It’s the busy season. Exactly why, varies from family to family, but it’s that time of year when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day because school is about to start, or there are vacations, fair, camping, or overtime and everything in between. During this time, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed and miss all the good things that are a part of the “overwhelm” because we are simply too busy trying to manage life. I find in these seasons it helps to simplify what I can and do whatever I need to, to make my life a little easier.
What helps will be different for everyone. For me, dishes are the bane of my existence, and it’s also rather challenging to find time to make dinner every night. To counter these challenges, I buy paper plates, plastic cutlery, and quick easy meals that I can make in no more than 15-20 minutes. This saves my sanity because I don’t have to squeeze in quite as much time for dishes {which typically pile up very quickly with a family of 8}! When dinner time rolls around, I see those paper plates on the counter and it gives me life! I can feel the stress melting away…stress about whether there are plates clean for dinner, and relief that there will also be no dinner dishes added to the sink. It also saves us money because I know we have something quick, easy and relatively healthy {at least better than fast food} at home for dinner, so we avoid eating out.
Even though I have sworn off many disposable products for years in the name of helping the environment, I feel that there are sometimes seasons where my sanity is just more important. In the grand scheme of things, a couple of months of disposable dishes is not going to do much harm.
Sometimes, it’s ok to be easy with ourselves and relax our self-inflicted expectations.
If you would like to try to regain some sanity during busy times in your life, I recommend taking a minute, maybe during some quiet time in the morning, and making a list of the things that are constantly a challenge. Once you have your list; brainstorm, and Pinterest your way to some solutions! Then, put them into practice. If you have trouble with laundry, try getting rid of some clothing, or getting everyone their own basket to sort it into, out of the dryer. If you struggle with keeping rooms tidy, set a timer for 15 minutes before each meal and have everyone work as hard and as quick as they can for just those 15 minutes.
As I said, I struggle with dishes and quick easy meals. Here is a list of meals I’ve found I can make quickly and easily. Some of them are not super healthy, but I feel they are still better than fast food…each family will obviously have their own ideas about what they eat, and that’s ok.
Quick and Easy Meals
* Grilled Cheese with soup or veggies and dip
* Burgers on the grill with salad
*Pork Chops on the grill with salad
*Sliders and roasted veggies
*Stir Fry over Rice
*Super Salad
*Brats and Broccoli salad or veggies and dip
*Sandwich Wraps with fresh fruit
*Sub sandwiches {Meijer makes some good grab and go ones if you don’t want to make them yourself} with fresh fruit or veggies
*Rotisserie Chicken with Salad and fruit
*Shredded chicken Tacos {with Rotisserie chicken}
*Crock Pot or InstaPot meals
This list is just a sampling, and with some simple meal prep, it could be expanded greatly. Sometimes meal prepping is even too much for me, so I always have my list of quick, easy, go-to meals, so I don’t have to stress when I’m meal planning and making my grocery list.
What are some things you do to help you get through busy seasons in your life? What are some of your favorite quick and easy meals? I’d love to connect with you in the comments!
