As you can see…I might need to adopt the “clean while you cook” ideaology.

•      Home from work
•      Play with Jackson
•      Feed Jackson
•      Bathe Jackson
•      Read to Jackson
•      Get Jackon ready for bed

Do we see a common theme?  While I take care of bedtime, Nate is usually trying to “throw” something together for dinner with the remnants in our pantry.  If that does not work, delivery it is.  Staying true to the stereotype that families don’t eat dinner together (our dining room table is used as a holding place for anything and everything) we get our food and with no hesitation head straight to the den to watch television.  Terrible, I know.

The first night that we had one of my pre-made meals from cooking club, I was ecstatic.  I had finally found a way to actually make a homemade meal…all by myself!  We made a conscious effort to sit at the dinner table, and then, I look at my plate.  To my horror, everything on it was yellow; yellow chicken, yellow rice, yellow rolls.  Didn’t I read somewhere that you are supposed to have a colorful plate?  Needless to say, it is time to add the vegetables!  I can’t help but to think, “Seriously? All this effort and I didn’t even think of the one food group you should certainly have?”  I was so involved with making sure we had an entrée, I had not even thought that far!  Time to download that “meal planner” I made. 

While we are making headway towards the dinner table, it is still a challenge.  Many nights, Nate or I might have work functions and more times than I would like to admit, we forget to “pull” out a dinner to thaw for the next night.  But, practice makes perfect and we are really trying.

And no, in case you are wondering, I did not successfully clean out or organize the kitchen cabinets.  In fact, my laundry pile is the size of a small village, I am a month late getting out the “Whatley Family Reunion” invites, and I am in the throes of learning a new job. Those cabinets will have to wait!  I did, with the help of Nate, get the kitchen cleaned up after cooking club, and as you can see from the picture, it was out of control.

Anyone out there have suggestions on EASY veggie recipes?  Those of you from my small southern hometown, whom I love dearly, I can’t use fatback as my main ingredient. 

We all decided that Sunday afternoons would work best for our schedules.  Meeting at my house, three very busy, non-cooks went to work.  We made a game plan and decided to each tackle different sections of the recipe prep work.  I took charge of the raw meat (gross), Kim went to work on the spices and Salima did the chopping and slicing.  Since Salima has a 9 month old, Sophia, and I have an 8 month old, Jackson, we decided it would be a great chance for the kids to play.  We all agreed on a “zone defense” manning the kids. Needless to say, between diaper changes, bottles, and crying babies that wanted more attention, we finally broke down and called in for back up.  Salima called her husband, Matt, to come get Sophia and Jackson (luckily) needed a nap.  Then the fun really began.  

 It was going pretty well until, “Where is the gouda cheese for this recipe?”  Oops… during my unorganized shopping trip, I managed to miss a few things.  Off to the store I go.  In a rush, I did not grab my phone, only to get back to the house to find out that we needed more things!  Ironically, we ran out of scallions.  As I learned on my 1^st store visit, scallion is a fancy word for green onions.  After my 3^rd store visit, we were moving right along until, “Do you have a peeler?”  Why would you ever need a peeler?  And no, I don’t have one.  “Where are your measuring spoons?”  Hmmm, I thought I saw those last week.  Lucky for me, Salima lives next door, so Matt was able to bring over what we needed.  Unlucky for Matt, he probably made 5 trips to my house.  Note to self; make sure you have the cooking utensils needed.  But, in my defense, I don’t cook, so how am I supposed to know that we need a peeler for ginger root? 

All in all it took us four hours to make and separate, per serving, 18 meals.  I came to work the next day bragging about our accomplishments to my boss.  Her response, “That is so great that each of you have 18 meals!  Fantastic!”  I cringe, “Actually, it was 18 total, 6 each.”  A mixture of confusion, surprise and worry comes across her face.  “What!?  Jacqueline, it should take you half that time and you should be making twice that many…”  I thought about it for a minute, and of course, she was right. 

  So our goal for next time?  Twice as many, half the time.

 Here is a wrap up of what I learned:

• Make a categorized shopping list!!  My mother so kindly pointed out to me that there is a pre-made shopping list on the Eat at Home Georgia site.  I know, mom… I made it, which makes it 10 times worse that I forgot to print it out. 
• Don’t wait until the last minute to go to the store.  When you are in a hurry, and in my case, don’t know what you’re doing, an extremely busy store can be a bit over whelming. 
• Buying in bulk and checking your grocers specials, really does save money.  Who knew?  After splitting the bill, we ended up spending a total of $30 each.  That is $5 a meal, $2.50 a serving.  Not too bad!
• Look at the recipes and check with other club members to see if they have the spices and utensils that you don’t.  A peeler, anyone??
• In order to streamline the process, pre-set all of the spices, meats, and needed items prior to starting the work.  Reaching over someone that is in mid chop, to get whatever you need, is not fun.

I have to say, that even with the time that it took to organize our meeting, plan recipes, go to the store and prep everything, it was well worth it.  By the end of the day we were ALL in agreement that prepping these meals by ourselves would not be nearly as much fun.  We had a great time catching up and found a productive way to spend quality time with good friends.  We have already started planning on our next gathering and I am actually excited about it.  I never in a million years thought that I would look forward to getting in the kitchen. 

Lastly, now that I have faced my fear of “the room where the microwave lives”; I realize how badly our cabinets need to be cleaned and organized.  House project before our next club meeting?  Organize the kitchen.  Maybe if I take an active role in doing so, Matt will not have to bring over measuring spoons.  So embarrassing!       

Here is our Cooking Club pick for January!

Pimento Cheese Chicken, Eatingwell.com

Let me start by explaining the way I have ALWAYS shopped.  My husband Nate calls, “Can you stop on the way home and pick up (insert item here)?”  While I am picking up the item, I may or may not browse around for a few staples.  Unless I have a planned dinner party, I never bring a list or have a “weekly menu” in mind.

 I will say that my un-organized shopping habits did make me pay close attention to what went wrong during my first cooking club store visit.  Since I am learning, start to finish, how to “Eat at Home”, figuring out the best way to get in and out of the grocery store is a must!  Here is what I learned from my pre-planned (actually not planned well at all) store visit:

• If you are buying items that are featured in your grocer’s ad, don’t wait too long to buy them or they may be out of stock.  I had to visit 2 different grocery stores in order to get everything for our planned recipes.
• 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon (when you are having people over at 7:00) is NOT the best time to go shopping.  The store was so crowded; I thought they were giving groceries away.  I had to park a mile away, which is ok because I need the exercise.  When I finally reached the store there was only one grocery cart (buggy, for those of us who grew up in the south) left.  Just my luck that the buggy left was the one where the wheels turn sideways-  making it a joy to maneuver around an extremely busy store.
• After a call to my husband, I did verify that “scallions” are green onions.  Remember…I don’t cook, so the obvious to someone else…not so obvious to me. 
• ALWAYS take the time to categorize your grocery list by departments or store layout.  I was scolding myself when I got to there and realized that my list had me going from one side of the store to the other, multiple times.  This also caused me to forget an item or two, which I had to go get during cooking club.  That is not exactly the best way to save time. 

I find it slightly ironic that I work with grocery retailers every day, lobby on their behalf, make regular work visits to their stores, yet in order to get through this ONE store visit, I had to make 3 phone calls, 3 separate trips and ask other shoppers on the aisle for help!  What is wrong with this picture?

Does anyone have recommendations on the BEST time for a working mom to go shopping?

Save Money

Since I was hosting our club meeting, I volunteered to be the preparation guinea pig.  Now, I might not be considered a “coupon queen”, but I have learned that a great way to save is to check out your grocer’s weekly ad specials.  After I thumbed through the ads, I went online to find healthy recipes and centered our menu based on the weekly sales.  I pulled 6 recipes (in the future everyone will help choose these) and went to work!  We also decided that since we were “saving money” that we should buy the product in bulk (see Eat at Home Georgia Savvy Savings) and simply split the bill.  That way, we did not end up spending a HUGE amount of money on the ingredients needed for just one meal.  This logic actually worked.    

Save Time

One of the largest complaints about cooking meals at home is the time.  It takes time to clip coupons, organize recipes, grocery shop, not to mention cooking the actual meal.  This is time… we don’t have.  We decided that ONE person should do all of the shopping for our recipes.  Ideally, it would stick the LARGE shopping trip (that we all dread) on one person, instead of three.  Unfortunately, I was the first shopper for our group and let’s just say I might not have been the most “efficient” choice.  But, practice makes perfect and I have to start somewhere! 

Portion Control

It was decided early on in the club that besides saving money and time, we might as well try to drop a few lbs in the process.  We decided that the best way to effectively control our portions was to individually package the meals with the correct portion sizes.  In short, when my husband starts in on his 2^nd helping, there won’t be one.  I feel confident that I will get grief for this, but if I want to keep my family healthy, they are going to have to learn to deal with it!

In close, I would like to say that, while I found time to prepare, shop and host our 1^st cooking club-  I did not find time to put away my Christmas decorations.  They are sitting on my dining room table as we speak…. is it almost mid January?

Coming soon….  The Shopping Trip.  Thanks to Mom on a Mission reader “Two Daughters” who suggested the book, Don’t Panic – Dinner’s in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead.  This book is exactly what I need and it is on order! 

Anyone else have book suggestions that will help me succeed my mission?

Meet Kim.  Kim works three jobs, is single and has a very demanding social calendar.  Kim’s eating at home struggles are:

• Money- after buying ALL of the items to cook her meal, it would have been less expensive and much easier to hit a drive through.
• Time- Clearly with three jobs, Kim does not have time to spend hours a night, prepping, cooking and cleaning!
• Leftovers- Since she is cooking for one, after she makes a dish, there is so much left over that she ends up eating the same meal for days!  Ick.  Who wouldn’t get sick of that?

Meet Salima.  Salima is a small business owner and stay at home mom to a nine month old.  Even though she is “at home”, the demands of taking care of her baby and her small business definitely take its toll.  Salima’s issues with making dinner each night are:

• Time- She doesn’t have any.  As a 1^st time mother, it is difficult to start any project only to be interrupted by a screaming child that’s teething, learning to crawl and just “wants” her mama.  Not to mention, she still has to get work done!
• Kitchen knowledge- Salima and I have a running joke that if anything is cooked at home; our husbands are leading the charge.

As a group, even though we all lead very different lives, we actually had common goals in mind.

• Save Money
• Save Time
• Eat Healthy and figure out a way to use proper portion control for each meal

After some discussion, it was decided that the easiest way to accomplish our goals would be to completely “pre-prep” all of our meals in one sitting…together of course.  Therefore, we would prep everything, from trimming the meat to preparing side sauces.  We would then package our “portioned” meals in zip locks and freeze them so that we could pull them at any time to thaw (24 hours) in advance when needed. 

I will let you know later how this all turns out!  Needless to say, there are definitely some kinks to work through.  And when I say “kinks”…three grocery trips later, we were ready to begin!

Do any of you know the best way to “pre-package” meals?  Anyone have any recipes that are great to make in advance?  We would love to hear your ideas!!

Mom on a Mission, Jacqueline Newman, is on the search for balance!

• I don’t know how to cook.  Quite frankly the thought of getting in the kitchen on a nightly basis is my worst nightmare.
• I have never taken the time to clip coupons much less actually use them.
• I already have a very hectic schedule, so I am not quite sure how well I will handle something else on “my plate”.  No pun intended.

But, like any new project, it will be a learning process.  Lucky for me, I have the support of friends and family to help me overcome my obstacles!  I have already recruited a few friends to be in my “cooking club”.  I am not sure that the club will be a success, but I do know that it is much more fun to do something you dread with good company to keep you entertained.  Our 1^st club meeting will be on January 8^th and I will report back on how it works.  Keep your fingers crossed I don’t burn down our house…this is going to be interesting. 

 Do any of you have ideas on how to get dinner on the table, stress free?