Kitchen Makeover: P-S Task 5

I love doing the kitchen makeover.. NOT! 

At this stage the process itself isn’t drastic, the food I have in the house is mostly good aside from some convenience food for hubby and kids. 

Most of the really bad food rarely stays very long!

I do have to make some compromises here.  My eldest child has Asperger’s syndrome and doesn’t take change very well (as well as hitting puberty!).  It is a struggle to get him to eat full-stop so I tend to keep a few basic convenience foods in the cupboard that probably would not pass the Mish test, but they are things he can prepare himself!  I see some cooking lessons for him in the future!

The fact is, I don’t have a lot of time to cook, nor do I enjoy cooking, so I have to rely on my partner.  And he is not one for healthy cooking!  Yes, it is an excuse!  So to overcome this excuse I am going to meal plan, cook ahead for both family meals and some individual meals as well, and get a system going for making sure we have things prepared!!

So today I am cleaning out my fridge and freezer – my nice huge brand new Fridge!  I am doing up a meal plan and shopping list for tomorrow, and then starting out with Alison’s Penang Chicken (cooked in double) for tonight with a family serving put in the freezer for during the week. 

 

Jeni

Kitchen Makeover: Stage three

The family that eats together, stays healthy together!
Okay, so that is not the exact phrasing of the quote but, it is true none-the-less.  It is no surprise that research supports the fact that eating at the table is important, not only for family harmony, but also for our health.  Families that are overweight are more likely to not own a dining room table, or at least not use it – preferring the comfort of the couch and the television while dining.
We do usually eat together as a family at the dining table but I have noticed that that habit has been wavering (a lot) of late.  Take out is moving in, and the tendency to not clean up after dinner with it.  So now that my sink is getting cleaned each night, and I am planning my meals, if only for a day at a time, I think the dining table has to make its come back – right now!
To make this work, we need to work in two habits..

1. Eat at the table for every meal**

2. Clear the table after every meal

**Note to self:  This means:

• No eating at the computer or while watching television
• No eating in the car while driving (if you get take-out, either eat-in or take it home and eat it at the table!)
• No eating on the phone
• No eating at my desk
• No eating in bed while reading or watching television

From that list, this is a pretty major change wrapped up in a deceptively simple little habit!  I think I will focus on the habit itself rather then the ‘do not’ list as it seems a lot less daunting!
I am expecting I will love the follow-on benefits from this.. it is lovely to sit with my family at the dinner table and to see that my children are eating healthy meals (if somewhat less healthy mine!).  It is a great opportunity to catch up on the day, especially as my boys get older, and to work out some plans for the family!

Kitchen Makeover: Stage Two

The Fridge!!

My sink is under control!  I have cleaned my sink each night before bed – too easy!  The follow-on effects are great as well.  The area where I make my breakfast (and the kids lunches) is clean each morning so my day is starting off on the right foot and I am in a good mood!  that makes me much more inclined to eat a healthy breakfast!  So it is time to move onto the next mission!  The fridge!
The fridge is where all our fresh food is kept – how can we be healthy if our fridge is not healthy?  Not only can an unhealthy fridge be a breeding ground for germs that cause upset tummies, it can also mean we are wasting foods and, of course, we are less likely to eat our healthy fresh produce if it is going icky in the fridge after 24hrs!
So today I have a mission:

Clean the fridge!

• take everything out and toss anything out of date or obviously unhealthy!
• take out the shelving and drawers and wash them, let them dry while wiping out the inside of the fridge (a bit of lemon juice in the water is great for killing germs and getting rid of smells!).
• Put it all back, wiping the bottom of jars, but lets try some organisation. 

Organisation: The things you want to eat more of need to easily accessible and visible!  You can buy fridge organisers which are great for holding sauce bottles and spreads to keep them together.  And lastly, look at how you are storing your fruits and vegetables in the fridge.  I am trying out some vege bags to see if they help keep things fresh, but I am more inclined to try and make sure I eat it all so I don’t need it to last as long!  And don’t forget to do your research… look up how to to best store your favourite fruits and vegetables, and invest in some containers to keep your leftovers in!
At the moment I am struggling with a fridge that is way too small for my family, it is really only big enough for a family of two, not five!  So my goal is to get a new fridge in the New year – not an easy task given the Christmas spending period is upon us, we need to pay for some repairs at our rental house, and the costs of heading back to school as well!  So this week I am going research fridges and work out which price bracket I need to be in to get what I want!

My new habit for this week:

A “What’s in the fridge” board!

a.k.a. Family meal planning on the fly!
The idea is to grab a white board marker and, provided you have a nice white fridge, you are free to write all over it.  You can write what is for dinner, what leftover’s need to be used, what fresh fruit and vegetables you can eat or have planned!  Each night, after I have cleaned the sink, I can go through what we have and work out what to do for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner.  I can get out what needs to be defrosted and put it in the back fridge so it can defrost slowly (and without risking food poisoning!).  My leftovers can get used, and the boys and hubby will know what to grab from the fridge without opening it twenty times before deciding there is nothing to eat!
So my tasks are complete and I have added a picture of my '”What’s in the fridge” board!  I will update with how it goes at the end of next week!

Jeni

Kitchen Makeover: Stage One

Let’s start with the kitchen sink…
So what does the kitchen sink have to do with losing weight?
There is a certain group of people, myself included, who have never quite grasped the concept the housework.  In this day and age, it is often a life skill that is looked down upon and many even brag about their ineptitude at basic cleaning.  And the issue for many a person (especially one who cares for a number of people) is washing up. This is how it goes.

• Busy day at work
• Cook Dinner
• Too tired to clean up so leave till the morning
• Rushing to get to work.. leave cleaning till the afternoon
• Get home from work
• See the pile of dishes
• Clean up
• Too tired to cook dinner so call take out or cook something ‘easy’
• Way too tired to clean up
• Begin cycle again.

Sometimes we love to cook, have the ingredients we need, have a great meal plan, but if our kitchen is not clean – if we have do that work before we even begin to cook – we are setting ourselves up to fail.  Now this concept is not unique.. many years ago I joined a website: http://www.flylady.net/.  It is a fantastic resource for anyone who has housework issues and the first thing they suggest is to ‘shine your sink’.  I recommend you head over there for more detail but I will repeat the basic concepts here.
If our sink is clean, we can wash up.  If the dishes are washed, the benches are most likely wiped down – the kitchen is ready for you to prepare your healthy meals.  So the first step we have to take to a healthy lifestyle is getting that kitchen sink under control by creating good habits.
My challenge is to create a habit – thirty days is all it takes to cement a change.

Habit:  Shine my sink

– each night before bed, no matter what.  It should only take 5mins, and it doesn’t even matter if I don’t wash up!  Just get my sink shining and keep it that way.
Note: to ‘shine’ your sink, give it a good scrub, making sure you clean the icky bits around the edges of the drain, the faucet, and the sink itself.  Rinse it of thoroughly, dry it off and then spray on some window cleaner to polish it up!
So here we go… the first steps to changing my life.