Fall In Love With Your Home, Your Work, and Your Life Again

Getting and keeping your kitchen organized can be a challenge at the best of times with all the gadgets and utensils we store in this vital hub of the home.  Imagine though if you were also constrained by space.  What if you have a small kitchen?  Check out this article I contributed to along with Peter Walsh from Oprah  where we tacke the issue of organizing a small kitchen.  Organize your small kitchen.

What great tips do you have for keeping your small kitchen organized? Share your ideas below.

Our “What for Dinner?” series has come to an end and we have looked at a variety of ways and some tips to help avoid the inevitable question, “What’s for Dinner?”. As a final treat, here are a couple more meal planning tips to help you create meals your family will love and give you some time back in your day.

More Meal Planning Tips

• Ask For Suggestions: Simply figuring out what to make for dinner can be harder than the cooking and cleaning up.  It isn’t easy trying to think of something that everyone will like, and that you haven’t already ate three times in the last month.  If you run out of ideas for what to cook, ask your family for suggestions.
• Watch Cooking Shows: Watching the shows on the Food Network can be a great way to learn new cooking methods and techniques, inspire ideas for new recipes, and can simply be quite relaxing.  If you haven’t already got a favorite cooking program or “TV chef,” tune in and see what new tips you can learn.
• Experiment And Have Fun:  Preparing your family’s meals doesn’t have to be a chore; it can actually be quite fun.  As you plan your meals, experiment with new foods, flavors, and textures.  If you normally have sandwiches for lunch, try wraps instead.  If your family’s routine was stuck in a rut of hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and spaghetti, break out of that routine in a big way and try Pasta Primavera or a Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry. You’ll never know what your family will and will not like until you try it.
• Get Everyone Involved: One of the best benefits to meal planning is that you will have more family time.  Studies show that families who eat meals together are happier and more connected.  Get your family involved in the process, whether it is helping you cross items off the list at the grocery store, chopping vegetables, setting the table or washing the dishes.  Everyone should be doing their part!
• Have Theme Nights:  Since you are planning your meals and know what you will be having for dinner from one day to the next, you can get creative and have “Theme Nights”.  If you are going to have a Chinese-inspired entrée, create a fun environment by setting out chopsticks and hanging paper lanterns.  Having a Mexican dinner? You can find a piñata at a party supply store and fill it with a few small treats and let your kids have fun whacking it open.

Wrapping It All Up
As you can see, meal planning can save you time, money, and help you enjoy more time with your family.  It can be a great tool in teaching your children about planning, budgeting, measurements, and can even help them learn about different cultures.

Experiment with the different meal planning styles to find a good fit for your family.  You will know what works and what doesn’t.  And you can have a lot of fun (and a lot of great meals) while you figure it out.

If you would like to learn more about meal planning, budgeting, saving money at the grocery store, etc, there are some great resources at .  Enjoy your meals!

Technorati Tags: cooking, kitchen, meal planning, meals, organise, organize, pantry, recipes

Some Additional Freezer Cooking Tips

• Partner Up:  If you have a family member or friend who is interested in freezer cooking, partner up with them.  It will be easier to get started when you have someone to cook with.  Together, you can brainstorm new recipes, scope out the best deals at the store, and of course, share in the work.
• Keep Notes:  As you start freezer cooking, keep a notepad handy to jot down any notes.  If you find a certain recipe works better with a different ingredient, jot it down.  If you find yourself going through more quart sized freezer bags than you planned for, write it down.  When you begin your meal planning for the next month, you can look back at your notes and be better prepared.  Plus, you’ll want to note which meals your family loved, and which ones didn’t go over as well.
• Pare Down:  If you find that planning and cooking your meals for a whole month to be too much work for one weekend, simply pare down.  Try cooking 15 meals instead of 30.  You will still have two weeks of meals ready to go.  Or you can just take a weekend to make several things your family enjoys.  For example, if your family loves lasagna or a certain type of casserole, make a few of them and stick them in the freezer.  When you are having a busy week and need a quick dinner, simply take a lasagna out and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and pop it into the oven when you’re ready to eat.
• Ask For Help:  Depending on the age of your children, they may be able to help you plan, shop, and cook.  If you have an infant or toddler and want someone to help keep them busy while you are cooking, ask a young teen from your neighborhood to come over and help you keep an eye on them.  A younger teen will normally charge less than older, more experienced babysitter would.  You’ll be on hand if your child needs you, and it could be a good idea to start building relationships with the young teens in your area, as they will be the prime “babysitting age” as your child grows.
• Keep Trying:  If your first attempt at freezer cooking doesn’t quite go as planned, keep trying.  You probably weren’t the world’s greatest driver the first time you drove a car, and I’m sure your first attempt at writing looked pretty indecipherable, but I can pretty much bet that you write something legible down everyday and, unless you live in New York City, you probably drive a car just about everyday, too.  With a little practice, you could just end up being the town expert on freezer cooking.

Technorati Tags: cooking, kitchen, meal planning, meals, organise, organize, pantry, recipes

Storage & Reheating Tips

• Stock up on aluminum foil, jumbo sized plastic storage bags, and both medium and large sized plastic freezer bags.
• To make the most of your freezer space, try to freeze your foods as flatly as possibly.  You will be able to stack them on top of each other and fit more food into your freezer.
• As described earlier in the “assembling casseroles” tip in Part 7, you’ll line the casserole dishes with enough aluminum foil to come up over the sides of the dish.  After the casserole is assembled, bring the foil up and cover the casserole tightly, and then wrap it in a second freezer bag.
• Once the casserole is frozen, remove it from the outer bag, pop the frozen casserole out of the dish, and place the aluminum foil wrapped casserole back into the freezer bag.  When it is time to cook the casserole, remove it from the freezer and place in the same baking dish to thaw.  Once thawed, take it out of the freezer bag and cook.  Since it is lined with the aluminum foil, clean up will be a breeze!  Simply throw the foil out and wash the dish!
• As you know, a full freezer is more efficient.  To prepare your freezer to freeze all the food, wash out your empty milk gallons and fill with water.  Place them in your freezer.  And if you wanted to quick-freeze something on your cooking day, all you need to do is take out one of the frozen gallon jugs and smack it on some cement to start cracking the ice.  Place the cracked ice and the items you want quick-frozen into a smaller camping-type cooler.  They’ll be frozen in no time!
• Make it a point to label each freezer bag.  You can write the name of the meal and the reheating instructions on a piece of paper and stick it inside the bag, on top of the aluminum foil covered casserole or write the instructions on the bag with a permanent marker.  Another idea is to print out the information on packing slip labels ahead of time and just peel and stick as you cook and freeze your items.
• Keep track of the meals you have on hand by placing a magnet mounted whiteboard on your freezer door.  If you add three lasagnas, two portions of chicken fajita meat, two beef stews and one ham casserole, write them on your board.  As you take things out of the freezer to thaw, erase them.  It can be easy to forget what you have previously made, and if you don’t remember it’s there, you’ll never be able to use it!
• If you don’t have a deep freezer, try bulk cooking in two-week inventories.  By freezing things flatly you should be able to store two weeks worth of food in a normal sized freezer.
• Soup can be a simple but very hearty and satisfying meal.  When it comes to freezer cooking, simply freeze the ingredients.  Frozen soups can lose their consistency when reheated.  If you make your own broth, you can definitely freeze that.  Add a package of frozen broth and a package of frozen chicken broth to one jumbo storage bag and label “chicken soup”.  When it’s time to eat the chicken soup, simply thaw the broth and chicken.  Add your veggies the day you will actually eat the soup.
• If you find your family doesn’t like a certain ingredient after it’s been frozen, simply omit that item and add it the dish as you are cooking it for that night’s supper.
• If your dish calls for pasta, remember to assemble it with slightly undercooked pasta.  The pasta will finish cooking when you reheat the dish.

Technorati Tags: cooking, kitchen, meal planning, meals, organise, organize, pantry, recipes

Your work around the house can take up a big portion of your time, especially household chores. The following ways will help you streamline your household chore activity:

Household Chores
Many people feel that their kitchen is the heart of their home.  In many cases, the kitchen table is the place where you gather with your family to eat meals, talk, help your children with homework, and much more.  Since so much time is spent in the kitchen, it is not uncommon for most of your organizing time to also be spent in this room.  Here are some tips on decluttering your kitchen quickly and easily:

• If you are the type of person who is prone to tossing mail and other important pieces of paper on the counter, invest in some containers that you can use to sit on the counter and keep things organized.  Once a week, go through your containers and take care of what needs to be taken care of, and throw away the rest.
• There are many new alternatives to brooms and mops that make cleaning the floors easy. The Swiffer brand is a great example.  You can come home, put a pot of water on the stove to cook some pasta, and give your floors a quick cleaning before your pasta water has reached a boil.
• Don’t waste time scrubbing your pans. Instead, line them with heavy duty foil before you cook your dinner in them. If you forget this step and have a pan that is particularly messy, simply add a few drops of dish soap to it, fill it with hot water and let it sit overnight.  The next day, the mess will easily be washed away with little scrubbing.
• Store as many appliances as you can in the cabinets. This will keep your kitchen looking neat and clean.
  Your children’s rooms can also be some of the messiest rooms in the house. Here are some tips on how to streamline the mess in their rooms and get them involved in the cleaning.  Remember, the more they do on their own, the less you’ll have to do!

If your children are old enough, you may want to consider purchasing them their own laundry hampers, so that they can start learning to sort clothes, and eventually do their own laundry.  Of course, this may not be a good idea for small children, as they may end up having more fun throwing their dirty laundry around the room and creating an even bigger mess.

If your children are too young to read, consider color coding the storage areas in their room.  For example, socks can go into the blue dresser drawer and  pajamas can go into the yellow drawer. You don’t have to paint the whole drawer a different color.  You can look for painter’s tape that doesn’t stick and just use a portion of the colored tape on the drawer or perhaps you can find some decorative plastic clings.  These come in a variety of colors, shapes and themes and you can stick them right on the dresser drawers.  You can also use this method to organize their toys and toy chests.

Another idea is to take a picture of the item that goes into each drawer or toy chest.  You can even make it special by having your child pose with the item.  For example, have them hold a pair of socks, take a picture, and place that picture on the outside of the sock drawer.

When it is time to put things away, make a fun game out if by asking your child to find the pajama drawer.  They will be more than happy to help you clean up when actually have fun with the process.

Busy moms of young children often find it difficult to clean the house with their children underfoot. While it can be difficult, there are ways to keep your home clean and your children entertained at the same time.

Nap time, of course, is a prime time to get some chores done.  Use this time to take care of some quieter tasks, like dusting, sorting through the mail, sorting laundry, and washing dishes.

Instead of trying to get your cleaning done in one big block of time during one day, break it up into fifteen minute increments throughout the week.  It will be much easier to keep your children occupied with something else in 15 minute intervals than to try and keep them occupied for a long stretch of time.

Technorati Tags: clutter, declutter, Household Chores, kitche