Making things easier...Part Deux

First of all, before we get started here, if you're reading this...please click the "follow" button.  I really love collecting followers.  There is a new feature on blogger now where I can track how many people read my blog on a given day.  Last time I posted, over 50 people read my blog that day...but I only have 47 followers...and I know not all of my actual followers read...which means I could potentially have more.  So please, follow me!!!

I wrote about my freezer meals in the last post.  I got a lot of good feedback about the post.  Immediately after I posted, a friend emailed saying she had read my  blog and is very interested in starting a "cooking co-op".  So we did!  The first swap meeting is mid-January.  We both did a lot of googling and research and came up with what we think are very thorough "Guidelines/Procedures".  Because I want to spread the JOY of simplifying life and enjoying the day-to-day as much as possible, I'd like to share our google doc showing how we will be operating so you can start a co-op if you want!  If you'd like more details, let me know and I'd be happy to share.  I'll keep you posted with how it goes.  Here are our guidelines:

Freezer Meal Cooking Co-Op Guidelines and Procedures

What I'd like to discuss today in this post is the "Harris Teeter Express Lane".  This has been equally critical in my attempt to make things easier and life more enjoyable.  I've tried Peapod (which actually delivers to your home for about $8 plus tip, depending on location) but HT Express Lane far surpasses the other services, in my opinion.  Let me show you a letter I wrote to their corporate office, so that I don't have to retype why I loveeeeeeee HT....

...Pause...

...Shoot, I can't find what I wrote to them.  Well I basically I went on and on about how their service has really been a life changer.  It's so convenient, the service is fantastic...I love that they offer this service and not only do I get convenience, I don't have to sacrifice quality.  Everything available in the store is available online.  Produce is carefully selected and always excellent.  Even the way they put everything in the bags makes me feel happy when I unpack.

And their response to my email:

Dear Lauren:

What a nice email! We're thrilled to hear from our customers who've had a great experience in our store. We'll definitely pass along your comments to our senior management and make sure that our Home Shoppers get special recognition for providing great service.

Thanks for your praise...and for shopping at Harris Teeter!
Sincerely,
Tom
Harris Teeter Customer Relations

Ever since I wrote that email, whenever I pick up groceries, whoever puts the groceries in my trunk thanks me for writing the "sweet" email and asks how old my son is, etc.  (The email explained that once I had a baby, grocery shopping became much harder...plus, who wants to give up a couple hours a week with your kids so you can  go grocery shopping?  Not me!  Also, I'm usually just plain exhausted.)

So, what is Harris Teeter Express Lane?  Express Lane is simply a service where you order your groceries online.  The website is EASY!  After you place your order, it takes them about 3-4 hours (sometimes about an hour!) to assign a personal shopper to your order and prepare your order.  This service is available seven days a week.  When your order has been prepared, they call AND email  you when your order is ready.  If you ordered a generic brand and they are out of generic, they will give you the name brand for the same price.  When you order, you can specify if substitutions are okay.  When they call you to tell you the order has been completed, they run through your order if there were any items they were out of.  Its very rare for them to be out of an item but every so often there will be an item or two they substitute with a different brand, as long as it is okay with you.  When your order is complete, you drive to the store, pull up into a specified parking spot, push an intercom button, let them know you're waiting, and they come out with your groceries.  The cost of this service is $4.95.  WORTH EVERY PENNY.  I'm forced to sit down and plan my meals for the week  before I order online.    Otherwise, I don't plan and IF I'm lucky enough to get dinner on the table at all, I will have to run to the store what seems like every night.  All of this is a big pain and it takes time away from Jack and John.  In addition, I'm sure we all splurge on $4.95 worth of stuff when we go into the store...magazines, junk food...whatever.  So this $4.95 fee is really nothing.  Now, not ALL Harris Teeter locations offer this service so let me show you the steps you need to take.

Step 1:  Go to http://www.harristeeter.com/, click "Home Shopping Express Lane", select your state, and check out which location you will be using.

Step 2:  Click the location most convenient to you, click "Proceed to Store", click "Sign In" and then click "Create Account".  Make sure you sign up for a VIC card so you can get all the specials.  Once you have registered, log in...

Step 3:  Start Shopping.  You can shop in several ways...I usually have written out my list so type in the search bar what I'm looking for.  For example, Baby Food.  Type in "Baby Food" and click "Go".  I select "Cereals and Snacks"

I select how I want to sort the results.  I select "Specials" and it brings up a list of all the Cereals and Snacks that are on sale. 

I select the one I want and you can see that I can use the arrow to increase or decrease quantity.

When you are finished shopping, click "Checkout".  It allows you to review your order once more, click "checkout" one more time.  Now, you're at the screen where you can specify the date and time you will be picking up your order. 

Here is the final screen where you will place your order.

That's that!  Try it out!

Believe it or not, as I typed this, the mailman came.  I went up to get the mail and make the dogs start barking (ugh) and I had a Christmas Card from harris Teeter with a coupon for $5 off my next order.  Nice!



Making things easier...

Working moms (or any type of moms) have to find tricks to simplify life in order to juggle the day-to-day.  I'll talk more about the tricks I've discovered and use in future posts.  Today, I will talk about the trick that has made the biggest improvement in our life...nightly meals.  Up until about a month ago, I just could not get that together.  I would pick up Jack from daycare every afternoon at 4:00 and from then on, it felt like a race to the finish line (bedtime).  Late afternoon is Jack's crankiest time of day and he pretty much demands undivided attention and a lot of entertaining!!!  My mom told me that I should put him in the highchair and cook dinner after work but...that does not work.  A neighbor happened to offer me a freezer they had laying around...this is what sparked the idea in my head to begin cooking on weekends.  I accepted their offer...only, the freezer did not work.  I had Sears come out to repair it...the repair would cost $300!!!  I posted the freezer on Craigslist and gave it away for free to someone who could fix it themselves.  I then invested in an upright freezer for the garage.  It was about $400.  Worth every penny!

I started a new routine.  It goes like this: 

Friday night:  Order my groceries from Harris Teeter
Saturday morning:  John watches Jack, I Pick up groceries from Harris Teeter (more about this trick later) and make a quick Costco run if needed.  This is typically during Jack's nap so I do not miss much with him.
Sunday:  Begin cooking during Jack's naptime and after Jack goes to bed.  Freeze meals for the week ahead.

The first couple of weeks I did a lot of extra cooking even on weekday evenings after Jack was asleep to build up a stash of meals.  This was an AMAZING feeling!!!  My new routine allowed me to have dinner on the table every night...not just Five Guys or Pizza but a nutritious and delicious (hopefully) meal.  Usually, you will need to supplement your frozen meal with a salad.  You might try making a huge salad on Sunday night that you can eat throughout the week.  I also buy the "Steamers" when they're on sale at the grocery store.  You can just pop this bag of vegetables in the microwave for five minutes and Voila!, you have your vegetables and a balanced meal.

The nice thing about having this nightly routine is that...new routines can then be tacked on to this routine.  John has started going to the gym after Jack is in bed while I sometimes do extra cooking.  When your life lacks these basic routines, it can feel pretty out of control.  You may feel like you have no "grounding"...I felt like I was just making it through every day and collapsing into bed at the end...then, not even feeling very good about how it went.  This nightly routine has given me something to hold onto...and I feel a sense of MAJOR accomplishment, "Yes, I did that...we had dinner, ate healthy, can have leftovers for our lunch tomorrow."  We spend less on going out to dinner and buying lunches.  I also think it's important that Jack can be part of our nightly meal and it gives us family time.
After a few weeks of cooking, I ran out of ideas on meals to make that are freezer friendly.  I ordered two cookbooks on Amazon.com for freezer meals.  I'm not a big believer in cookbooks with websites out there like http://www.myrecipes.com/ and http://www.allrecipes.com/ but it is hard to find freezer meals on those sites.  Then, you have to adapt the meal yourself to double or tripple it...often it does not turn out quite how you like it when you do that.  I am going to tell you about the cookbook I like the best, first.  Once I work with this cookbook for awhile, I'll move on to the next.

The book is called "Fix, Freeze, Feast" by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik.  So far, there are many many things I love about this cookbook.  I will highlight a few of those and as I begin experimenting with the recipes, I'll continue to let you know how it is.  I'll then move on to the next cookbook. 
Here are some Fix, Freeze and Feast highlights.

1.  I love the binding on this book...it is satisfying to hold and read...very unique.  I know, this is a strange "highlight" but I do love it.

2.  Designed for people who shop at the "Warehouse" clubs.  Costco!  You know when you go to Costco and buy a "tray" of beef...it's usually 4-6 pounds and you split up the meat into 1 lb portions and freeze those?  (That is what I do.)  Or, you run out of time to do that and throw the whole thing in the freezer and end up with a solid brick of beef...6 pounds worth?  Well this cookbook uses the entire tray of beef for each recipe.  For example, one of the beef recipes is "Cheese Chilada Bake".  The first ingredient is one tray of beef (about 6 lbs).  The recipe makes four entrees, 8 servings each.  So you will be able to freeze four meals after cooking this recipe...or eat one that night, and freeze the other three!  Or give one to a neighbor, make their day, and freeze the remaining three.  They have created their recipes based on the large packages of meat from warehouse clubs.  Genius!

3.  I love the book's intro.  It outlines EVERYTHING you need to know to get started.  And it makes you excited to do it!  It discusses the basics of make-ahead meals, how to get organized with your shopping list, how to select ingredients/ingredient substitutes, how to shop, how to set up your kitchen before your cooking session to make it painless, how to prep your ingredients, how to put it all together, how to correct mistakes (like measuring an ingredient incorrectly, forgetting an ingredient, buying the wrong meat, finding something too salty, etc)...and a lot more helpful information is included as well.

4.  In the back of the book you will find an appendix...the appendix contains sample labels for your convenience!  You can photocopy these and tape them to your freezer containers...they are printed with baking instructions, times and temps.  Very similar to those you use at those meal preparation kitchens like "Let's Dish" or "Dinner Done"...

5.  The appendix also lists resources that include helpful websites, books, magazines, etc.  It also talks about community cooking options like a cooking club or a cooking co-op (which I may consider joining/starting).

So these are a few highlights of this new book I am beginning ("Fix, Freeze, Feast" by Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik.).  I will let you know how the journey goes.  This weekend, I'll discuss how I've learned to simplify grocery shopping and make that a routine and easy part of my weekly life.