Time-Saving Tips for Working Parents: How Batch Cooking Can Simplify Your Meal Planning

We don’t normally talk about food on this blog, but I’ll make an exception for batch cooking because it’s actually intertwined with how I work! 

As a working parent, finding time to prepare healthy and nutritious meals for my family can be a challenge. However, I find that batch cooking is an excellent solution to this problem. It involves preparing large quantities of food at once, which can then be stored and eaten over the course of several days, or frozen for the future.

In this blog post, I’ll share some of the ways that batch cooking has saved me time and made my life as a working parent much easier.

Meal Planning and Time Saving with Batch Cooking

Batch Cooking Can…

Reduce Time Spent in the Kitchen

One of the biggest advantages of batch cooking is that it reduces the amount of time I need to spend in the kitchen. Instead of having to cook a fresh meal every night, I can spend a few hours on the weekend, or one evening, preparing meals for the week ahead. This means that during the week, all I need to do is reheat the pre-cooked meals, saving me time and energy. It’s so useful when there’s an after school club and we get home later than usual, or if I need to fit in a bit of work before the kids go to bed. 

Simplify Meal Planning

Meal planning can be a daunting task for busy parents. When I’m preparing meals in bulk, I can plan out a menu and make sure that I have all the necessary ingredients on hand. This eliminates the need to make multiple trips to the supermarket or spend time figuring out what to cook each night.

Save Money

Batch cooking can also save money in the long run. When I buy ingredients in bulk, I usually get them for cheaper than if I were to buy smaller quantities. Additionally, I’m less likely to waste food when I’m cooking in large quantities, as I can portion out meals and freeze them for later use. This means that I’m not throwing away food that has gone bad, which can add up over time.

Meal Planning
Meal Planning and Time Saving with Batch Cooking

Ensure a Healthy Diet

As a parent, I want to make sure that my family is eating a healthy and balanced diet. Batch cooking allows me to control the ingredients that go into each meal and make sure that we’re getting all the nutrients we need. It’s also easier to incorporate more vegetables and whole foods into our meals when I’m cooking in bulk, as I can prepare large batches of pasta sauce, soups, stews, and casseroles that are packed with healthy ingredients.

Batch Cooking in Conclusion

In conclusion, batch cooking has been a game-changer for me as a working parent. It saves me time, simplifies meal planning, saves money, and ensures that my family is eating a healthy diet.

If you’re struggling to find time to prepare meals during the week, I highly recommend giving batch cooking a try. With a little planning and preparation, it’s an easy and effective way to make your life as a busy parent a little bit easier and it enables you to carve out more time to spend with your family or to earn more money! 

What’s your favourite recipe to batch cook? 

Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Work-Life Balance taken from Kate Foster of “Workin’ Moms”

Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Work-Life Balance taken from Kate Foster of
“Workin’ Moms

We’re big fans of the hit Netflix television show “Workin’ Moms” and thought it would be fun to look at Kate Foster’s journey starting her own public relations (PR) agency, which ultimately becomes a great success. While Kate’s story is fictional, there are many valuable lessons in entrepreneurship and work-life balance we can learn from her journey as an entrepreneur.

Workin' Moms

Passion

First and foremost, Kate’s success in starting her own PR agency came from her passion and dedication to her work. She was motivated by her love for public relations and her desire to make a difference in the industry. This level of passion and dedication is essential for any entrepreneur who wants to take the leap from being an employee to starting their own business. Without this drive to succeed, the road to success can be long and arduous.

Vision

Secondly, Kate had a clear vision for her PR agency. She knew what she wanted to achieve and was willing to put in the work to make it happen. She focused on building relationships with her clients, and then her team as it grew, and delivering exceptional results. Her approach is often gutsy and she regularly goes above and beyond to get the right results (her PR work for Sloane Mitchell springs to mind). This clarity of vision and focus on delivering value to clients is critical for any business to succeed.

Networking

Another key lesson we can learn from Kate’s journey is the importance of networking. When she started out, Kate leveraged her existing relationships and made new connections to help grow her business. She attended industry events and conferences and made a concerted effort to maintain her connections and also connect with other PR professionals. Down the line, as her business developed, she hired two PR execs whom she had previously worked with: Mo Daniels and Richard Greenwood. This level of networking is crucial for any entrepreneur looking to grow their business and establish themselves in their industry.

Perseverance

Kate’s journey also highlights the importance of perseverance and resilience. She faced many professional and personal challenges and setbacks along the way, but she never gave up. She continued to push through, even when things got tough, and was ultimately rewarded with a successful business.

Work-Life Balance

Kate Foster’s story also provides insight into the importance of work-life balance, especially for working parents. Throughout the show, we see Kate struggle to balance her demanding career with her responsibilities as a mother – and even deal with the surprise of becoming a stepmother! Even though we could argue that she is a workaholic, running her own business does enable Kate to have some flexibility and she does eventually find a way to make it all work by prioritising her time and setting boundaries. 

Workin' Moms work-life balance

She makes a conscious effort to try to be present for her family whenever she can – and to make time for the important moments in their lives, even if it means sacrificing some work opportunities – we often see her racing from one appointment to another!

Kate begins to delegate more, which she initially finds hard – for example in season 6 she initially rejects Rosie’s closing speech for the PR event for the book about multi-level marketing scam companies, but eventually allows her to give her own speech. It can be hard to relinquish control but it is an essential part of business growth.  

Support

Kate also recognises the value of support systems and enlists the help of her husband, other family members and sometimes her best friend, Anne Carlson, to manage her responsibilities at home. By delegating tasks and sharing the workload, she is able to create a more manageable work-life balance. The childcare is not always to Kate’s liking, with issues with a nanny giving her son the wrong milk and then her own mother not liking the dog… but somehow she muddles through! This serves as a reminder to all entrepreneurs and working parents that finding a balance between work and family is essential for overall wellbeing and success. It requires intentional effort and prioritisation, but with the right support and mindset, it is possible to achieve a healthy work-life balance (albeit not always perfect…).

Workin' Moms success

In conclusion, Kate Foster’s journey in starting her own PR agency on “Workin’ Moms” provides valuable lessons for anyone who wants to start their own business and we can’t wait to see how this evolves for her during season 7. So far, we can see that by being passionate and dedicated to your work, having a clear vision and focus on delivering value to clients, networking, persevering through challenges, achieving work-life balance and being willing to learn and adapt, you too can achieve success as an entrepreneur.

Are you a fan of the hit series Workin’ Moms? What are your main takeaways? Does Kate’s business journey inspire you?

Virtual Assistants Can Help You Plan Your Wedding

Too Busy to Plan Your Wedding? Get a Virtual Personal Assistant to Help You Out

Wedding season is fast approaching! And if you’re managing your own wedding organisation alongside a hectic job or family life, have you considered hiring a Virtual Personal Assistant to assist you in your wedding planning? 

Virtual Personal Assistants come in handy for planning and managing events like weddings. Think of the amount of time that you have already spent, or are planning to spend researching the best venues, striking deals with numerous vendors and contacting caterers. 

Wedding couple make a heart with hands

Below, we’ve compiled some reasons why you should consider hiring a Virtual Personal Assistant to plan your wedding.

A VA can help with…

Research

This is one of the greatest benefits of having a Virtual Assistant handle your wedding planning, especially if you have a full-time job or business to run. Research can be conducted on a wide range of topics, including the best reception and dinner locations, wedding venues, accommodation options, travel agencies, event décor and entertainers… to mention a few. 

Researching is a task that can take a lot of time, which you might not have, particularly if you have a demanding job.  

A VA can…

Bring Greater Peace of Mind

Using a Virtual Personal Assistant relieves you of some of the tasks that can become tiresome in the wedding planning process, and this will leave you with time to do other, more enjoyable tasks! Your Virtual Personal Assistant can be working on the tasks that you don’t want to do in the background and report back to you once they are completed. 

Wedding Banquet

A VA can…

Save You Money and Time

Hiring a Virtual Personal Assistant to assist with admin and organisational tasks will help you to cut costs as they will shop around for the best deals and keep your wedding planning budget in mind when they are conducting their research. They will follow your guidelines, without being distracted by other factors that might add to your wedding budget. 

Furthermore, if you have a job or business that takes up a lot of your time, then by outsourcing your wedding planning you will not be using up your own revenue generating time. 

And finally, with a YES Virtual Personal Assistant, you do not need to hand over the planning of your entire wedding, you can simply use our services for as little as 1 hour if you wish! 

A VA is…

Organised by Trade! 

One of the best things about hiring a Virtual Personal Assistant is the professionalism and efficiency that they bring to your wedding planning process… and, who wouldn’t want that for their big day? 

From keeping track of payments and bookings, to collating travel arrangements for family members, they can also assist with the table plan and the schedule for the day itself. 

A VA can…

Manage Your Diary

Your dedicated Virtual Personal Assistant can handle your calendar perfectly, reminding you of site visits, tastings, suit and dress fittings and rehearsals. In essence, having a virtual assistant to assist with your wedding planning will mean that you can remain a step ahead and you won’t miss a single detail! 

Wedding Party & Bride

There you have it!

Hire a Virtual Personal Assistant and your wedding planning process and the wedding itself will leave you with memories to cherish for years.

Images by Pexels and Tú Anh from Pixabay

How to Improve Your Wellbeing by Outsourcing

Mental Wellbeing 

Taking care of your mental wellbeing is extremely important, especially during the trying times in which we find ourselves. Burnout is becoming an increasingly common problem. Does it feel like whenever you cross an item off your to-do list, another item appears in its place? Do you lose sleep… or even dread doing certain tasks? If so, you might well be on your way to burnout.

When our professional and personal lives are streamlined and organised, cortisol (the stress hormone) levels drop and we feel much more relaxed. A result of this is boosted creativity, enabling you to come up with bigger and better ideas and actually have fun!

Outsourcing 

Outsourcing business and personal tasks can have a massive impact on your mental wellbeing and help you achieve a more balanced work/life ratio. If you find yourself putting off the same task time and time again, or have anxiety around doing a certain task, this is the task you should be thinking about outsourcing. By outsourcing those tasks, you will be enabling yourself to concentrate on the most important tasks, and as a result, increase your productivity and even your income. 

Participation and Outsourcing

For example, outsourcing the management of your diary or email inbox would help you to streamline your business, taking away the stress of fitting everything in. Having someone there to tell you what you should be doing and when, who you need to respond to and when by, would significantly reduce your stress and make your life and business more enjoyable.

Having someone to pay your bills on time and manage your events would give you the time and space to concentrate on what is important. Just imagine how it would feel to get into bed every night knowing that your life and business is in order!

Why lose sleep over something you could easily outsource for someone else to take care of?

Relaxation, Wellbeing and Mental Health

Let’s summarise the main benefits to your mental wellbeing that outsourcing can bring:

  • Streamlining and simplifying your to do list
  • Relieving stress and anxiety
  • Improving your quality of sleep
  • Boosting your creativity
  • Reducing your working hours, yet increasing your income
  • Achieving peace of mind.

 

We would love to know what tasks you outsource in your life and business, if any. What benefits do you gain from outsourcing? And what are your main worries about outsourcing? 

Please let us know in the comments below!

The Benefits of Delegating and Outsourcing

When it comes to running your own business, it’s easy to get into the habit of doing everything yourself, simply out of necessity. As the owner of two businesses, I speak from experience – in the beginning I felt like I should be doing everything myself, but I quickly learnt that this isn’t a sustainable way of running a business.

If you want to maximise both your own productivity and your company’s profitability, you need to learn how to let go of that ‘do it all’ attitude and source help… (just like I have!)

Learning to delegate and outsource your work has so many benefits for you, your business and for others involved in your business and personal life. Continue reading “The Benefits of Delegating and Outsourcing”

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