We spend so much time in the kitchen, figuring out what to eat, fixing the food, setting the table, and cleaning up afterwards. Food Management is one of the biggest parts of running a household.

To start making things easier on your self you should start with menu planning. I have written up a page for the Heartland Cookbook on this subject.

Once you get home from grocery shopping, prepare for the week ahead by cutting up vegies, making up juice, browning hamburger, spinning the lettuce, bagging up pretzels and cookies for lunch and whatever would make the rest of your week easier.

When it is time to make dinner, use the food processor for chopping vegies. It is so much faster. You can also chop food over paper towels for quick clean-up. If you use the crockpot you can make dinner in the morning and have it ready when you get home. Learn to use your microwave for more than frozen entrees, popcorn and reheating. Some things like baked potatoes and fish sticks can go in the microwave till just about cooked, then just bake them in the oven or broiler for a few minutes to make them crispy. Make double batches of your food to freeze for other dinners. As you cook, drop dirty dishes right into a sink full of hot, soapy water. By the time the dishes need to get done after dinner, they are easy to clean. (Plus it gives you an incentive to get them done right away. Don't want that water to get cold.)

Try to have the evening meal together as often as possible. Make seasonal centerpieces with the kids- maybe just a bowlful of fruit or flowers. Use your pretty dishes for more than company because who is more special than your family? Candles and background music make things really nice, too. Talk, laugh and enjoy each others company.

Kitchen clean-up is at least a two person job. Someone can do the table and dishes, while the other can do the counters and floor. Some fun, upbeat music makes things go faster.

After dinner is done you can set the table for breakfast and have the kids make as much of their lunch as they can. Mornings will go smoother if you get more done the night before.

Have one of your kids be kitchen helper for a week and then trade off with any other kids you may have or hubby. They can set and clear the table, help you cook or take over some of the cooking, wash dishes and sweep the floor. If you are there too, it can be a time to talk with your kids alone.

Come back next month when we will talk about: Home and Property

Today I organized my cupboards. I put all my canned goods, bakery goods, staples, snacks, etc. together in categories. Then I put things like noodles, rice, and instant potatoes in tupperware containers like I saw in their catalog. It makes the cupboards look so much neater and I am not always trying to close open boxed with masking tape. They never stay closed. With summer coming it will help keep bugs out of the food. I also washed the cupboards out. It's amazing how dirty they get. I can now find things in my cabinets again.

At the organizing chat I go to we were talking about Once a month cooking. So I thought I'd head out and find some links. Maybe I will try it.

Once a Month Cooking
Ideas for OAMC
Mega-Cooking

This past week I decided to reorganize my kitchen. Luckily, I found a site which contained a step by step approach to reorganizing the kitchen, complete with breaks and an easy to prepare dinner at the end of the day. Project completed!