ADD Moms

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When I go to the gym, I always watch Food Network while I’m on the treadmill. It helps distract me from what I’m doing.

This morning, I was watching Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller and she said something that really made sense to me. It isn’t as though I hadn’t heard it before, but today, it really sank in. Does that happen to you?

Anyway, at the beginning of the show, she had her cutting board out and she sort of made a point that it’s only out about once a week. I have 3 cutting boards and on some days, I use all of them.

The reason Robin Miller uses hers less is because she gets all the chopping done at once. If she needs chopped onions, or peppers, or whatever more than once that week, she chops it all at once and then puts aside what she needs for the rest of the week. How simple is that? And think of the time it would save later in the week.

She also cooks, for instance, all of her chicken at once. She plans (there’s my first clue) in advance what she’s going to cook and what it needs.

If you’re having spaghetti with meat sauce one night and tacos or sloppy joes another, throw in the onions and peppers all at once and cook all of it. Then you take some out, save it for later, and use what you need now. Time saving and money saving, cause you’re only turning the stove on once.

You could do this with other things too.

For instance, when my kids went to school, they took a lunch. There was usually a sandwich, a drink, and a snack or two. On Sundays, you could line the lunch bags up and drop the snacks right in. That part’s done, plus you know you’ll have enough snacks to last the week.

What about spices and seasonings that you use often? You could pre-mix and package taco seasoning, seasoning for spaghetti sauce, or whatever else you cook a lot. Robin Miller has what she calls her combo - 2 parts salt, 1 part pepper - already mixed. Paula Deen does the same, adding garlic powder to hers and calling it House Seasoning.

You could pre-package 1 load’s worth of powdered laundry detergent into a little baggie or container if you use a laundromat.

Pre-package bags of change for lunch, toll roads, parking, or laundry.

Buy travel sized containers of toiletries and a toothbrush and package together for trips, sleep overs, and overnight guests.

Mix all of the dry ingredients for cookies, cakes, brownies, whatever together and keep in the cupboard. One mess, but lots of baking opportunities.

What are some of your ideas?

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