One of the difficult parts of homeschooling is not the schooling itself. It’s the “home” part. The part where we cook, clean, maintain, organize, and sort our lives. Balancing home and schooling is the hard part. Relatively speaking, the school part isn’t that tough!
(Not our dinner table)
When I was homeschooling, one way that I coped was by cooking as little as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I like cooking, and my family has always loved the meals I provide. We ate every meal together as a family, at the dining table every night. Still, my goal was to cook as little as possible.
Freezer cooking, cooking in large quantities less frequently, became a standard. Although I didn’t cook as little as once a month, as many books suggest, I did do large-batch cooking every few weeks. It really helped me feed my wonderful family while cooking less often.
If you are interested in freezer cooking, my favorite books are these:
There were simple and straight-forward, nothing fancy, and they provided great instruction on how to take my regular home-cooking and adapt it for freezer cooking. If you get the books, you could almost plan your entire holiday meal ahead of time, and have a much more relaxed family celebration!
My other method for cooking less has become a standard household joke around here. Costco. I relied on Costco. Costco lasagna, salad mixes… See, I’m not too embarrassed to confess it! I’m really being brutally honest here! My best meals have come from Costco! Especially as the kids got older, and their activities took us away from home more often, I began to rely heavily on Costco meals. Sadly, I can’t do that as much anymore. You’re not going to believe this, but when you don’t have children at home, it’s possible for the Costco-sized chicken to get a freezer burn before you can use it up. I’m not kidding.
My children are cooking for themselves in college now. They regularly shop at Costco. They put meals in the freezer at the beginning of the week. They can cook for themselves AND make stellar grades, because they have learned to cook as little as possible too!
My apologies to all my friends who grind their own wheat and cook organic all the time. I hope you’ll still love me!
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JD Wetmore says:
Finally! I don’t feel like such a failure! I’ve not even reached the part about freezer cooking, but I do rely heavily on leftovers. Even when we eat out, the portions are generally so big that we can eat off of them for another meal or two. Glad to hear someone else isn’t grinding their own wheat!
November 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Ann Dunagan says:
Now, I love you even more!!!
November 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
J W says:
In winter the crock pot is my best friend. In summer, it’s sandwiches. I also have a few heat-and-eat meals in the freezer just in case.
November 26th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
J W says:
Oh, and what about cleaning? I’ve learned that a little goes a long way, so I do as little as I can get away with
I tried FlyLady years ago, but I got sick with the flu the first week, and the cute little emails telling me what chores to tackle next were still pouring in. By the time I recovered, I was about five steps behind and my first steps had all been undone. I gave up.
November 26th, 2009 at 10:46 pm