How can I cut down on cooking/eating/cleaning/grooming/etc time?

[Scipio]

Hello,

Do you have any good* tips on how to reduce the amount of time one spends every week on cooking? Or grooming? Or how about eating and cleaning? Most of these things I find boring and take away from more important stuff in my life.

Cooking and grocery shopping is the hardest one for me, because I am on the Paleo Diet. You raw vegans or other Paleo eaters out there might understand me--buying fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats requires going to the supermarket to pick something fresh much more frequently than people who eat traditional staples. It also requires cutting, chopping, washing of vegetables, etc. I feel like I spend half my day chopping up vegetables.

I don't really want to go off the Paleo Diet, as it has been superb for my athletic performance, looks (eliminated acne and I'm maintaining muscle easily now), and other reasons, but I want to know a way I could make things easier. I remember Steve saying that he failed on his first attempts at a raw vegan diet because he found it impractical to prepare all of the food all the time. I wonder what methods he learned to make it more practical? Has he listed what tips he had for making food preparation easier? (I have ignored most of his raw vegan posts because I didn't think I'd find anything valuable in them, before).

Ultimately, the best thing to do would be to hire a cleaner and food preparer a couple times per week like Steve has, but I'm not at that level of income right now as a college student. Any tips?


*By good tips, I meant tips that are not something anybody could come up with without any effort whatsoever, such as "buy in bulk."

[Scipio]

Actually maybe I should have posted this in the Health forum since there might be a lot of people who have something to share there. Mods, if you see this and want to move it you can. However, my original reason for posting it here was because I wanted to cut down on grooming time, cleaning time, shopping time, transportation time, and other mundane activities so I can have more productivity time.

[silicon toad2000]

are there any places near you who can deliver your groceries, or any online grocery shops who deliver to your area?
Cooking large portions and freezing (sorry dont know about freezing the foods in your diet) can help cut down preparation time.
As far as cleaning goes, you can look at doing a time and motion study for each task. Analyse the movements involved and see if you can't streamline the process. Things like moving cleaning equipment closest to where it is needed, keep the laundry hamper in/next to the laundry (if you are able to).
Also with most tasks, 80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts, maybe have a look and see if everything you do is absloutely neccesary.
Another key is clean as you go. Do the dishes while you're cooking, leave the duster out and just pick it up everytime you walk past it and dust things on the way to where you're going and leave it there till you walk past it again. As you walk around the house doing things, tidy. Pick things up and take the where they belong, that way you don't have to do it when 'its time to clean'.

[Chris Cade]

Originally Posted by Scipio

Ultimately, the best thing to do would be to hire a cleaner and food preparer a couple times per week like Steve has, but I'm not at that level of income right now as a college student. Any tips?

Depending on who you know, you might be able to barter some trade/services. If you have a particular skill, you could offer it in exchange for having somebody prepare you 1-2 meals that you can take home and eat throughout the week.

Or you can do food-swaps: You make food for both you and the other person in bulk, and then they do the same. Single preparation, but you get double the results at a minimum. (and more if you keep leftovers or use core foods to make multiple different meals)

[Scipio]

Great ideas so far guys. I never thought of applying the 80/20 idea and trading services. The bartering thing is also a good idea. Maybe I should find a girl who will willingly trade her cleaning services for my kissing services

Just kidding.

The problem with batching for cooking and cleaning is that things spoil, or the house gets dirty over a steady amount of time. Batching doesn't work as well for such things. Grooming, for example: I can't batch all my showering into one long shower on Sunday (unless I want to be known as the stinky kid on campus). I could implement batching to a greater degree than I do now though.

[InterfaceLeader]

One of the best things I did was sign up for a organic fruit-veg box to be delivered once a week. They leave it in a safe place if you're out. That meant I only had to top-up once during the week. You can get a family box if you're a raw vegan, or otherwise eat a lot more fruit/veg than everyone else ^^

Large scale batch cooking only works if you're going to freeze some of it, but you can cover two days at once. I like to make a soup, and then use the left-overs the next day as a base for a vegetable stew or similar. There's a lot of things you can do this with.

As far as cleaning goes, the easiest thing I found was building it into my routine. I'm very busy at the moment, but I get basic cleaning done by loading the laundry as soon as I get up, and then putting it away when I get home. Small loads don't take long to put away, so do it frequently! I do dishes in the evening.

For stuff like vacuuming/dusting/wiping, just do one thing for 15 minutes each day. You can get a heck of a lot done in 15 minutes. Make it an exercise to get more covered than the previous day It's good to fit into health & safety breaks from the computer.

Or you can hire a cleaner to come once a week. They are not that expensive. In the UK my local service is £11 an hour. They can tackle the stuff like cleaning the bath or vacuuming properly.

Grooming doesn't need to take that long anyway. Five minutes in the morning to do my teeth and splash some water in my face, and then ten minutes in the evening to take a shower.

[Chris Cade]

Originally Posted by Scipio

The problem with batching for cooking and cleaning is that things spoil,

Depends what you get and how you prepare it. A lot of foods will stay good for 2-4 days in the refrigerator... and even longer in the freezer.

My mom used to always put bread in the freezer when I was a kid and it really frustrated me because I didn't want to eat cold bread. Now, I've found that I can leave it in the freezer, then put it in the fridge the night before and it's perfect by lunchtime.

Similar concept can be applied to other meals. Sure, some do better than others... but don't be so quick to disregard batching food. Even if you can find just 1 meal (or core component) you like, that's good enough.

For example, I don't know if you eat brown rice... but if you did, then you could prepare a bunch at the beginning of the week, then just heat it over the stove with other things throughout the week.

Originally Posted by Scipio

I can't batch all my showering into one long shower on Sunday (unless I want to be known as the stinky kid on campus). I could implement batching to a greater degree than I do now though.

That also depends on your activities.

I had an ex-gf who would say to me about every 2-3 days how great I smelled. It was *always*, without fail, after I hadn't showered for 2-3 days. Then I'd tell her that, and she never believed me.... I guess she just couldn't fathom the idea of natural odor / oils actually being 'attractive'

[Dimond]

I prefer to purchase everything on-line rather than wasting time running errands, including food, since I'm lucky to have an organic delivery service in my area. I usually save money on gas, wear and tear on vehicle, less stress because I don't have to deal with traffic or parking, often get better deals, and better quality products (in many cases). The quality of produce is much better usually then the stores because the company is very picky about what they will accept. I was realizing just how time consuming it is to find all the food I need even though I stick to the produce section. The cost seemed to even be more going to the store versus ordering, even with the delivery fee. I also don't have to lug heavy bags up stairs to get into my apt. I'm often able to buy 2 weeks worth of food at once. Occasionally I run out of certain things before then or I over buy, but I'm getting better at figuring it out. Only having to buy food twice a month keeps things super simple.

Meals-being raw has eliminated cooking and uncooking takes very little time. Most of my meals are made in under 5 minutes unless I juice or make batches of food in advance. There's very little to cleanup afterwards. Just sticking with very simple, yet tasty recipes has worked well. Eat produce as is, of course, is the quickest-grab a bowl of fruits or veggies and you're done. Maybe throw on dressing or a marinade. Many who make more complicated raw meals or cook, can just make food in advance and freeze them. If you don't care what you eat, just have tons of canned and microwave meals.

Grooming-for the most part this is done quickly. I can easily take 2 minute showers on most days. A little longer if I do my hair. Hair doesn't need to be washed often, though other things may need to be done to it. Sticking with a simple hair method such as Co-Washing (Dimond Health: Personal Care) eliminates time, money and amount of products. Using natural products and methods helps eliminate a lot of time as well. Really for men, grooming should always be quick. Women, it just depends on our "issues". Most women are more beautiful natural than they realize and really don't need to spend much time on themselves. Regardless there's quick methods for everything.

Cleaning my home is the only thing I haven't figured out yet because I don't enjoy it. Didn't like having a cleaning service even more though. Laundry and washing dishes are quick and simple. I'm very neat and organized so this helps. But I still haven't found an efficient cleaning method. I usually break it up-vacuum one day, clean a bathroom another day, etc. rather than all at once because it would never get done otherwise. I need a cleaning robot. Or a partner that enjoys cleaning.

[Kaspian]

You could reduce your shaving time by going for the scruff look. When I met my husband, he shaved once or twice a week with an attachment on the shaver that left ~1/8" stubble. Saves time, looks sexy.

[Scipio]

Ah, you guys make me wish I was back in North America again, with easy online shopping and delivery, fruit and vegetable co-ops, a wide variety of cheap fruits and vegetables all year round because there are warm areas with perpetual growing seasons within your country, and free trade instead of jacked up prices on any imported food because of tariffs.

I will take all suggestions so far to heart. Some I can't do, for example, freezing much food is not easy since I live in an apartment of 6 guys with one small fridge. There is never room in there. However, I will experiment with everything else.

Also, the Korean style of doing your dishes is at the sink, and the Korean style of drying laundry is to hang it up and then iron wrinkles out. So I don't have a dryer. If anybody has some optimization tips for this, let me know? I'm used to using machines.

Does anyone have a site with tips on how to make raw food preparation faster and easier? I eat the Paleo diet, which is about 60% fruits and vegetables, so I could learn a thing or two from raw foodists.

[Scipio]

I've successfully implemented a schedule with my roommates, where two roommates do a major cleaning of the house every Sunday. Since there's six of us, that means I clean one Sunday every three weeks (apart from dishes, laundry, and my room).

[Holistic Star]

if you want to speed up food prep, do you use a food processor or do you do everything by hand?

You don't need to spend a lot of money, mine was less than £30 and can whip up a few dishes really quickly rather than spending a lot of time chopping everything up small.

[Holistic Star]

just had another idea on food.

I used to really struggle with chopping onions when I met someone who is a chef and he showed me how the professionals do it. I'm still not as fast as him (he could fine chop an onion in about 20 seconds!) but I am a lot quicker.

How To: Chop Vegetables Like a Pro
or

[Dimond]

Even faster to chop is getting either a food processor or electric chopper. I have a mini 3 cup chopper that cost $12 at the time and has been one of the best buys next to my blender. I chop onions, garlic, nuts, carrots, kale, etc. in under a minute. I use to make raw ice cream in it too.

Using a Vitamix or Blendtec is the most efficient way of incorporating raw foods into your diet besides just eating them straight. They can also chop too, but it's easier to have a separate appliance if you chop often.

[Scipio]

I have a plan to make more money by working more this winter vacation. I like what I do for my work. With the extra money, I will invest in some of your suggestions and ideas of my own:

Grocery delivery every week, from the same list. I won't need to redo the list or make any changes, my food will come to my house on autopilot.

Making a meal plan with the same meals each week for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Cooking them on two nights a week, like Sunday night and Wednesday night. Cleaning up those two nights.

Buying a food processor for the cutting.

[PeaceCat]

A food timesaver:

I've found menu planning to be a great time saver, in terms of food prep and grocery shopping (if you have a menu plan written up, it's much easier to know what to buy - even better if you have a specific shopping list written up based on what you need for your menu).

I have a 3 week menu plan which I rotate (in which I've planned breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch and dinner for each day - there isn't a huge amount of variation in the meals just enough to not feel too repetitive).

I also make use of the freezer, I keep bread in my freezer and just toast some when I want some (I don't eat bread too often). I also keep stir fry mixes, other vegetables and cooked beans in the freezer. Nothing beats fresh veg though, so the frozen stuff is just a back-up/supplement.

Grooming timesaver:

I find it very helpful to pick out my clothes for the next day before I go to bed, I put everything I plan to wear on a hanger and put it in the bathroom ready to change into after showering. I also keep any moisteriser, make-up and a hair brush by the hallway mirror so I can fix my appearance up quite quickly before going out the door.

Cleaning timesaver:

Clean up as you go where possible, keeping the kitchen clean (sink & surfaces clean, dishes put away etc.), beds made, floors swept/vacuum cleaned, toilet & washbasins cleaned. I find that tidiness in the rest of the house seems to flow from these basics.

When I come home from work I usually do a quick tidy up involving clearing kitchen & general clutter (DH works from home and usually generates some mess throughout the day) making beds and sweeping floors. It usually just takes about 15 mins. I'll then do another quick kitchen & bathroom tidy up before bed. I think the key is to automate these tasks as part of a daily routine and not spend too long on them (detailed cleaning can be done at the weekends - but I often find it isn't too necessary if the house has been kept clean all week).

I think a key theme is to have things automated & habitualised, so you don't have to spend time making decisions (what to cook, which chore to do next, what to wear etc.).

Hope that helps

[PeaceCat]

p.s. Another tip, if you ever use ground nuts or seeds (e.g. flax seed, ground almonds for making almond milk) it's good to grind these up in batches and store in jars in the fridge (ground flax will keep nicely for a week, ground almonds even longer).

[medaille]

I often times make a salad for work. I usually just make it on the weekend and fill a gallon sized ziploc and it will last most of the week (~4 days). Most of the stuff I put in there will last about a week, like radishes, onions, bell peppers, etc. I usually just leave the bag and dressing in the fridge at work so there's nothing to really think about during the week. I'll also sprinkle nuts or some cheese over the top of it.

[Permafrost]

On cleaning: a friend of mine started an eco-friendly cleaning company with my help. We did a ton of research on green products, advertising, etc. and most importantly on a good efficient way to clean homes/offices. Along the way I picked up a little book called 'Speed Cleaning' by Jeff Campbell, and fell in love with it.

It is a geek's dream of house cleaning - he analyzes common cleaning routines and maximizes efficiency to the nth degree, with detailed instructions of flow patterns, efficient motions, etc. It is simply the best, most efficient approach to cleaning I've ever seen. It's like a cross between cooking for engineers and cooks illustrated in methodology, and we fell in love with the sheer detaileness and thoroughness of it. Some people hate the fact that he promotes his products, but I can ignore product 'recommendations' and stick to the techniques.

Point being what used to be a herculean, dreaded task of cleaning my 2000 sq. foot house now takes just under an hour and a half a week, (top to bottom with three bathrooms, tons of laundry and four cats , plus quick daily tidying of kitchen, etc. I see tons of copies on Amazon starting at 0.10 so it's the best investment you'll ever make.

[Scipio]

Well, I basically solved about 80% of my problems with intermittent fasting. I discovered it recently. I wrote my personal experiences with it here (I don't usually reveal my blog to the public). After reading that, I really suggest Googling intermittent fasting, it could be a lifesaver for you as much as it is for me.

[canyontothesky]

Preparing your own food takes time, just like any dish. I don't know the Paleo diet, but if you're a raw vegan, for example, spending your time cutting cucumbers, well if you were on a SAD diet, you'd be washing chicken, preparing an alfredo sauce or something, standing at the stove cooking the meat, etc. Every type of cuisine that you want to cook at home takes time. It just might seem more menial because you are peeling over and over or chopping. But I don't mind. Actually, I really dislike cooking, but I find it so much easier (and, of course, though I started my raw diet today, I have been eating fruits and veggies for a long time!) to spend 5 minutes to rinse off all the grapes I just bought and put them in a tupperware in the fridge so I can grab some whenever I want, than to have to think about boiling the water, when is it done boiling, how long does this have to cook, managing two or three different components to a meal and when they'll be done!
Sorry I just went off on a tangent there, but to me, this is SUCH an easier diet compared to a normal one! And blending and juicing is so fun!