I have a lot of different deals and freebies to share with you right now, but I'm going to take a break from those for awhile today because I'm going to be "live-blogging" another Baking Day.
I'd love to have you join me and do your own Baking Day today or some other day this week. When I finish today, I'll post up a Mr. Linky post so you can add your link if you've done some baking and blogged about it. It's fun to find new recipes and ideas from the wealth of knowledge lurking out there in the blogosphere!
For those who might be new around here, once every few weeks, I take a morning or afternoon to bake up a bunch of things for our freezer. I use the term "Baking Day" fairly loosely, since I often cook up rice, meat, and so forth in addition to making baked goods.
The overall goal is that I do a large chunk of necessary food prep for the next two weeks in order to make meals much smoother on an everyday basis. Have a Baking Day also saves us a lot of money since it helps keep our freezer stocked with foods to make meal prep easier and thus often avoid the temptation to hit a fast food restaurant on those very busy or harried days.
To have a successful Baking Day, I've found it's best if you pick a day where you'll be home all day (this is especially important if you have little ones underfoot!), wear comfortable clothes (today I'm sporting my tennis shoes, favorite maternity yoga pants, and a hoodie), and begin with a clean kitchen.
It's also imperative that you have a plan for what you'll be making, a basic idea of the order you'll be making it in (to be the most efficient), and, of course, be sure you have all of the necessary ingredients on hand! There's nothing like being halfway through making up a big batch of pancakes to find you're out of eggs or flour!
Here's my plan for today:
Make juice (to start the morning off with a nutritious kick!)
Cook up rice and wild rice
Cook up sweet potatoes
Make BBQ meatballs
Make granola bars
Make loaf of bread
Make pancakes
Make waffles
Make spinach, rice, cheese casserole
We're having salmon for dinner so I'll just thaw that and throw in a pan with marinade sometime along the way as well. Baking Day wasn't very successful if at the end of it, we have to order pizza or go get carryout!
There are a dozen other things I could add to this list, but I'm also trying to be realistic given the fact that I'm almost in my third trimester and have two little ones, too. I'd rather accomplish a shorter list than barely touch a huge list!
Before I get started, though, I need to follow my own advice and clean up the kitchen a little bit:
I'll be back soon with a report on my progress!
I applaud your efforts! I hope you have not forgotten a very important part of planning ahead! I planned and worked for the last trimester of my pregnancy and had 3 weeks worth of meals preped and frozen for when my son finally decided to come. But the week before he was born, a hurricane blew through and we were without power for several days. With all that hard work…make sure you own a generator. The cost of lost labor is a lot more painful than the monetary loss of all that food.
I want to know what kind of juice you make. Fruit? Veggie? Combination? I have a juicer, but when I used it the kids (who aren’t picky) didn’t care for it.
I made a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies and froze most of the dough into individual balls. That almost counts as a baking day 😉
great job, cyrstal. you are inspiring! take it easy tomorrow.
My husband was just asking me last night about making our own granola bars b/c the store bought ones give him a stomachache then I saw that it is on your list. Can you please share your recipe? I googled some recipes but nothing great stood out. Thanks!!
I didn’t get nearly as ambitious as you did, but I did bake bread today. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked reading your blog and almost burned it – yikes! I think it is salvagable!
You call that a messy kitchen?? I can totally see countertop.
***********************
Money Saving Mom here: Haha, Carrie. You ain’t seen nothin’! 😉 I just wanted to get the dishes washed up so I could start with a completely clean kitchen. It’ll likely be very far from clean by the end of today. 🙂
Crystal, you have such pretty handwriting! I’m getting ready to make chocolate chip cookies today, and soft pretzels some time later this week. The cold weather (and the need for affordable snacks) have encouraged me to bake. Not to mention my husband, who made four loaves of bread yesterday on his day off from work. (Sigh.) He’s kind enough to let me have the kitchen to myself during the day…
Yes, please do share that casserole recipe!!!
I think I’ll schedule a “Baking Day” next week!
Wow, sounds like a great idea. I will have to try this! Crystal, you are always challenging me to try new things that will make my life as a homemaker easier.
Thanks for your inspiring blogs.
I want to be like you when I grow up 🙂
You are so ambitious…Good for you!
What is your recipe for spinach casserole?? I would love to make that with the cheap spinach I got last week.
I see that you have “make juice” on your list. Is it really cheaper to make juice than buy it? I would like to know more about that, because fruit around here is expensive!
*******************
Money Saving Mom here: We mostly juice our own for the nutritional benefits, not necessarily to save money. However, if I’m able to get reduced produce, it usually will come out to be less expensive than buying it.
I won’t be joining you today since we are leaving town in a little over a week and I have meals made for the time before then (and the day we return). That being said, you’ve already inspired me to look at what we might be having for the first couple of weeks of February and planning my “baking day” for the week of our return.
Can you share the granola bar recipe too? I’ve been looking for a good one for my toddler boys to snack on!
Oh, please share the casserole recipe!
I bought my bananas today to make the PB/banana smoothie 🙂 That sounds so good! Thanks for sharing all of your great ideas.
Well, I’m not quite feeling well and energetic enough to join you in your baking day today, as the nausea is definitely still kicking around a bit. I’m finally planning to make more of a real menu plan today, though, to start next Monday with better quality and more homemade meals once again, now that I’m entering second trimester. Perhaps I’ll include in that meal plan a baking day for sometime next week or the week after. It sure would be nice to have some healthy snacks and baking around here again! 🙂 Hope your day is productive!
PS I just read your menu plan, and your peanut butter smoothie sounds soooo good right now. I’m off to create my own. Gotta love those cravings. 🙂
I can’t believe you’re already in your third trimester. It just seems like the other day I was reading about you finding out you’re pregnant. I’m sure it seems like an eternity to you, too.
Good luck with baking day. I’m looking forward to learning!
********************
Money Saving Mom here: While it does seem like I’ve been pregnant for awhile, at the same time, I can hardly believe I’m almost in my third trimester! The time has flown much more quickly with my third pregnancy, that’s for sure! Guess I have quite a lot to keep me occupied most of the time! 🙂
Mmmm, Spinach Rice and cheese casserole sounds good.
Will you share a recipe?
I did this for the first time in November and LOVED it! I prepared a whole month in one day and it was GREAT! I’m glad you are doing this again! It is motivatine me to do it again!!! I look forward to reading more!!
Can’t wait to see your progress!!! Here’s my Mom advice: Make sure you have good shoes on. Bare feet on a kitchen floor for hours is not a good idea (especially if you’re pregnant *wink*)