Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Bulk Cooking with a 3-month old: A new test of endurance!

Yesterday, I attempted to stock my freezer full of delicious, healthy meals while at home alone with my 3 month old baby. Today, I have recovered enough to be able to talk about it without my eye twitching or tearing up. The blood has dried up from my finger, and my baby is now in infant counseling for PTSD.

Let me explain.

I had a day off of work, and I decided it was time to embrace mommy-hood completely and get some bulk cooking done! The baby is only 3 months, not walking or crawling, and takes naps - so, how hard could it be?! HA! Let me also preface by saying that I did everything... EVERYTHING... to try to calm the baby throughout this process. He was fed, dry, clean, had no fever, and I did all I could think of to get him to nap, but he just refused. Thus the chaos of the day ensued.

I spent my morning meal-planning and finding new recipes to post about on my blog. The babe slept and cooed while I made my lists and organized everything. The true test of will started when he screamed (I can only imagine, but I'm pretty sure he was screaming death threats and curse words) throughout Wal-Mart for 2 hours while I got my shopping done. People were ducking and swerving to get away from the crazy lady (me) who brought their infant to Wal-Mart. I just smiled and kept going at my own pace to make sure I got every ingredient necessary to complete my task! I was determined, and I am a firm believer that everything will work out if you keep smiling and stay on task! hahaha... oh, how I want to drop-kick my own thoughts now.

On my way out of Wal-Mart, as I congratulated myself on accomplishing the bulk shopping trip, an entire carton of 18 eggs dropped *SPLAT* in the parking lot and every single egg broke. ugh. "Oh well" I thought to myself. "I'll just get Austin to pick some up on his way home!" Cue baby screams. 

 Once I arrived home, I unloaded all of my groceries while the baby put on a performance of that scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre where everyone was chopped to bits. I tried (to no avail) to calm the baby, tried to feed him more, tried to get him to sleep. Nothing worked. My nerves were a little frazzled at this point, but I held strong to my resolve to finish my task!

I began by making a slew (like the use of the word "slew"?) of healthy breakfast burritos. They actually turned out AMAZING, and I couldn't wait until the morning to try one, so I scarfed one down immediately! Next, I began the prep for a couple of pot roasts to freeze. This is when all hades was unleashed. The babe was still reciting his monologue of screams, but I was all in to finish at least one more meal before I went to try to soothe him again. I was chopping the onion to the sound-track of tortured baby noises, my eyes were tearing up from the onion gas, when the knife slipped and sliced my finger. It was a pretty deep cut, and blood went EVERYWHERE. I washed and wrapped my finger tightly, went to pick up the baby, and held him while he cried on my shoulder as I cried on his. I called Austin and refused to hold back on the hysteria. Here's a taste of the conversation:
A: "Hello?"
Me: "SCREW IT. SCREW IT ALL!"
A: "What are we screwing?"
Me: "I can't do anything! The baby keeps crying, there's blood EVERYWHERE, and the onions hate me!!"
A: ummm... what?! 
Me: "BLOOD. EVERYWHERE!"
A: I'll pick up a rotisserie chicken on my way home...
Me: click.

Poor Austin.

Finally, I picked up the baby, walked outside, cried a little, fed the baby again, watched an episode of New Girl on Netflix, and decided to try again! I found the Moby wrap, strapped the baby to my body, and he immediately started giggling. seriously? Is that all he needed? Maybe I'll figure him out eventually. Silly baby. :)  I was able to finished 6 more meals and freeze them for later. Yay!

The meals: 
1. Breakfast burritos
2. Salsa Chicken - from a previous post - two bags of this one
3. Taco beef - from previous post
4. Beef Burghundy - previous post
5. Chicken Enchiladas - I made two batches of these and we ate one last night - SO GOOD!!! 
6. Honey Chicken - previous post
7. Chili - Didn't prepare it, but I froze the meat and assembled the necessary ingredients into a basket for later
8. Turkey Spaghetti - Didn't prepare it, but I froze the meat and assembled the necessary ingredients into a basket for later

I would say, all in all, it turned out to be a successful day. It just started ROUGH!!! I might call a babysitter next time :)

1 comment:

Mary Ann said...

I know this was from last month, but bless your heart. Being a new mom is so hard and just when we think we can do something, the baby takes a cue from somewhere to get wound up. I want to say kudos to you for even attempting to bulk cook with a 3 month old. Being a mother of two (13 months and almost 3 years), I know how hard even cooking one decent meal can be! Hang in there, momma, and know that things will get easier. Also, when in doubt pull the Moby wrap out! I still have to wear my 13 month old sometimes and plop my almost 3 year old on the counter when I cook. I want to bulk cook but haven't been brave enough just yet. The want for bulk cooking is how I found your blog. Keep it up and good luck on figuring your little one out.