Six Months: the cooking "adjustments"

May 22, 2017

Six Months: the cooking "adjustments"

We're about to reach 6 months of marriage on June 3.
How. Did. That. Happen.

People are still asking me "Are you adjusting to married life?"
The last time someone asked me this (last week) I realized I never felt that adjustment period that everyone talks about. Life is absolutely different now that we're married but I never needed to adjust to it - I fell into my husband's arms and never looked back.

Now, homemaking is a different story.
I never cooked before we got married. I made Jeff two homecooked meals the entire time we were dating - and he still married me! I've lived in a lot of dorms (boarding school to college to grad school) and never had great access to kitchens... the last year of grad school had a little house (let's be real - it was a shack) in the California desert that was sans air conditioning. I wanted to eat ice for dinner. Then, in typical millennial fashion I boomeranged back to my parents house and had no need to cook. So there are all my excuses!

Throwback to the time Christy and I lived in a spider-infested shack that didn't have A/C

I've spent more time in the kitchen the past 6 months than I spent in my entire life combined. And I've learned a thing or two (actually, I'm going to tell you THREE things) I'm trying to teach other people (ahem, mom, I know you're reading this).

Here are my three tips to make life easier:

1. Cook/bake in bulk
We have several "staples" in our home that were taking a bunch of my time to make every week. Quinoa burgers are a MUST at least once a week but they take FOREVER to form and cook since each burger has to be flipped a couple times for optimal quinoa burgerness. So, now when I have a day off I put on a movie and make a GIANT batch to freeze. It takes forever, but then we have enough quinoa burgers for weeks and they're fully cooked so I can just heat them up! I did the same for the protein bars we both eat daily at work - I tripled the recipe, kept out enough for the week, and froze the rest in individual bags. We now have enough for 3 weeks and I just saved myself a bunch of time. Woo.

2. Make a Meal Plan (ish)

This week's meal plan

"What do you want for dinner?"
"I dunno - what do you want?"
"Whatever you want!"

Nope. Not in the Harvey house.

I used to hear about meal planning and it seemed like way too much work for me. But, I'm here to tell you that meal planning does not have to require planning. What?

At the end of the work day I'm exhausted, I have patient remnants all over me, I need a shower really badly, and don't want to use the brain power to come up with an idea for dinner. So, my "meal planning"consists of 20 seconds of jotting down the week's meals on a piece of Jeffrey Harvey Certified Cleaners paper, as this is the only paper we currently own.

Pros:

I can correspond "easy" meals for the days we have planned for projects at the house or days I know we'll be home late
We can plan to use up ingredients that will spoil otherwise
We don't throw out food or make extra grocery trips because I already know what's on my grocery list.

Cons:

None. You suddenly don't want a meatball sub on Friday? Make something else. Done

3. Make a giant meal list

I bet you can't list 20 meals you love in the next 20 seconds. I can. I have a list ;) My husband and I are list makers, I admit it. We were both list makers before we even met each other; it's a lifestyle. And one of our lists (also on a Jeffrey Harvey Certified Cleaners paper) is approximately 20 meals we love and enjoy eating regularly. Now before you make fun of me just know that we're not glued to this list, of course.... it's just a place where I stick husband-favorited meals I've made so I don't have to try to remember them all (have I mentioned I've cooked a LOT IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS!) And this makes meal planning a lot easier.

It's chicken pot pie night :)

And that's it! Follow my 3-step plan and you'll be on your way to cooking dinner every night without having to think about it in no time... at least if you are child-less and animal-less like us. If not, good luck.

Married life is better than anyone told me it would be. So, thanks for the pleasant surprise, everyone. If you have any tips to make cooking easier then I'd love to hear them!