5. Day to Day Prepping
Let’s start with prepping right where you are now.
Prepping is not all about something that might or might not happen at some fuzzy day in the future. Prepping begins with doing simple things that will make the life you are currently living go along more smoothly. Everyone wants to be prepared for a normal day. Even a pleasant uneventful day requires some planning to make it go as smoothly as possible.
Honestly, while prepping for disaster is more being prepared for when something out of the ordinary occurs, prepping for day to day events is simply setting a working routine and sticking with it when events are following their usual pattern.
Let’s take a look at your daily routine and see if you might find a few ways to adjust it to be a little more efficient. Even that may require getting out of your current comfort zone. For instance, my husband has a job with a work schedule that can vary about an hour and half from the time he starts work to the time he gets off work. The invariable is that he has to work a set number of hours. So, while it is definitely out of his comfort zone he gets up in time to get to work at the earliest possible time. That means he gets up at 3:15 every work day, and he is out of the house by 4am. The good thing about this is that he saves about 50% on driving time by leaving so early. He also gets off an hour earlier, and that saves him at least 30 minutes on the time spent driving home. He saves around 75 to 90 minutes driving time on an average day by leaving the house so early. So, it is worth it to get up earlier to save that driving time. He spends that extra time sitting on the couch having me wait on him hand and foot, so naturally he is pretty pleased with his decision to get up earlier than he has to. Honestly, I am very happy to have him home an hour earlier in the evening. I don’t mind handing him his supper on a silver platter. Well, it might be on a paper plate, but he really doesn’t care.
Prepping for weekly meals is always a good idea. It isn’t hard once you get into doing it. You may have to do some shopping when you are really too tired to do it, but it will definitely be worth it later. If you are prepared for meals several days in advance you are already prepared for three days of down time in case of an emergency.
I usually prepare for meals by grocery shopping and planning at least 4 night-time meals in advance. Simple meals require simple menus. For 4 meals you need 4 entrees, a couple of veggies, bread, and desserts. Here is a sample menu:
1. Kosher hot dogs – which are more likely to have better meat – and no meat-by products – whatever those are!
Buns
Chips – there are reasonably healthy alternatives to potato chips
Tea
Coco-puffs for a sweet snack.
This is a good menu if you have to go shopping that day. It can be prepared in ten minutes when you get home, so that ‘too tired to cook’ syndrome doesn’t kick in. Or an alternative is to buy home bake pizza on the day you grocery shop. There are frozen pizza’s that are really good, and even gluten free is available in many grocery stores. Frozen pizza counts as one of the meals you planned for the next 4 days.
2. Chicken – fling it in the crock pot before you leave for the day
Put some taters and onions in with it – they may be mushy when you get home but at least they will be ready to eat.
Left over hot dog buns toasted
Captain Crunch works pretty well as a dessert – or some nice sliced Fuji Apples can’t be beat for that sweet tooth.
3. Tacos
Appropriate amount of hamburger – depending on how many people you are feeding
Taco shells
Cheese
Salsa or picante
Extra chips if you want them.
OR
Super nachos
Just cook the same thing and put it on chips instead of taco shells
Frozen pie or ice-cream or candy or fruit again
4. Breakfast for supper –
Ham, bacon, or sausage
Eggs
Hash-browns optional
Or sandwiches with ham or bacon
Chips optional
Skip dessert an eat popcorn for a snack.
Other easy meals include canned chili used for frijito pie or just eaten in a bowl with crackers. There are some very healthy and tasty brands of canned chili available now. Don’t laugh until you have tried some of the better ones; salad as a meal with the left over bacon or ham on top; grilled cheese sandwiches; hot roast beef or turkey sandwiches using deli meat and ready made gravy; tuna sandwiches – make the tuna as fancy or plain as you and your family like. If you boil eggs for the tuna the eggs will be good to go with a chef salad any time in the next couple of day; homemade chili – the ‘fling it in the pan’ kind that you cook in 30 minutes or less; and any big meal that you can scale down to take just a few minutes to prepare.
Another really good way to work meals is to double batch everything that your family will eat as a leftover. For instance a nice Sunday oven roast is easily turned into a good stew for Tuesday. Or if there is enough roast it can be turned into chopped bar-b-que sandwiches with just a little effort. Chili on Monday becomes super nachos or frijito pie on Wednesday.
These menus can be as healthy or unhealthy as the ingredients you use. These are menu ideas that you can plan in advance, shop for quickly, prepare quickly, and have a meal ready to eat in a very short time.
I suggest leaving the breakfast meat(s) for later in the week because they keep longer in the refrigerator. That way if an event changes your schedule and you aren’t able to cook one night, you just order pizza, and move your schedule forward one day. Ham or bacon is not going to ruin when left in the refrigerator a few extra days.
This works. Preparing for the meals in advance is prepping for the future. Also, I know you really don’t have to have dessert with every meal. I am just throwing out some possibilities on how to make it easy on yourself.
Breakfast works the same way. You need to have it set up for the week before the week starts. Most people don’t have time to make a really neat breakfast every day. I suggest something like lunchmeat and cheese roll ups. You get a piece of sliced ham, slap a slice of cheese on it, and roll it up like a burrito. This is nutritious. It also works well for lunch. Vary the lunch meat and cheese for variety. If you are into juicing then breakfast is the time to send everyone out with a glass of fresh juice full of enzymes and other good stuff. Juice the green stuff and add a sweet apple or pear to make it taste better. If you can get juice down for breakfast, then the lunchmeat roll ups work really well for lunch. Everyone needs to eat something healthy. You need a game plan to make that happen.
My personal opinion is that is far better to have something to eat at regular time than to eat fancier meals on an odd schedule.
Prep for a smoother week by getting clothes lined up for the week in advance. It isn’t that hard. There may be a trick to having clothes clean and dry depending on your laundry situation. If you are blessed with an in home washer and dryer it is there for a reason. Keep it running. If you have a lot of laundry you need to have a load of clothes in the washer or dryer as often as necessary. A routine is required. Put a load on to wash immediately after coming home from work or when you get up in the morning. Wash in cold water so as not to interrupt anyone’s shower schedule. Get the morning load of laundry in the dryer before you leave the house. Make sure everyone either has a clean outfit in the dryer, in the closet, or laid out in the bedroom before they lay down at night. That includes socks, underwear, and jackets as may be needed. If you are the adult in charge of a child’s clothes, then it is your responsibility to see that something is there to wear when it is time to get dressed. There is a time of course when family members are responsible for their own clothes. Make an effort to remind them, but if they don’t comply then the consequences belong toothem. A simple statement is ‘there’s the dirty clothes hamper – pick the least smelly and wrinkled outfit you can find.’ The flip side of that coin is that you don’t complain about what they are wearing. They need to stay within the guidelines you set for modesty and neatness. Encourage them to get their clothes ready for the next day or days well in advance. That is all you can do. Family should help each obviously. Almost any age family member can help to some extent with keeping a good supply of clothes clean and ready to wear.
So, we have covered prepping for daily food and clothes. A recap is:
Figure out what everyone is wearing several days in advance.
Lay out the clothes the night before, and don’t even think about changing what anyone is wearing unless they are totally capable and willing to take care of their own clothes.
Plan meals at least 4 days at a time.
Make them easy.
Stick to the plan.
This is prepping. If you have any form of order in your life at this point in time, you are ALREADY a prepper. Pat yourself on the back.
Currently people think of preppers as people who are getting ready to live in a bunker while the rest of the world starves and burns. In reality preppers are just people like you and me. We just want our lives to run more smoothly today. We want to be as well prepared for the future as possible. We want to enjoy our lives right now.