I feel good, because this week, I saved time and money by . . .

. . . cooking several meals and snacks ahead of need.

I was out of commission for the early part of this week. I injured my back on Sunday, then pulled a muscle in my calf on Monday. I was a hunched over, hobbling mess. The real difficulty came late Tuesday afternoon when I realized that there was virtually nothing close to being ready to have for dinner, and I was in no shape to make beef stew, as I had planned. My two daughters stepped up for me and made a delicious split pea soup and a batch of carrot muffins, all from scratch. But this took away from their time for homework. Not good!


When my kids open the refrigerator and pantry doors a hundred times and call out, "Mom, there's nothing to eat!" I know that this is family code for, "there's nothing prepared that I can pop into my mouth!" Which, for me, means it's time to get busy, get creative and use what I have to make several snacks, treats and drinks.

So, pain or no pain, I had to get some things prepared so that we could actually eat around here. Looking into my fridge on Wednesday, you'd think I'd stolen a page out of a nursery rhyme.

some milk, eggs, butter, sour cream and single-serving of
leftover beans, plus onions and carrots, not exactly a feast

                          ~~Old Mother Hubbard, your cupboard is bare!~~ 

Or is it? A little "Mom Magic" and we'll just see if we can't transform this emptiness into abundance.

• I took the beef that I had thawed for stew, and cut the pieces smaller and made a jumbo batch of vegetable-beef soup, enough for Wednesday and Thursday dinners (make that "enough for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday dinners!")

• I also used the last of a loaf of French bread to make croutons for the soup.  Wow, those were yummy, and easy!

• I cooked up a large pot of rice. With the rice, I can quickly make a fried rice supper, or rice and lentil pilaf, or my favorite breakfast and lunch when I'm going both gluten and dairy-free, rice with almonds, raisins and cinnamon. 

• And while we sat and ate dinner, I had a pot of maple and brown sugar oatmeal cooking for tomorrow's breakfast. 

And that was it for my big cooking spree on Wednesday -- I had to lie down.

Thursday morning, I got myself into the kitchen again to prepare ahead of hunger and need.

• I made a double batch of cranberry-orange bread. Making quick bread takes less hands-on time than a large batch of muffins, with no individual cups to fill. I could get back to resting my back sooner.

• One daughter likes healthy snacks, so I used the food processor to shred carrots, and made carrot-raisin salad, enough for her snacking, and for our dinner on Thursday.
• Another favorite snack in our house is popcorn. I like to change things up a bit, so this time I made Southwest-style popcorn. It's just popcorn with chili powder and cumin sprinkled over it all. 

• And of course, a pitcher of lemonade (from bottled lemon juice and sugar) to wash down all these snacks.

Now, take a look inside my fridge -- abundance once again! And just about everything that I made was either quick and easy, or saved me time in the long run, because I made extra for future snacks and meals.

top left, 3 containers of vegetable-beef soup, middle left, potato skins
waiting to be  tossed with oil and salt and roasted, bottom left, leftover
maple/brown sugar oatmeal and plain rice, top right, pitcher of lemonade,
bottom right, carrot-raisin salad

Like I said, I didn't whip this all up in a tornado-like fury. No, I was hobbling about, and did this over a 2-day span. I chose mostly uncomplicated foods to prepare, and I used my food processor, when possible, to lighten my work. So, it's definitely a doable solution the next time my family screams, "Mom, there's nothing to eat!"


Have you used any "Mom Magic" lately? Is there something that you've done this week that saved you time and/or money, and made you feel good?

Sometimes an empty fridge is a blessing. You can finally wipe down the shelves, for one thing. But also, I love the challenge of creating abundance when it appeared there was nothing much there. How about you?