Your mom's full-time job was homemaking. She was focused on that. We are pulled in 100 different directions every day, and it's hard to focus on the basics. I struggle with this same thing every single day. Food prep is the LAST thing on my mind until I get hungry, and then it's too late. I hate cooking but I love eating. I think if I liked cooking even just a little bit, I wouldn't struggle as hard. To me, cooking is a boring chore that I don't do unless I absolutely have to, and then, like I said, it's too late because I'm sooo hungry, I eat the first piece of garbage food I can find..candybar, cake etc. The struggle is real, my friend!
It’s not time management issue, it’s grabbing the back of your own shirt and dragging yourself to do the boring, hard routine tasks. It’s a discipline. It’s hard but once it’s a routine. Don’t allow any …. But I don’t wanna do that….. in your house…. I have to do this. I joke all my tee shirts are stretched out in the back of my neck, but in my senior years I’m changing well.
It is a thing. I am.home 24/7 now and still don't get around to finishing loads even though I am always busy. More time at home means you notice more that you had to neglect or put off. The lists gets longer over the years. You are getting there Karen, just look at all you have done the past few months. Just start again with the food prep and keep starting again until it becomes habit xxx
Until all heck broke loose with people in and out and health of mine and family got off, I was organized this way: 1) Do what needs to be done, just do it, then 2) Once a day do something that needs to be done occasionally, (3-6m months), then 3) once a week do something that needs to be done once a year or just once. I had all going well, and I am going to get back on that now that things are settling down.
It is called Parkinson's law. 'Things expand to fill the space available to them' was the orginal but I feel it can be adapted to: 'tasks expand to fill the time available to them'. James Clear's 'Atomic Habits' was the book that helped me to counter the effects of Parkinson's law. Mind you - it is a 'work in progress' LOL! 😂❤
I have been retired for over a decade now, and I find there's still stuff needing done and I am not doing what I really want to do (paint, be outdoors). Once you have that hole in your schedule it is easy for it to fill up with all sorts of things, most of which are not really essential to do. It's a battle, but it can be won! Find a strategy that works for you, set some goals you really want to accomplish, and give yourself a deadline to do those things by. Let me know if it works. I am going to lie here on the couch and watch RUclips!😂
I think making a box up for you to eat when u get home just like you did when you were having your lunch at work would be a gteat idea to get you back in the swing of things and whilst the weather is warmer even just a couple of days a week . Save the batch cook homemade soups stews etc for the cooler days. Its all trial and eror till u find what works for you karen . Px
Back when I drove 75 miles one way to work, I would spend Sunday making up my breakfast and lunch for the week to take with me. We had a refrigerator and microwave at work. Each morning I would grab one meal for breakfast and one for lunch to take with me. Just a routine that develops over time.
If I don't write a list (on scrappy paper) the night before of what needs/ what I want to achieve / to happen that next day then I'm lost, even if it doesn't all get done I have an idea what I need to accomplish with in that week I put it in a predominant place so it's the first thing I see in the morning. For lunches I tend to save a wee bit back from the night before and pack that in my baggie for the next days lunch so I don't forget it.
I am not a very organized person, can't do all that I want to do, thanks to a wonky ticker and bad knees. Many years ago, someone gave me a "round tuit". Helped a lot. Look it up, lol.
I think people are just generally exhausted, start with prepping 1 meal a day be it breakfast, lunch ot tea for a few days. Set aside 1 hour a week to do this and see how you get on.
I used to find this worked best whenever I was already fed. As soon as I'd be fed, I'd start on the food prep for the next meal so that it only required one more step to finish it, be this 5 more minutes to add dressing to salad or heating the meal up (could be 10 mins on coventional stove). "Evening Me" was usually much better at preparing things for "Zombie Morning Me" or even "Hangry Lunch Me". I still need to tell myself "Zombie Morning Me" will turn into "Happy Autopilot Morning Me" if "Evening Me" gets into action now. It helps me to remove "planning" from "executing/doing", too. "Evening Me" writes the shopping list (even covering "do not buy" section), "Tomorrow Me" sets off with list at given time, i.e. much earlier. Same with batch cooking: I do better with "Well-Fed Evening Me" chopping up all vegetables, then "Well-Fed Morning Me" does the cooking, portioning, cooling down, labelling, putting into freezer, clean-up. This type of pacing helps me because otherwise I run out of energy/steam with a huge pot of hot stew at 2 a.m. BUT - it can be hard for those people who feel they need to do one mammoth project job, all at once, "now or never". I.e. people who find it hard to get back into it again after interrupting a job at any given time. Kathleen's approach for all those many yummy wraps might require too many steps in a sequence, therefore Nikki's "one type of meal at the time approach" would be easier as it's reducing steps till habit preparing that one dish is fully formed. It's less "time management" but more "sequencing" steps when sticking to too many at once is too hard just now...
Your mom's full-time job was homemaking. She was focused on that. We are pulled in 100 different directions every day, and it's hard to focus on the basics. I struggle with this same thing every single day. Food prep is the LAST thing on my mind until I get hungry, and then it's too late. I hate cooking but I love eating. I think if I liked cooking even just a little bit, I wouldn't struggle as hard. To me, cooking is a boring chore that I don't do unless I absolutely have to, and then, like I said, it's too late because I'm sooo hungry, I eat the first piece of garbage food I can find..candybar, cake etc. The struggle is real, my friend!
That sounds very similar to the way I am working right now lol
It’s not time management issue, it’s grabbing the back of your own shirt and dragging yourself to do the boring, hard routine tasks. It’s a discipline. It’s hard but once it’s a routine. Don’t allow any …. But I don’t wanna do that….. in your house…. I have to do this. I joke all my tee shirts are stretched out in the back of my neck, but in my senior years I’m changing well.
It is a thing. I am.home 24/7 now and still don't get around to finishing loads even though I am always busy. More time at home means you notice more that you had to neglect or put off. The lists gets longer over the years.
You are getting there Karen, just look at all you have done the past few months. Just start again with the food prep and keep starting again until it becomes habit xxx
Your thinking things through and making changes to improve those things is paying off well for you.
Until all heck broke loose with people in and out and health of mine and family got off, I was organized this way:
1) Do what needs to be done, just do it, then
2) Once a day do something that needs to be done occasionally, (3-6m months), then
3) once a week do something that needs to be done once a year or just once.
I had all going well, and I am going to get back on that now that things are settling down.
That is a very good plan, I may have to steal that
It is called Parkinson's law. 'Things expand to fill the space available to them' was the orginal but I feel it can be adapted to: 'tasks expand to fill the time available to them'. James Clear's 'Atomic Habits' was the book that helped me to counter the effects of Parkinson's law. Mind you - it is a 'work in progress' LOL! 😂❤
Oh that is so true
I found writing a list of todo for the week and breaking that list down into each day......the first thing I do is the list and after that I sit.
I have been retired for over a decade now, and I find there's still stuff needing done and I am not doing what I really want to do (paint, be outdoors). Once you have that hole in your schedule it is easy for it to fill up with all sorts of things, most of which are not really essential to do. It's a battle, but it can be won! Find a strategy that works for you, set some goals you really want to accomplish, and give yourself a deadline to do those things by. Let me know if it works. I am going to lie here on the couch and watch RUclips!😂
Oh I know that one well lol
I think making a box up for you to eat when u get home just like you did when you were having your lunch at work would be a gteat idea to get you back in the swing of things and whilst the weather is warmer even just a couple of days a week . Save the batch cook homemade soups stews etc for the cooler days. Its all trial and eror till u find what works for you karen . Px
Here's hoping, I am looking to start back on the boxes tomorrow
Back when I drove 75 miles one way to work, I would spend Sunday making up my breakfast and lunch for the week to take with me. We had a refrigerator and microwave at work. Each morning I would grab one meal for breakfast and one for lunch to take with me. Just a routine that develops over time.
I had just got that sorted for work when I changed my hours, time to get back on it I think
If I don't write a list (on scrappy paper) the night before of what needs/ what I want to achieve / to happen that next day then I'm lost, even if it doesn't all get done I have an idea what I need to accomplish with in that week I put it in a predominant place so it's the first thing I see in the morning. For lunches I tend to save a wee bit back from the night before and pack that in my baggie for the next days lunch so I don't forget it.
I think I need to start actually paying attention to my lists
Energy manage ment/mind ❤
I am not a very organized person, can't do all that I want to do, thanks to a wonky ticker and bad knees. Many years ago, someone gave me a "round tuit". Helped a lot. Look it up, lol.
I did, I definitely need one of those
Only comment for today is I like your channel.
it's 28 degrees down in Reading at the moment. it was 32 degrees earier at about 3:15pm. Karen. Nice and Warm.
I think people are just generally exhausted, start with prepping 1 meal a day be it breakfast, lunch ot tea for a few days. Set aside 1 hour a week to do this and see how you get on.
I used to find this worked best whenever I was already fed. As soon as I'd be fed, I'd start on the food prep for the next meal so that it only required one more step to finish it, be this 5 more minutes to add dressing to salad or heating the meal up (could be 10 mins on coventional stove). "Evening Me" was usually much better at preparing things for "Zombie Morning Me" or even "Hangry Lunch Me". I still need to tell myself "Zombie Morning Me" will turn into "Happy Autopilot Morning Me" if "Evening Me" gets into action now.
It helps me to remove "planning" from "executing/doing", too. "Evening Me" writes the shopping list (even covering "do not buy" section), "Tomorrow Me" sets off with list at given time, i.e. much earlier. Same with batch cooking: I do better with "Well-Fed Evening Me" chopping up all vegetables, then "Well-Fed Morning Me" does the cooking, portioning, cooling down, labelling, putting into freezer, clean-up.
This type of pacing helps me because otherwise I run out of energy/steam with a huge pot of hot stew at 2 a.m. BUT - it can be hard for those people who feel they need to do one mammoth project job, all at once, "now or never". I.e. people who find it hard to get back into it again after interrupting a job at any given time.
Kathleen's approach for all those many yummy wraps might require too many steps in a sequence, therefore Nikki's "one type of meal at the time approach" would be easier as it's reducing steps till habit preparing that one dish is fully formed. It's less "time management" but more "sequencing" steps when sticking to too many at once is too hard just now...
Perhaps combining efforts? Someone shops and someone preps?
We are trying to work out a system, it just seems to be taking us longer than we first thought lol
But keep at it it will save your family’s life!
Prepping is like a business and you have to be willing to start again every single day sadly!