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MIDLIFE MEAL PREP: SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN OVER FIFTY · Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50

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  Welcome to Uncluttered and Unfiltered, the podcast urging
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  you to let it go and don't look back, with nationally acclaimed
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  professional organizer Christine Stone and self-proclaimed Hot
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  Damn Mess radio and TV personality Eden Kendall.
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  Welcome to Uncluttered and Unfiltered, the podcast for
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  women over 50. And gosh, women over 50 are so
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  busy. We have so much going on in our.
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  Lives busy some of that time of year.
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  Is that time of year for sure. So today we are talking about
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  meal prep and with that there will be some organizational
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  stuff baked into it. Yes, you can't really meal prep.
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  Without being a bit organized. Yeah, I mean you can, but it
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  doesn't go like. You think it's going to be?
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  Yeah, it doesn't go well. I think meal prep is.
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  You have to be a bit organized and make your lists so.
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  And the reason we got on this topic is I recently started to
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  pay more attention to doing that and I even had a little date
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  night with my daughter where I said, what are you doing after
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  work tonight? You want to stop on your way
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  home, pick up some Tupperware and we'll do some meal prep.
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  I have a bunch of stuff in the freezer.
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  I just cleaned it out and I want to go ahead and get it cooked
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  and then put it back in the freezer or in the fridge,
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  depending on how much we make and, and what we what we make.
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  So we put it up on our ladies only, uncluttered and unfiltered
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  page to ask for your meal prep hints and tips and that's there
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  for everybody to review. But I was curious from your
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  perspective as an organizer. Well, what's funny is Speaking
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  of meal prepping, I went to Costco yesterday, which I
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  haven't been to in years. And I'm not joking when I say
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  years and I even have a membership and I never go there
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  because actually as an organizer, it stresses me out.
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  It really does. But I had to go there because I
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  was looking for toys for my grandson.
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  So that's why I was there. And while I was there, it was
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  very stressful. I'm just going to say that
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  because there were so many people there, it scared me
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  because this is December and it was like, I felt like I was in a
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  traffic jam with my cart. You know, like hitting people
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  are like, excuse me, excuse me. And then everything was like 10
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  jars of Pickles. Oh yeah, that's the Costco win.
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  I know, but I'm like who needs? Unless you have a family of six.
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  OK, who or any kind of larger family who needs 6 jars of
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  Pickles? Yeah, I mean, it just, it made
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  me realize because I haven't been there in so long, how
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  people actually do get to where they're they are when they call
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  me in. Because if you're buying in bulk
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  like that and there's only two people living in the house or
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  two people and a child, it's ridiculous.
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  Now I get going there for paper towel, which I did buy because I
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  used paper towel for everything, including when I meal prep, I
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  use a lot of paper towel, you know, or toilet paper.
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  There's like basic essentials, but I still don't even need 12
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  bars of soap or 17 toothbrushes, you know what I mean?
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  Yeah, you almost have to bring a friend and split everything up,
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  but who has time for all of that?
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  Right. So that's why I don't think I've
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  been there in a couple of years, but I did buy some things
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  yesterday to do my meal prepping, OK.
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  And not in coincidence with this podcast, I just had seen some
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  people who I follow that do meal prepping, which is another thing
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  I watch meal prepping people who prep for all their weekly meals,
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  and I find it fascinating because they have it down to a
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  science. OK.
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  So for me, I think it's being organized from the very
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  beginning because meal prepping can get very overwhelming.
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  And I don't know if you feel this way, but you start with one
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  little recipe for the whole week and then you're like, Oh my
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  gosh, you know, I have to put this in and I don't have room in
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  this bit. You know, it just gets
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  overwhelming. Well, when you hear the way I
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  meal prep, you probably won't find it to be super overwhelming
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  for me because I do it so differently.
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  But I do want to ask you this, do you think you could have done
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  this kind of meal prepping when you had a house full?
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  Of kids. Of kids.
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  Yeah, you. You do.
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  I do because I was the one who was really into packing the
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  lunch boxes ahead of time. I was always planning meals
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  ahead of time. So yeah, I could easily, I
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  probably would have been really into it, as a matter of fact,
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  really into it. So, so give us give us your step
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  by step here or at least tell us what what did you get in this
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  particular moment at Costco? OK, so I got already cooked
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  steak tidbits like so and they come individually packaged.
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  So I'm thinking refrigerated. Yes, you have to refrigerate
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  them, but I'm and they're playing.
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  They're not like spicy and all that stuff it.
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  Wasn't from the frozen section. No, no, it's the refrigerated
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  section. Not cooked then.
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  No, they are cooked. They are cooked.
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  Yes, they're cooked and they're in squares, OK, but they're
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  organic. OK, so so they're good meat and
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  therefore, like if you want to have a make a head salad, OK,
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  you would throw those on in the salad, in the bowl, in the in
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  the containers that you pre buy ahead of time on Amazon.
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  And so you can put cheese and lettuce in these little steak
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  bits and whatever other condiments, olives, cucumbers,
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  tomatoes, whatever else you want to put in there.
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  And then you just put the lid in, put a side of salad dressing
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  and another little to go container from Amazon or the
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  dollar store, wherever you want to buy them.
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  And then you have them in your refrigerator.
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  And you're not having to make them when you're hungry.
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  They're already made. And also my husband comes home
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  from work like 7730 sometimes. Well, you know me, my, I'm old
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  now and I eat at 5. I'm, I'm, I eat at 5:00.
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  So I like to meal prep also so he has something to eat when he
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  comes home if we're not able to eat at the same time.
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  So that's how I start. And then I bought steak fillets
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  that are already, they're not already cooked.
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  You have to cook those also organic, and there's 10.
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  And then I bought beef and broccoli already done, like soy
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  beef and broccoli. It's this Kevin's brand.
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  Was that frozen? No, that's also.
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  Refrigerated. Yeah, it's refrigerated.
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  So I bought things that were easy because when I come home
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  from work I don't like to cook anymore.
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  I like things already pre made or something very simple.
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  How about you? So meal prep for me is typically
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  because I do love a stir fry. So I'll do a stir fry.
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  Sometimes I'll do like ground Turkey and those big bags that
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  you know, you can get the like a quinoa vegetable, bird's eye
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  will have it all already mixed up, lots of vegetables.
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  Trader Joe's will have these tubs.
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  They have both frozen and fresh various vegetables all mixed
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  together. So my prep is much more based on
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  like a stir fry, whether it's whole pieces of meat or ground,
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  you know, not even a stir fry so much as like almost like a hash
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  type kind of dish. And those freeze so beautifully.
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  And then you can get them straight from the freezer, stick
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  them in almost. Then you don't have to if you
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  haven't had a lunch cooler, you don't even have to have any ice
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  with it because it's still frozen by the time you take it
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  to where you're going to go and stick it in a microwave.
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  Or, you know, even in my freezer at home, because I really even
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  bring a lunch because, you know, as you've seen here at my job,
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  sometimes we have plenty to eat because we're ATV show and we do
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  cooking and we do. But other other other times I do
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  things that will stretch leftovers out.
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  For example, I love if I get any kind of a sandwich to take the
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  insides out and put that in a salad.
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  If I have leftovers right now, I've gotten to where I'll buy
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  even bagged salad and maybe just some precooked chicken breasts,
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  right? And then those will stretch out
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  over a couple of days over some rice and then also in a salad.
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  Yeah. So mine's a very, you know,
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  there. It's not necessarily doesn't
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  look like a meal necessarily as much as it is uncluttered and
• 8:36
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  We are like a one pot meal. Yeah, we're into bowls even for
• 9:21
  breakfast. We're even for breakfast.
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  We do like a breakfast bowl and just throw tons of stuff like
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  scrambled eggs and cottage cheese and cucumbers and you
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  know, all different things. Or for dinner, I always have
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  cooked ground meat, whether it's Turkey, chicken, beef, and then
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  take it and put it in a bowl. So.
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  You cook it at what? Like on a Sunday?
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  Yes. And then what?
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  Do you keep it in the? In the in in a glass container
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  and then we just scoop out of it all week long.
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  And then you put rice with it. You can put I like Goodles.
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  Have you heard of Goodles? It sounds like a zoodle, but a
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  goodle. What's a?
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  Goodle. A Goodle is, it's like a little
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  spiral thing and it's vegan or organic or all that kind of.
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  Stuff stand for I don't know because zoodle zucchini noodle.
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  No Goodles, I think are made of I don't know, I'm going to.
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  They're good though. How do you?
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  Spell that I'm. Looking at GOODLES.
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  Oh, like noodles? I think they're made of
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  vegetables. OK, Goodles.
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  Yes, OK, I see. Now.
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  And they're cute. So these would be like a gluten
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  free. Yeah, well, you can get gluten
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  gluten free and you can get them with gluten so that it's two
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  different. Ways.
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  What's it? That yeah, they're adorable.
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  Oh, so the G stands for good? Yeah, they're so good for you.
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  So like pre making those so they're already cooked and then
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  you just are scooping everything into a bowl and then just
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  heating it up? I mean, that's the classic meal
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  prep if you have a container of the protein A.
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  Container of yes. A container of?
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  That's classic. Yeah, and tons of different
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  rices too. And then a lot of different
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  cheeses to add to things. So whether it's shredded, you
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  can cube your cheese, just really, really basic, simple
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  stuff. Now, would I have done that when
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  my kids were younger? No, because we had big, huge
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  meals when my kids were young. It wasn't like, oh, let's have a
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  bowl. It wouldn't have been enough.
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  Like they needed like the full, you know, I don't know,
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  spaghetti and meatballs, you know what I mean?
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  But now that it's just the two of us empty nesters, it works
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  perfect, perfect for what we do. And I and I enjoy it on Sundays,
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  I enjoy meal prepping. I really do.
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  It's, it's something I I just enjoy doing.
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  What are some of your ways to keep things from getting all
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  over the place? For example, when I meal prep,
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  for me it's usually just one thing at a time, but it sounds
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  like you have multiple projects. Going I have multiple projects
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  going all the time. But I think that's the
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  difference between someone who's a very comfortable chef cook
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  versus someone who's not as comfortable.
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  It's the timing out of things, having multiple different dishes
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  and times. And this is something you're
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  chopping while that's cooking. I mean, everybody has.
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  Everyone has their way now. I think for me, the first thing
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  I do is grab the garbage can out of the pull out thing because
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  I'm really into just scraping the counter and putting it right
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  in the garbage can. And I always keep like wet
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  microfiber towels so I can just wipe down down the cat
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  countertop immediately because I have that thing when you're
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  cooking meats and all that kind of stuff that, you know, So I,
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  I, that's part, I think of my organized brain is like when I
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  take something out, I put it right back.
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  And that's key because if not at the end, you're going to be so
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  exhausted and you're like, now I have to do all the dishes.
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  I have to put everything back. So I kind of put things back as
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  I use them. And I also think the easiest way
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  to meal prep is just get a lot of different proteins, whether
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  it's I do a lot of chicken. I don't know about you, but I
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  like that even the chicken cutlets come really thin already
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  because I used to have to cut them and pound them and do all
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  that. I make a lot of chicken Parmesan
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  cutlets a lot and I keep them for the whole week and they are
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  delicious. Heated you.
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  Mean like you bread them and everything.
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  Yeah, and I did it last night and we're having them for the
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  week. Yeah, yeah.
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  Just dip them in egg, dip them in bread crumbs, fry them up in
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  the pan. They're delicious.
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  Cold. Delicious.
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  So you have several. Several, yeah, they're in the
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  fridge. And then you can add a vegetable
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  if you want. With that, you can add pasta if
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  you want with that. You can have rice with it if you
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  want with that. So it just keeps everything
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  simple and having the right containers.
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  I feel like having the right containers is also key, you
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  know, so buying the right containers and for I like glass
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  storage containers for the prep part.
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  Like keeping everything if I'm going to use it weekly and scoop
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  into it. I only use the plastic bowls for
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  like salads. Well, that makes sense though,
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  because you know, there's something nicer too about it.
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  I mean, it's going to be in your refrigerator.
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  You're going to use it. Again, I just.
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  Pulled up our question on our ladies only Facebook page for a
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  future episode. Do you meal prep And if so, will
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  you share some of your secrets to that?
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  And so that was that was something that if you wanted to
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  weigh in on, you could, if you are listening to this and you're
• 14:52
  like, you have some tips or you want to to ask any questions,
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  that's where you can do such a thing.
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  Well, I say keep it simple and keep the ingredients simple
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  because that way it's so easy to do.
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  It's when you make it complicated, forget it, I say.
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  I say keep it simple. OK, so a lot of our listeners do
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  not have kids in school right now, but let's say why don't you
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  go back in time? Because we do have some that do.
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  Why don't you tell tell me, what would you do then?
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  Also, if you had some lunches to prepare for the kids, how would
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  you work that into what you're already doing?
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  Sandwiches, OK, I would. Salads and sandwiches, OK.
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  My kids were big sandwich eaters.
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  Huge SO. Basically, anything you're
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  already making, you've got your, you know, chicken parmesan
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  cutlets. Right, which you can make into a
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  sandwich too. It's delicious, but some
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  provolone cheese on top make it hot.
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  It's delicious sandwich. My kids were really big into sub
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  sandwiches. Any kind of regular sandwich.
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  They were sandwich kids. They didn't do anything really
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  different for lunch. Have you seen any of these
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  videos on social media where they act like it's not real, but
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  they're putting together these like Bento boxes for the?
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  Kids for. School and they're so fancy and
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  sometimes it's like, here's the fondue that I'm putting
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  together, here's the lighter and here's the.
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  Well, I had to pack my grandson's lunch for one one of
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  the days. It was a weekend and then on a
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  Monday and they had those Bento boxes for the lunch boxes and I,
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  I was like, I think it's so cool.
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  We didn't have those back in the day.
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  It was like your Ziploc bags with chips, a cut up apple, a
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  sandwich and some celery. You know what I mean?
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  We, we, you know, everything was a Ziploc bag or in tinfoil or
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  wax paper or whatever you had. And it was so funny because I'm
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  like, is that enough food for him?
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  Like I felt like the little, the little, the sections were so
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  tiny. And she's like, oh, it's fine.
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  It's fine. I'm like, OK, what are you?
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  So whatever you say. Because that's another episode,
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  whatever you say. Whatever you say, honey.
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  I think you're right. So anyway, so yeah, I think it's
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  just different now. They're really into those for
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  the kids, but I don't see how a grown 16 year old boy would like
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  that. Just saying.
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  I think he'd be on the the sub sandwich, you know what I mean?
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  You'd. Be like, where's my Sammy?
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  Right. So anyway.
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  Well, there you go. So once again, we direct you to
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  our ladies only page on uncluttered and unfiltered
• 17:28
  ladies Only on Facebook and all of our other social media.
• 17:31
  Of course, if you can leave us stars or thumbs UPS or reviews,
• 17:34
  that's always wonderful as well. And listen, putting together A7
• 17:40
  course meal every single night after you just came home from a
• 17:43
  long day work and then the grocery store, you can let it
• 17:46
  go. And don't look back.