I had some free time over the weekend, so I sat down with my laptop, opened up Excel, and scheduled out every hour of my work week in a beautifully color coded spreadsheet.
Did I mention I’m an accountant?
Right.
Anyway, once I factored in sleep, work, exercise, commute, time to eat, and bathing/primp time, I found I have about three hours of “free” time each work day. THREE. I have big aspirations each week—home cooked meals, coffee with friends, blogging, Wheel of Fortune, flossing, plus 30 minutes of reading before bed—but with these dismal findings, it’s clear I can’t squeeze all of that in every night.
Years ago, in an effort to increase my workweek free time, I started batch cooking food on Sundays. Sunday morning, while I sip my coffee and listen to NPR, I get to work in kitchen cooking meals for the workweek and portioning them into single-serve containers. The single-serve containers are KEY.
A typical Sunday cooking session includes:
- 5 servings of steel cut oats with almonds, blueberries, and cinnamon
- 2 servings of quinoa (for sprinkling on salad)
- 2 salads. Lately it’s mixed greens, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, feta cheese, and half a serving of cold quinoa plus balsamic vinaigrette (in a separate container). I only prepare salads two at a time because I HATE soggy veggies. Blegh.
- 5 snacks. My go-tos are hummus & veggies, Greek yogurt and fruit, or a loaf of sprouted bread that I keep at work along with some PB to make sandwiches at my desk. Don’t judge. I also keep a container of almonds in my desk drawer.
- The wild card: something, ANYTHING, I can use for workweek dinners
On a normal work day, I make myself eggs and toast before heading to the office, but when I’m really crunched for time I’ll cook a large batch of scrambled eggs or an egg casserole on Sunday that I can quickly heat up each morning before heading out the door.
I can get by eating the same breakfast, lunch, and snacks most days of the week, but when it comes to dinner I honestly get depressed if I eat the same boring thing every night.
Dinner ideas usually come from brainstorming ways to use up leftovers from the weekend. Other times I’ll cook a big batch of something that I can use in many different ways, so I don’t get stuck eating the same thing four nights in a row. That could be a giant roasted spaghetti squash, a batch of black bean burgers, or a pot of some sort of grain. This week, my dinners will revolve around a big ole batch of beans and bulgur.
Over the years, I’ve struggled with blood sugar issues (mostly low sugar crashes) and through trial and error, I’ve found my body functions at its best with balanced meals, meaning protein, fat, AND carbohydrates. My carboholism is well documented, but even I can admit not all carbs are created equal. That’s where whole grains, those slow-digesting, complex-carbohydrates, come into play.
