{un}chaotic » For Your Daily Routine

Make Your Home A No Take Out Zone

Katie — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:08:37 +0000

This week has been particularly hectic for me (thus the two whole days of silence!) and I have to admit it’s been tempting to slip into an all too familiar routine: grabbing some takeout on the way home and parking myself in front of the TV with my laptop and attempting to play catch-up all night. But I’ve been resisting and I’d like to share my secret weapon, NoTakeOut.com.

This site provides daily menus and detailed instructions (you know how I love detailed instructions) for cooking a homemade meal. The instructions are the best part in my opinion. They provide a “game plan” that tells you what to do starting from when you walk in the door:

It’s a perfect resource for the week when you simply forgot to make a weekly menu. Just look up today’s meal as you’re headed out of the office. Print off the grocery list and instructions and stop by the grocery store on the way home instead of the drive through. You can subscribe to get the daily meal in your inbox and the site is fairly easy to read on a smartphone if you want to go green and avoid printing.

And as an added bonus, they provide a wine pairing suggestion just in case it’s been that kind of day.

Make Your Own Pre-flight Checklist

Katie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:55:43 +0000

My boyfriend is a pilot and when he takes me flying I can’t help but notice the detailed checklists he follows. There is a laminated sheet with checklists for pre-flight, take-off, landing and emergencies. And he follows it exactly. If it says “flip this little switch thingy off and on again” (I’m paraphrasing) he flips it off and on. As tedious as it sounds, it ensures he never forgets anything.

I think there’s a lesson in there that can apply to the rest of us:

For instance, to a process you repeat regularly – like your morning routine. Repetition of anything can lead to carelessness and forgetfulness, you’ve done it so many times you’re on auto-pilot and the next thing you know you’re in the car without your lunch. Following a checklist eliminates that.

Or to any particularly busy day, event or week. Why do you think event planners use checklists as well? Being stressed and overwhelmed can lead to slip ups. The next time you have a busy day or event coming up, channel your inner pilot and grab a piece of paper. Write out every single thing you need to do, to the last detail. Even put them in order. You’ll be surprised how much it takes off your mind and how much it will help you remember.

Once you’ve written it out, all you have to do later is follow your own instructions.

Keep that New Year’s Resolution to Eat Healthier

Cassandra — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:29:53 +0000

As motivated as you may be at the beginning of the year to eat healthier and stay (or get) in shape you quickly lose momentum as real life sets in and you just can’t seem to find the time or $$. Grabbing a prepackaged lunch or getting take-out is much faster and less stressful than say, preparing a salad to take to work, but it doesn’t have to be! To go along with Katie’s weekly menu tip from last week, take some time out on Sunday to not only write down meals and shop for the ingredients but to partially prepare most of them too!

Once home from the grocery store I immediately rinse and pat dry my greens. Buying loose greens is significantly cheaper than buying the prewashed, precut, and bagged greens and only takes a couple extra minutes to get ready. I cut them up (or rip by hand) and store in glass containers like the ones pictured (available at Target, Walmart, HomeGoods, etc.). I cut up celery, carrots, and bell peppers into dipping size sticks for a separate container. I then dice up onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper and store together in a smaller container. Bite-sized strawberries, oranges, grapes go into yet another container. Now, in the morning when I want to make that awesome heaping salad of fresh goodness I just grab some greens, throw on some vegetable medley along with a toss of the fruit combo and voila, ready to go in 30 seconds or less! I also have the handy sticks ready to grab and go as a snack by themselves or to pair with a container of hummus. Soups, dipping sauces, even smoothies can be prepared over the weekend and will last up to 5 days stored in the fridge in an airtight container or jar.

Let Your Freezer Save You Money! (monicaricci.typepad.com)
How To Get More Fruits and Vegetables Into Your Diet (howcast.com)
Tasty Veggie Burgers Recipe (rawlivingfoods.typepad.com)
Salad days (busymom.net)

Make-up To Go

Katie — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:33:19 +0000

If you’re addicted to the snooze button like I am – some mornings are a little more hectic than others. I keep a small bag in my makeup drawer so I can quickly gather the essentials and throw it in my purse to finish the job later.