Menu Close

Free Time? Sounds Like the Perfect Time to Cook

Free Time? Sounds Like the Perfect Time to CookUnexpected free time was the perfect time for batch cooking meals for my large family.

Well, completely unexpectedly my son with autism went to school today! This meant I shaved two hours of driving off of my daily schedule. I wasn’t about to squander this unexpected “free time” so as soon as I dropped Apollo of at school I headed to the store buy supplies to finally do some freezer cooking. I really hoped to have ten meals in the freezer before our family from New Zealand arrives, but I don’t think that’s quite going to happen.

But…

Unexpected free time was the perfect time for batch cooking meals for my large family.

With the assistance of my favorite blue-eyed daughter we bought all the supplies to make:

lasagna, white chicken chili, chicken gumbo, chicken curry, and chicken enchiladas.

Unexpected free time was the perfect time for batch cooking meals for my large family.

We obviously had to stop for fuel on the way home. My drink of choice? Eggnog Latte. For Kalina, a Peppermint Mocha.

Unexpected free time was the perfect time for batch cooking meals for my large family.

I had Kalina do the driving. Because what else is parenting for, if not to work ourselves out of job? Once back home, Kalina focused on school work and I cooked until it was time to pick Apollo up from school.

In the end, I managed to make everything except for the chicken enchiladas, and I left the kitchen clean. Those chicken enchiladas? They will be made tomorrow.

In addition, we are hustling to borrow beds and figure out sleeping arrangements. Oh, and doing some minor baby-proofing…like packing up our LEGO. I’m actually excited about this because it will be so much fun when we pull them out again in January!

Unexpected free time was the perfect time for batch cooking meals for my large family.

I asked my daughter’s what foods they’d like to eat while they’re here (I may as well make their favorites). Some of their requests made me laugh. Like the items they can’t get in New Zealand: canned chili, Costco muffins, cornbread and some that just don’t take right in New Zealand, such as bagels and doughnuts.

And I aim to please. So, thank you, son, for the free time you gave me today. I used it well.

Loading

4 Comments

  1. The Critical Mom

    I can’t help but sympathize. You can’t get good bagels in my part of Germany . . . it’s a six hour train ride to Berlin, where the Only Good Bagels in Deutschland can be found. We can cobble together chili. But no doughnuts here, either!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.