WFMW: in the prep work

Now, I do not have kids of my own.

Yet.

I do have two great kids in my house who live with their daddy 1/2 of the time and with their mom the other half.

I have been living with and caring for these little boogers angels for over two years.

I have been there through the bottle feeding, up 4 times at night, crying because they are worn out, the baths, the hair pulling, the crying, the happy tears, the devious looks....all of it.

And even though they are not my kids...I treat them as if they were.

And they know it.

I do all of the grocery shopping in my house.

I prefer to.

If Jeff went to the store we would have plenty of chips, pretzels and frozen foods like bagel bites and toaster strudel. This isnt what keeps us healthy and happy. Well...happy but not healthy.

I make sure that the kids are happy and healthy with their food. I try and do the same with Jeff and myself.

I am also a semi-novice to the couponing game. I have been getting loads of items for free or near free. I stock up on items we frequently use and need so we have them on hand.

We have food that will last for months.

But I love to have fresh and homemade meals available to my family. I also have a fulltime job. And the cleaning and cooking to do.

So I dont have hours to cook meals and hours to make sure the family is eating healthy foods. But I do have the time to cook great food so we dont have to rely on frozen pizza and chinese food all the time.

I have found that I am able to do this through my prep work.

I go to the grocery store with a plan...buy healthy foods and make sure we eat them before they go bad.

When I get back I put all of the food away and get meals ready for the week.

A simple way to prep is to make sure healthy snacks are available for the munchkins to grab when they (or I) need to.

Have fruit ready to eat.

I section grapes out into baggies so even if they want them for a meal they just grab a bag. Have pears and apples out and washed.

Some of the kids favorite snacks I make sure are ready to go to save the time during the day with them...

cheese slices

raisins and other dried fruit

crackers

And in regards to meals...most of our lunches are leftovers so we do not waste any food and then dont have to pay for lunch out somewhere.

Dinner is almost always semi-prepped before the meal. If I am going to use onions or green peppers or cucumbers I make sure and chop them when I have the time so I can spend my time with my family instead of stuck in the kitchen.

I also found that cooking 2 meals at once is an easy thing to get into plus it cuts down on stove and oven time in the hot Ohio summers we typically have.

After dinner I place our leftovers into containers and put them right into our lunch bags in the fridge. In the morning all you have to do is grab your bag and you are ready.

This makes it so much easier in our house.

I plan on pre-packing lunch for Carah when she starts kindergarten this month.

I try and do as much as I can at night so that the mornings are a little less hectic.

This works for us...what works for you?