Ok, so yesterday I posted about how something seemingly small can throw me off in the morning. Though I do tend to feel a bit out of sorts for the rest of the day when it begins like that – I have found things that can help take the chaos and absolute insanity out of a morning like yesterday.
I thought that today I might as well share why I was able to keep my cool, remain sane and yes – even laugh at myself and my day. Because we have 6 children I have tried to implement simple strategies to make the mornings go more smoothly. The two key ingredients to a sane morning – an already prepared breakfast and already prepared lunches.
Breakfast
I don’t like to spend the money on cold cereal, so we buy oatmeal in bulk and we eat homemade granola (I might post the recipe sometime!) or hot oatmeal. When I make granola I try to make as much as I can fit on one cookie sheet and it usually lasts us three mornings, so I make granola an average of twice a week.
Packing Lunch
To eliminate morning mayhem I have begun to make sandwiches in advance. When I pull out a loaf of bread to make sandwiches I just use the entire loaf! One average loaf of store brand whole wheat bread makes about 10 sandwiches (Costco loaves make more). We go through an average of 30 sandwiches per week between all 6 boyz. So when I go to the store I try to think of my school lunch purchases in numbers now. For the boyz at school we go through 15 of everything and an average lunch includes: a sandwich, a juice, a cheese stick, a go-yogurt, an apple or orange and a bag of chips (sometimes cookies). Shopping at Costco saves me having to do the math each week at the regular grocery store, I can just buy more when I’m getting low – but in the event that I have to shop at the local supermarket I can use these numbers and know that the week is taken care of.
Well, there it is! Just one piece of the puzzle that keeps me sane! Of course, sanity is relative so you may have your own opinion, but there’s mine!