One Day, One Focus™ Menu Prep and Batch Cooking

Most of you know by now that I do most of my cooking in bulk.  For me, I find it works best to spend one day, with one focus, and get the job done.  

Sunday, after attending an early morning meeting, then heading to church with the fam, it was time to get cooking.  

Roy and I headed off to our local Farm Boy Grocer to get the fixin’s for the week.  By 2 pm we were home and it was time to wash the produce, slice and dice the veggies and get crackin’. 

By 8 pm we had eaten our dinner, food for the week was prepped, all the dishes were washed and the bonus is I  don't need to think about what to serve for dinner again for another week!  Maybe longer given we have stocked the freezer at the same time. 

 So, in just six hours (which included eating our family meal) spending One day, One focus™, yielded:

• A crockpot full of beef and veggie stew.   Frozen into family sized and individual portions.

• Oven Roasted Kale Chips for the week of snacks.

• Roasted Chickpeas for grab and go snacks or to add to salads.

• A fridge full of cut peppers, carrots and celery for snacks and lunches.

• Fruit washed and put in bowls for easy grab and go snack.

• Six huge cooked chicken breasts ready to add to the top pastas or salads  (one breast will feed 2-3 people).   I wrapped each cooked chicken breast individually so we can quickly grab, thaw and add to our meal.

• A pot of spaghetti sauce which was frozen into both individual and family sized portions.

• 6 Burger patties made and wrapped individually & frozen for later in the week.

• A pot of veggie soup that was frozen in individual servings for lunches or a snack

• A stir fry for dinner that evening

• Green juice for moi (the rest of the family thinks this is a little whacked)

Intense periods of focus result in major results!

If you need assistance with menu planning, time management or simply strategies to achieve the ability to have the opportunity for One Day, One Focus™ opportunities in your life.   Book an appointment with us, either in person or virtually – we can help you find more time in your life.   Visit our website at www.adventuresinorganizing.ca

Ottawa Mom's - Solution to the Dinner Dilemma

It all started with defrosting the freezer

This month, I  thought it would be fun to write a product review and while not a typical organizing product, I decided to find a explore solutions to the "Dinner Dilemma".   So began my quest to solve the age old problem of getting a delicious, nutritious meal on the table in as little time as possible.

 One of the key things many of my clients, and I struggle with is finding the time to prepare and serve home cooked meals and avoid stopping at the drive through window on the way home.   We all want to eat better and serve our family nutritious meals that do not take forever to make.

In that vein, I put my cash on the table and tried out two dinner solutions companies this month.  I wanted to see whether or not the service, the quality and the value were reasonable for the price.

The first company was a franchise dinner preparation company called Supperworks. We visited the location on Hazeldean Road in Kanata. My husband Roy and I actually went there for our 31st wedding anniversary and prepared 12 entrees - I know what you are thinking, "Man, that Jennifer lives a wild and crazy life". 

Anyway, I digress, Supperworks was very clean and the staff were friendly and helpful.  They signed us in, handed us our menu and offered us a glass of wine - (they had me at the wine).

If you have never used a service like Supperworks, it basically works like this:

Meatloaf - simply remove the lid and cook

• Visit www.supperworks.com, choose your city
• Select your dinners for that month’s menu items (they change each month) 
• Choose your date and time to go prepare the meals from the available booking schedule 
• Show up to your appointment and assemble the menu items. All directions and serving containers are provided. If you do not want to assemble them yourself, they will do it for you for an additional fee. 
• Take your meals home and put in the freezer –they have all been assembled and you simply need to thaw and cook.
• All cooking instructions are adhered to the packaging.

Take a cooler or two with you to transport your items home.

Quiche!
Crust with eggs and filling in one baggies and the shredded cheese in another.  
Freeze, thaw, pour into crust and bake.   It was really yummy.

It took my Roy and I about 1 ½ hours to prepare the 12 entrees but you could likely do it quicker alone – we were in no hurry - it was our Anniversary after all.

Likewise, you could pay a $40.00 fee and have Supperworks prepare everything for you and simply pick it up at the store and take it home.

While not inexpensive, it was much less expensive than if we were all to eat out at a restaurant 12 times. The per serving price is approximately $5.00 based on a family of 6.

The thing that impressed me is that we are a family of 5 + my daughter’s hungry 26 year old Fiancé who eats with us most of the time. Each entrée was plenty big enough for everyone.

The pork chops came in a package of 6 which surprised me; I expected there would only be 4. The pork tenderloin dish included 2 full tenderloins so again, they do not skimp on the protein.

The most surprising to me was that the roast beef, while not a cut I would normally buy, was not only large enough to feed us all it was extremely tender which I was not expecting. I had visions of a chain saw being needed and happily, we did not need to drag it out of the shed.

Roast Beef!   Tasty and no chain saw required.

Below are the menu items that were part of the experiment and I included the price as well

Aunt Bea's Beef Stew (3-4 quart crockpot or stovetop)			1
Cheddar-Jack's Black Bean & Brown Rice Wraps (oven or freezer-to-microwave)			1
Cheesy-Chile Quiche (oven)			1
Dads Favourite Meatloaf (oven)			1
Panko Crusted Chicken Tenders (oven)			2
Peachy Pork Chops (stovetop)			1
Roast Beef with Sun Dried Tomato Gravy (oven AND stovetop)			2
Shrimp Rotini (stovetop)			1
Sonoma Pork Tenderloin (oven)			2
	Subtotal for 12 meal package:			$345.00
Side Dish: Creamy Peas & Orzo (Freezer to Microwave)			1	$6.00
Side Dish: Curried Cranberry-Raisin Rice (Shelf to Stovetop)			1	$6.00
Side Dish: Rosemary Focaccia with Herbed Olive Oil & Balsamic Dip (freezer-to-oven)			1	$7.00
		Food Subtotal:	15	$364.00

The second company that was part of my experiment was a local Ottawa company called Scratch Kitchen. I saw their truck drive by a month or so ago and thought I would check out their website www.scratchkitchen.com

Here is what I discovered…


Scratch Kitchen is a family run business that uses as much as is possible, given our climate locally sourced and organic ingredients. Along all the regular menu items, they include some gluten-free dishes as well as vegetarian offerings.


The food is prepared in a commercial, health inspected kitchen then is packaged and frozen ready for delivery. They deliver within most of the Ottawa area each Friday.

This company works like this:
· Visit their website at scratchkitchen.com

· Click on the online ordering tab to ensure you are within their delivery zone

· Start an account

· Click on the menu tab and review your options – you can buy as much or as little as you like (I bought pre-planned bulk orders under the Meal Ideas Tab and then clicked Stock-Up)

· Once you have made your selections you go to the shopping cart and check out.

· Your cooked and frozen food will be delivered Friday – leave a cooler on your porch if you are not home but if paying by cash you have to be there.

With Scratch Kitchen, I ordered two of their food packages. The two packages were roughly $30.00 more expensive than my adventure at Supperworks + another $5.00 for delivery which I considered a bargain at today’s fuel prices. While I say it is more expensive than Supperworks, keep in mind that if I had them prepare the food and picked it up, they would have come in more expensive – it’s all in the preparation.

As soon as I placed my order I received an email from Scratch Kitchen apologizing and saying two of the sides were not available and was given the choice of a refund or to substitute with soups. Since the purpose of this experiment was to see what the dollar comparisons were, I opted for the soup instead of the refund. I love soup anyway so it was a win in my world.

The entire Scratch Kitchen Order.
Lunches on  top, mains in the middles and sides below.

Here is what my online order looked like:

One order called Stock My Freezer – the cost for this plan was $195.00 and includes:

Sides

· Quinoa With Mixed Mushrooms and Vegetables

· Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash

· Creamy Mashed Potatoes

· Chili Lime Rice

Lunches

· Italian Three Cheese and Meat Lasagna

· Traditional Shepherd’s Pie

· Guinness Beef and Mushroom Ragout

· Indian Butter Chicken

· Thai Chicken and Vegetable Green Curry

· Butternut Squash Curry Coconut Soup

Mains

· Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary

· Savory Turkey Shepherds Pie

· Beef Bourguignon

· Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese

· Chicken in White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus

· Madras Chicken Curry

· Indian Butter Chicken



The other order was called The Busy Week and cost for this plan was $200.00 and includes the following:

Lunches

· Chicken in White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus

· Pasta with Sausage (Pennine)

· Savory Turkey Shepherds Pie

· Indian Butter Chicken

· Thai Chicken and Vegetable Green Curry

Dinner 1:

· Quinoa with Dried Cranberry, Roasted Winter Squash and kale (Side)

· Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole (Side)

· Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary (Main)

Dinner 2:

· Quinoa with Mixed Mushrooms and Vegetables (Side)

· Hungarian Beef Goulash (Main)

· Chicken in a White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus (Main)

Dinner 3:

· Chili Lime Rice (Side)

· Indian Butter Chicken (Main)

· Madras Chicken Curry (Main)

Dinner 4:

· Creamy Mashed Potatoes (Side)

· Guinness Beef and Mushroom Ragout (Main)

· Boeuf Bourguignon (Main)

The "lunch" meals from Scratch Kitchen impressed me the most.   They come packaged like a frozen dinner and the tray is sectioned off and contained delicious veggies, a starch of rice or potato and the protein in a third compartment.   This option would make a much healthier choice than grabbing fast food for lunch each day. 

The other thing I really liked about the lunch packs were that they would work well for a dinner for seniors who often have much smaller appetites.  They just need to peel back the film and pop it in the microwave.

Scratch Kitchen Lunch Serving 

The quality of the food that Scratch Kitchen used to create the meals seemed excellent and everything was tender and well prepared.  

Scratch Kitchen side serving of Chili Lime Rice

My goal when I began was to compare dollar value with both companies - basically what would $400.00 get me from both companies.     How would portion, quality, service and time to table differ? 

$365 at Supperworks got us:

12 mains 

and 3 sides

we prepared and packaged the mains and brought them home to freeze, later to be thawed and cooked.

The mains were in portions that worked for our family but if you have a small family, you can prepare 1/2 orders for less money. If we had Supperworks meals prepared for us the cost would have been $405.00.   The mains would work well for a family of 4-6. With 6 of us, we had plenty to eat when adding a side salad and extra veg (we like our vegies). The food was extremely flavourful and we would definitely use the service again 

$400.00 at Scratch Kitchen got us:

 9 sides, 

11 lunches, 

and 14 mains 

all of which were prepared, cooked, packaged and delivered. 

 The mains really are more suited to a family of 3, which I knew going into this experiment but again, wanted to compare dollar for dollar. 

 I did receive an email this week from the owner of Scratch Kitchen and they are looking at increasing the portion sizes to serve larger families and the price point they are considering is very reasonable. The food generally was a high sauce to protein ratio, one of my kids found it too “saucy” another loved it just as is. 

Scratch Kitchen would be an excellent option for a smaller family who is time crunched and wants a convenient quick and healthy meal.     All the dishes were had were mildly seasoned so for those who do not like foods with a lot of seasoning and spice, this would be perfect!   

Downside of Supperworks - you still have to remember to thaw it and you still have to put it in the oven or crockpot

Downside of Scratch Kitchen - small portions, only deliver on Fridays

Plus of Supperworks - large portions, flavourful and you can adjust the seasonings to your taste

Plus of Scratch Kitchen - quality food prepared, cooked, packaged and frozen,  delivered right to your door!

Mission Accomplished!
Our very full freezer with
Supperworks,
Scratch Kitchen
and  my  very own Dinner's by Jenn

Our family winner - Supperworks for overall taste and portion size.    

If you are not in the Ottawa area, I am sure you can find similar companies and small businesses in your area to provide you with the same service.   

M is for Menu: Simple Menu Planning Tips

M is for Menu Planning   

One of the most important things I do each month, for both my sanity and my budget, is menu planning.

There are a couple of things that I have found over the years to be of the biggest assistance when planning my family’s meals each month.

1.  Planning monthly saves me time and money.   I can cook in bulk and freeze saving me cooking time and having meals prepared ahead saves money on expensive and unhealthy take-out options  
2. Having a deep freeze saves me money
3. Using the weekly flyers saves me money

In my early 30’s (yes I am well beyond that now), I was given the book Once-a-MonthCooking by Mimi Wilson & Mary Beth Lagerborg and it completely changed the way I thought about cooking and planning meals.   It may not be for you and it does indeed leave you locked in the kitchen for a day BUT it is one day a month and then  you are free as a bird the rest of the month.

When checking out the link for the book - I stumbled across this quick YouTube Video that talks about the cost savings and family benefits to using this method.

Planning Monthly Menus.    

I personally have found it helpful to plan my menus by the month.   If making a pot of spaghetti sauce, I would slot that into the menu twice in the month and ensure that I make enough in one batch to not only cover serving it twice in the month but also twice in the following month.   Same would apply with a soup…. I would ensure that there were enough prepared for dinner twice that month or one dinner and two lunches, again I would likely make enough to cover a meal or two for the following month as well.

Where do I find the time to make meals in advance?  It really does not take a lot more effort to cook a meal in bulk than it does to cook it for one dinner.   A few more minutes chopping perhaps but other than that, it does not cost any negligible time and in the long run, you will gain time back into your life having the meals already prepared.

Using Weekly Flyers.    

Weekly flyers can be a blessing or a curse.   If you use them to purchase items your family uses and needs, they are a blessing.  If they are hanging around becoming clutter or you purchase items you do not need and will not use, then they are obviously a curse.

When using flyers, I would recommend stapling a list to the front of each flyer indicating what you wish to purchase from each particular store.   Take the flyer to the store with you so you have the price and the package size and then leave the flyer at the store so you do not have the paper clutter to deal with later.    If there is an item on sale that you use often, like peanut butter or butter, stock up when it is on sale and then do not buy more until the stock is almost depleted.   Do not buy more than you have storage space.  

Our family loves butter and it is usually quite expensive.   Our freezer often holds 6-10 pounds of butter at a time.  Right now, our butter stash has been depleted since butter has not been on sale for a while.   We do the same with meat and buy in bulk when it's on sale.   I then check my freezer when preparing my menu each month and plan around what's in the freezer and what is on sale that week.   It is a rare week that we buy meat that is not on sale.

Having a deep freeze saves you money.  

Buying in bulk when items are on sale and freezing homemade meals in advance is a major factor in having well planned healthy menus ready for your family.

A few tips from our family to yours when menu planning

• Plan left over night the evening before garage pick up.   Haul everything out and serve a wide variety to clear out the fridge

• Serve an egg dish once a week to save dollars.   Omelets, Frittatas, Quiche are great ways to use up left over vegetables and meats as well.

• Plan a pasta dish one night per week

• Plan a fish dish one night per week

•  Make one, freeze one.   It takes no extra time to double each recipe.   Make a meal for dinner and freeze one for later in the month.

If you would like a copy of our free monthly menu planner, please email us and put Free Menu Planner in the subject line, we would be happy to send one out to you.

Adventures in Organizing can help you with your menu planning, household management, home filing systems and time management systems.    

Sign up for our Minute-By-Minute program today!   For just $5.00 per week you will have your own customized organizing program.