"Chel"-lax: A Day in the Life: A Stitch in Time, Saves Nine

Nine what?

I've heard the saying before and I think I got the gist of it, but never really gave it much thought.

"A stitch in time, saves nine."

Meaning: A timely effort will prevent more work later.

Origin: The 'stitch in time' is simply the sewing up of a small hole or tear in a piece of material, so saving the need for more stitching at a later date when the hole has become larger. Clearly, the first users of this expression were referring to saving nine stitches.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-stitch-in-time.html

It's a pain in the booty, but I'm all about finding solutions to buy me more time.

One of my issues has been preparing dinner. Because I'm out and about almost most of the day, and still running around to various kid activities during the after-school hours, dinner doesn't enter my mind until an hour before... while I'm out. To the choruses of "I'm hungryyyyyy!" I head to the drive thru. (Blech.)

As I am on the path to getting back to healthy (losing the 60 pounds I gained over the past 10 years, becoming less dependent on blood pressure medication, regaining my stamina to keep up with the kids and be active, etc.), I am in search of ways to eat healthier. Not just for me, but for my entire family. I've instilled some atrocious eating habit in my kids... time to unlearn them!

So I ran across this:

31 Crock Pot Freezer Meals for Back to School

I've done freezer meals in the past, but nothing for the slow cooker! Could this be? Could this be my salvation?

Freezer meals in my past, had to be placed in the oven an hour before dinner time. As much as I run around, "I got no time for dat!"

But throwing it into the slow cooker in the morning before running my errands... this could be it!

So, I became ambitious and did my "stitch in time." Bagging, chopping, dividing, meat, produce, spices, sauces, etc into gallon size freezer bags. That stitch took me longer than anticipated. However, I have to say I was distracted by the minutia of kid rearing, and the grand time sucker of errands. Luckily, my DH and MIL helped fill in during my absences from the kitchen island. And after the joint effort, VOILA!

31 FREEZER MEALS FILLING THE VOID

IN THE HAUS OF BRAUS FREEZER!

Now I just need to organize it.

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. Once finding the 31 recipes above, I'm on a mission to find more freezer friendly foods to "stitch in time."

I get sucked into Pinterest looking for such treasures, and linger longer than I should. I just want to put in a list of food that we like and the perfect recipes pop up, without me having to scrutinize any of them. THAT would save me nine. But again, I'm stitching my time... gotta do the work, to save on that work of weeding out recipes later.

As a result of my exploration, I found some great after-school snacks that I can make. Again, this will help me save time with having to run our for scouts, dance, karate, meetings, etc. I am currently in the process of recreating these portable, tasty concoctions. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!