I love Sundays. I love going to church with my family. I also enjoy downtime to prep for the week. Yesterday was a particularly quiet Sunday. The kids were tired from youth camp. We were all tired from the happenings of the previous week. Still, I took the time to prepare for a successful week.
While I don't take an entire day to rest, I insert rest periods during my weekend. Some weekends, I say out loud "I will only run one errand today so I can rest."
Rest means not doing so much physical work that I don't recharge myself for Monday. Rest sometimes means not working out. I find running refreshing but there are times when five days of CrossFit is plenty time. My body is a fan of two rest days back to back. Rest means trusting God's goodness and accepting the gift of rest.
I often go to sleep early on weekends so I can get more hours of sleep. During the week, I try to get enough hours of sleep. My magic number is 7. If I don't get multiple days of rest, I get more tired as the weeks go on. The weekend is the perfect time to get more sleep. I might sleep for 9 or 10 hours. I wake up feeling brand new.
I also love weekends because I prep our food and laundry for the following week. These days, the kids do their own laundry (hallelujah!). I coordinate everyone's efforts.
One helpful thing I do is to separate my work and CrossFit outfits for the week ahead. From the dryer, I fold every piece of clothing I need for the week before. All I need to do is to wake up and get dressed.
My coffee maker is always ready the night before. Anything to make the early mornings ready is a smart thing to do. My One Year Bible is already on the table. All I need to do is to open and read it.
Over the past few years, I became quite skilled in food planning. I start by writing a menu. I take into consideration everything we have in the freezer and pantry. Once I find out what's missing, I add the ingredients to my phone. I just use the list App that comes with the phone itself.
I mostly do my own shopping. When my schedule is impossibly busy (I don't miss those days), I order grocery delivery. Once the food comes in, I commit to prep it and pack it.
This weekend I planned to prep 3 lunches and 3 dinners plus 2 breakfasts:
Dinner:
• Grilled salmon with roasted sweet potatoes, greens beans, rice, black beans, and vegetable salad.
• Crab cakes and salad;
• Crockpot fajitas with all the fixings.
Lunch for work:
• 3 days of Protein wrap with ground turkey and a green salad.
Breakfast:
• Turkey sausage low-carb muffins with cheese - recipe here.
• Breakfast sandwiches.
Weekend prep is my superpower. It allows me to provide the nourishment my family and I need to thrive during the week.
Every week is different around here. One thing is for sure, I am committed to being prepared for all the responsibilities ahead of us.
Tips:
• Start small. You noticed I didn't cook for an entire week. I find that 3-4 days is great to get me ahead.
• Use what you have. I didn't buy special containers. I'd say most of my things don't really match. I just use what I have at hand.
• Look at your schedule. Every Wednesday my church serves dinner. My kids prefer to eat at church. I include that in my food plan. If we are going out of town or having something else happening, I am mindful of that. I don't want to prep too much food.
• Enjoy the journey. You will learn a lot about yourself during this prep journey. Make sure you enjoy it. I started enjoying it when I made the whole thing work for me. I skipped the expense, complex prep suggestions we find available online. I came up with a plan that works beautifully for us.
I hope you find my tips helpful my friend!
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