Have Ziploc will survive

I have this Sunday ritual. It no longer involves a leisurely read of the paper, or a heart-pumping run through the park, or catch up with friends over brunch. Instead, it’s me in the kitchen paying homage to the culinary tradition of “mise en place” – my saving grace as a working mamma.

Each weeknight when I throw down the door at 6 pm with the girls in toe, begging for a snack, the iPad, their coloring book, their baby... anything and everything really, I don’t have time to conjure up a healthy meal, let alone prepare and cook it in less than 30 minutes. It seems their stomachs have a 6:30 pm limit before the house completely explodes in tears and screams – theirs, shortly followed by mine.

So to avoid such a gruesome start to my second shift, I prep as much as I can ahead of time. It starts off with creating a menu, which I usually do with the girls over Saturday breakfast. Sometimes, I consult my Epi app, or read through my fav cookbooks, or repeat the menu from the previous week – whatever works at that given moment. I usually ask the girls what they’d like to eat, although I do this knowing full well the request will be the same as last week – pasta – but who could blame them, really?!

With menu in hand, I’m ready for a quick shop at the market.

Then, when I rise on Sunday morning, I’m ready for my mise en place-ing. This is how it works:

• Review my menu and recipes and start pulling the ingredients onto the countertop.
• I usually start with sauces, soups and marinades as they take the most time to prepare.
• Then, I move on to veggies: wash, dry, chop (to size required for each dish), parboil and anything else that needs to be done with them.
• Once my veggies are ready, I organize them by dish. To do this, allot the needed portion for each dish and include your supporting flavors like onions, garlic, etc (tip: once you’ve prepped your onions wrap them tightly in plastic wrap so they don’t infiltrate the other veggies; and only include the number of garlic cloves you need for the dish, but keep them unpeeled, so they maintain their flavor for cooking time). 
• Next, I'll get my Ziploc bags and put all the veggie ingredients I need for the each dish into one bag. I usually wrap most of my veggies, especially the green leafy varieties, in paper towel before bagging them so any extra moisture can be absorbed.
• Lastly, revisit my menu (which is usually scribbled on a scratch pad), jotting down reminders of any last things I’ll need to prep for each dish. If I’m having turkey tacos on Thursday, I’ll make a note on Wednesday to marinade the meat overnight.  

It’s a lot of steps, but I can usually complete them within 3 hours. But, it’s worth the effort: I get more time with my girls during the week, we get to each healthy, satisfying meals, and perhaps the biggest plus for my stress levels, fewer tears!