Stress
Twibbly
Posts: 1,065 Member
What do you do when you have the crazy weeks? My life is intentionally pretty low stress, until I do crazy things like volunteer to do a BUNCH of sewing that HAS to be done by Saturday morning and my husband picks THIS week to be sick. I've already succumbed to one carb craving today, plan to have coffee with cream for dinner.
Grocery budget is shot. We have food, but it all requires being cooked. I'd tried to set aside some for this week, but it all got eaten anyway (had a houseful of kids over Saturday)
Any recommendations?
Grocery budget is shot. We have food, but it all requires being cooked. I'd tried to set aside some for this week, but it all got eaten anyway (had a houseful of kids over Saturday)
Any recommendations?
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Replies
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What sort of food do you have in the house? I found the easiest way to cook is in the oven. Put it in, forget about it until the timer goes off.
Food you can cook in the oven (off the top of my head):
Eggs
Bacon
Steak
Sausages
Vegetables
Cook a lot and then keep them in the fridge.
Do you have a microwave? You can heat the pre-cooked food.
An easy way to boil eggs. I do this a dozen at a time. Place eggs in a saucepan. Cover with cold water that just covers them. Put them on the hotplate on the stove turned to high. When the water comes to a boil put the lid on, turn the hotplate OFF and time for 10 minutes. After 10 mins, remove from the boiling water and place into cold water to prevent further cooking. Perfect hard boiled eggs that take mere moments to cook.
Boiled eggs:
Mix with chopped cooked bacon, grated cheese, sour cream (or mayo). Instant egg salad. Add some avocado or similar if you like.
Heat with some pre-cooked bacon.
Mash with sour cream or mayo and wrap in a lettuce leaf.
Easy and quick. Everything will be perfectly fine if you take half an hour to cook something to eat.
Remember, even though you may be busy looking after everyone else (I know this well), YOU are important too. Take good care of you.
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I can only eat a few eggs a week. I have already - cooked bacon, pork tenderloin thawed in the fridge (have to cook tmw), frozen ground beef, veggies, ground pork, pork chops, sausage, and plenty of cheese and cream. We do have a microwave.0
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Great ideas Sajyana. I like to make a big batch of something, anything, soup, stew or casserole, in order to have lots of leftovers we can just heat up. Most of the time there is no recipe, just a bunch of ingredients you have on hand would do. I've browned ground meat of any description then added whatever veggies I have along with some broth and called it stew. It doesn't have to be fancy or stressful, just filling.
We always have leftover cooked veggies in the fridge to go with whatever meat I take out of the freezer. ( My daughter has to have her cabbage or leftover brussels sprouts with her eggs every am) Pork chops and cabbage is good and easy.
If you have time to prep low carb veggies, do up a bunch and you can always grab them raw and make a dip. Or have them already cut to add to cooking.
If you have a slowcooker, you can make a whole meal while busy or out. Some broth and a few low carb veggies and you're done. Just a little preparation and plug it in and let it cook.
I like to make cream soups with leftovers. Broth, veggies, heavy cream, even put some leftover protein in there. I made a yummy spur of the moment cream of asparagus and chicken soup the other day that hit the spot.
Don't give yourself more stress, just make something simple with what you have and relax. Things will get better.0 -
Pork tenderloin should last us at least 2 nights and probably cover one of my lunches. I forgot I have frozen fishes as well, and I can just put butter and seasoning on them and bake without thawing them first. Tmw night, I'm going to slice up the breakfast sausage and bake it for lunches.0
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In addition to the excellent cooking tips above, I try to always START with Fats. It almost always kicks my stress cravings clear in the cojones. I know that sounds silly, and I'd hate to attempt coconut oil or butter straight, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Make some quickie fat bombs and have those while figuring out what to do.
Roast/bake everything!
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We have a gas grill, so I set out two packs of boneless pork chops (total of 8 chops), so hubby will grill them up this evening, and we'll have leftovers for the rest of the week. We've done larger grills, too, where we'd cook up a few different meats (burgers, chicken, etc), that we can then eat later.
I like to keep frozen vegetables to pull out whenever. They're cheap at the store, too, so it's easy to stock up.
Some of this is a little more "thoughts for next time," but it really does help with the stress in more general times. I hate coming up with dinners every night (there's a reason I've gone to intermittent fasting).KnitOrMiss wrote: »In addition to the excellent cooking tips above, I try to always START with Fats. It almost always kicks my stress cravings clear in the cojones. I know that sounds silly, and I'd hate to attempt coconut oil or butter straight, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Make some quickie fat bombs and have those while figuring out what to do.
Roast/bake everything!
Butter straight is pretty good, actually. I don't know that I'd be able to eat something like half a stick or whatever, but I've done a tablespoon or so at a time.
I can technically do the same with coconut oil, but the solid-liquid texture change kind of weirds me out a little, so it's taking some getting used to.0 -
Crock Pot...0
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Dragonwolf wrote: »We have a gas grill, so I set out two packs of boneless pork chops (total of 8 chops), so hubby will grill them up this evening, and we'll have leftovers for the rest of the week. We've done larger grills, too, where we'd cook up a few different meats (burgers, chicken, etc), that we can then eat later.
I like to keep frozen vegetables to pull out whenever. They're cheap at the store, too, so it's easy to stock up.
Some of this is a little more "thoughts for next time," but it really does help with the stress in more general times. I hate coming up with dinners every night (there's a reason I've gone to intermittent fasting).KnitOrMiss wrote: »In addition to the excellent cooking tips above, I try to always START with Fats. It almost always kicks my stress cravings clear in the cojones. I know that sounds silly, and I'd hate to attempt coconut oil or butter straight, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Make some quickie fat bombs and have those while figuring out what to do.
Roast/bake everything!
Butter straight is pretty good, actually. I don't know that I'd be able to eat something like half a stick or whatever, but I've done a tablespoon or so at a time.
I can technically do the same with coconut oil, but the solid-liquid texture change kind of weirds me out a little, so it's taking some getting used to.
I never used to be able to tolerate butter unless it was melted. Soft cheeses did me in. My tolerances are better now (they don't make me sick anymore), but I still can't do them "plain." Mixed in something, I'm good... LOL I think I'd be more likely to drop them in my mouth and swallow whole if needed! LOL0 -
T:
Pork Tenderloin, frozen veggies for hubby, creamed mushrooms for me, cook breakfast sausage for lunches, make stuffed mushrooms
W: L: Sausage, Pickles, Chocolate LO Pork w/ stuffed mushrooms for me, frozen veg for hubby
R: L: Sausage or pork, Pickles, Chocolate Baked chicken breasts for the Philistines, baked chicken thighs for the rest, frozen veggies for everybody
F: L: LO chicken, pickles, chocolate LO chicken w/ stuffed mushrooms for me, frozen veg for hubby 0 -
I think I have it figured out where I won't have to spend too much time working on food. Weeee!
Now I just have to sew my fingers off. And STICK TO THE PLAN.0 -
TheSatinPumpkin wrote: »Crock Pot...
This. If I plan ahead, I can make a bunch of meat in the crockpot on Sunday evening to eat all week in various forms (e.g., chicken with veggies one night, shredded over salad the next night, with a different veggie the third night, alongside pasta or rice for hubby the fourth night). But really I rarely do that. When I do cook, I try to make sure there are enough leftovers AT LEAST for the next day's lunch. While I'm wrestling with kids in the evening (not literally, but have you ever tried feeding a hungry 6-month-old, 1-1/2-year-old, and 3-year-old simultaneously and then getting them all bathed and in bed within a couple hours?) I rarely have time to prepare and eat a meal, so I snack on cheese, cottage cheese, pickles, cold meat (leftovers or lunch meat), or just have a cup of coffee with cream. Those keep the cravings at bay for the carby foods my husband and kids still eat.0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »In addition to the excellent cooking tips above, I try to always START with Fats. It almost always kicks my stress cravings clear in the cojones. I know that sounds silly, and I'd hate to attempt coconut oil or butter straight, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Make some quickie fat bombs and have those while figuring out what to do.
Roast/bake everything!
I second this. Today even after I ate my regular lunch that should have held me to 8pm I was jonesing for ... something... I tried to make DittoDan's almond joy fat bombs and... bombed. But I did end up with basically all the ingredients mixed together and in ice cube tray. 2oz of those puppies kicked the cravings to the curb in a miraculous way!!!
I also second (or are we at third) the crock pot! But the fish idea you said is great!! I'll have to get some!
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I cooked the pork tenderloin, but nothing else last night. Hubby will be home tonight, so I will ask him if he can cook the sausages for me. He doesn't like mushrooms, or the smell of mushrooms, or anything else about mushrooms, so I won't torture him with those.
I did, however, manage to reduce the load of what I need to get done by Saturday to a more manageable amount.0 -
Well played my friend! Good job.
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