 pm and the family is beginning to get hungry. You should start making dinner, but you are in the middle of a project. Bummer. Quit the project, start looking through the fridge and kitchen cupboards to see what is there. Spaghetti? That would be great, except there is no spaghetti sauce. There are some carrots in the fridge. What about a nice roast? Too late for that. What about spaghetti noodles and carrots? There's got to be something to make with spaghetti noodles and carrots.

By this time it's quarter to five and you have no idea what to make. You're starting to get hungry yourself, and snack on some saltine crackers. Now everyone is hungry and begging you for saltine crackers. There is no time to make anything. Forget it, they can all have crackers and peanut butter. Or jelly. Or cheese. Throw the carrots in there, and it should be healthy enough.

Have you ever been in this place? It could have all been prevented with a plan.

My new book (yep, a little shameless self-promotion here!) can solve all of your meal problems. It's got a complete list of meals- breakfast, lunch, and dinner- plus ideas for healthy snacks and some ideas for potlucks and other I-forgot-about-that events. My plan includes a weekly grocery list so you'll never be stuck without spaghetti sauce, and even tells you when to start cooking, so the food is done before people get hungry. No saltines here!

Imagine this: you, rolling out pizza dough. There's no hurry because everything is under control. You've got some nice music turned on. Get out some ranch and barbeque sauce to spread on the dough. This is going to be a killer supper! In a good way. Sprinkle on some cheese, bacon (that was on sale!), green peppers and toss it in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes. It's early enough that nobody is clawing at you for food. 

Ten minutes later the house begins to fill with a delicious aroma of baking bread, melting cheese and bacon. So warm and good. Kids wander in the kitchen, following their noses. You set out some plates and fill the cups with water. One kid wants to help, so you have him set out napkins. Finally, the timer dings and you call everyone in to eat. "Man it smells good!" "I can't wait" and "I want the biggest piece" are heard from excited diners. You bless the food, cut a few slices and dig in. So delish.

Does the pizza scenario sound good? It probably sounds great if you have experienced the saltines-and-peanut-butter meal. Do yourself (and everyone else) a favor and buy my book,
Pizza Night; a Simple Meal Plan, available on Amazon. 

I know this plan works because I use it myself. It sure makes life easier!