As a working mom, I am always looking for ways for our home to run more efficiently and nourish ourselves well, all while honoring our time together as a family. No easy task, am I right?

While that is always my intention and focus, it doesn’t always shake out how I hope. But I show myself grace, evaluate why it didn’t work out, and try again the next week.

And honestly? There are certain things I have tried to implement into my family routine and no matter what, I just can’t make it happen. For example? Sourdough.

I see all these inspiring posts of people baking fresh bread for their family every week and feeding their starter and always having tasty baked goods, and I've triiiied . But there is just something that has never clicked and each and every dense, rock-hard loaf I have pulled out of the oven, I’ve accepted that it just isn’t something I can fully implement right now. And that’s okay.

These 3 weekly routines are things that have worked for my family and while they may inspire you to try something similar for yours, they may also just not be the right fit. And that too is okay.

So let’s get into it.

Cook a whole chicken

Usually at some point over the weekend, I pull a whole chicken out of the freezer and thaw it out in the fridge. Then, I throw it in the instant pot, pressure cook it for a while, and pretty effortlessly have a healthy protein option for my family meal prepped and ready.

I’ll pull the meat off the bones, put it into a glass container in the fridge, and use it in lunches and other meals throughout the week.

• Heat it up and add some taco seasoning for tacos one night.

• Warm some up and throw together a quick salad for an easy lunch

• Make a BBQ chicken quesadilla for a snack (I love Fallon Danae’s homemade tortilla recipe, and Kinder BBQ sauce is a great option with quality ingredients aaand you can get it from costco!)

• Make white chicken chili for dinner one night

Then, after I have pulled all the meat from the bones, I put the bones back into the instant pot, cover them with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar and cook them for a couple hours to make bone broth. Click here for my blog post specifically on making bone broth.

I use this bone broth throughout the week for sipping or using as a cooking substitute for water. It’s a great way to increase your protein and mineral intake, as well as getting the benefits of gelatin into your diet.

Plan your meals for the week

Each week I sit down and roughly outline what my family is going to eat for the week. Most of the times it includes some type of roast with veggies one night, tacos on Tuesday, some version of a rice bowl, left overs, and a couple new recipes we want to try.

But we definitely have our go-to’s that we eat week after week until we get sick of it and want to change it up.

I have found that this makes cooking sooo much easier, and shopping a lot more affordable.

Since we frequently eat the same meals, I know what ingredients we need and nothing gets wasted.

It also makes grocery shopping a bit more affordable. I always order our groceries online for pickup, and then go to the co-op a couple times a month for local milk, eggs, and sourdough. Having a tangible list when placing my order makes it a lot more efficient and makes sure I don’t add a ton of extras that we don’t actually need.

Weekly clean up

One of the quickest things to stress me out is clutter and mess. Ironically, I also have the tendency to be a messy person at times. 🤷🏻‍♀️

One strategy that my husband and I have is a weekly team clean of the house. For us, it typically happens on Sunday after we get home from church.

We separate the house into 2 sections and do a sprint clean of everything in each of our sections.

It usually takes about about an hour and a half to two hours, but once we are done it feels so good to end the weekend relaxing in a clean house.

A couple other household routines that help us throughout the week:

• starting a load of dishes every night and unloading them in the morning after breakfast. then throughout the day, we can load up the dishwasher instead of piling them up in the sink

• similarly, starting a load of laundry at night and transferring it into the dryer in the morning and then folding and putting away while my daughter is busy playing

• Quick Clean- If I am in a room and notice that it has started to get a bit messy, I set a timer for 10-15 minutes and try to race the clock. It turns it into a bit of a game, and also keeps me from getting distracted and starting another task before the room is tidied up.

There you have it- 3 strategies my family has implemented to help our week go a little bit smoother. I would love to hear from you. What are some ways you set yourself and your family up for success each week?

-Kaelyn

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