I’ve never cooked so much (in my life)!

So far, THE hardest part of the Whole30 has been all the food prep and cooking time I need to spend in the kitchen. I am seriously looking forward to the end of this Whole30 not so that I can eat a cupcake, but so that I can have someone ELSE cook for me.

With a 3-month old and a toddler, I am starting to wonder if I bit off more than I can chew at this season in life, so far I have spent WAY more time in the kitchen than I will be able to once the work-week begins. But I have also tried to do some “fancier”, more creative side-dishes these past couple of days because it was the weekend, my husband and brother-in-law were here and I had extra hands to help out while I was stuck in the kitchen for so long.

I plan to make simpler side dishes (although they may be boring – they will at least be do-able and less labor intensive when time is not so readily available and there is a toddler underfoot and a baby wanting to be held (you can only do so much with one arm and leg)) basically things like steamed cauliflower and carrots (instead of my cauliflower “fried rice” from Day 2) will be the “norm” and I imagine it will make this a little easier. I also plan to eat leftovers for lunches and occasionally a “buffet-style” left-over night for dinner.

But even so, I will be doing a LOT more cooking than normal. Probably more than double because I NEVER used to cook for breakfast (except on special occasions and even then  I usually resorted to the can of cinnamon buns with frosting) and we went out to lunch at least once a week, normally twice and when/if we stayed home for lunch it was as simple as heating up a hot dog or chicken nuggets or making a sandwich or eating leftovers on a good day. Now I have leftovers (and hopefully enough of each item in the right ratio (protein:veggie)or I have to make something fresh “from scratch”. 

All of this to tell you, don’t say you haven’t been warned… if you do the Whole30 you will be cooking a lot more than you ever have (unless you are one of those people whom I envy that is very good at cooking almost every meal anyway – and to you I say, how do you do it? And why? I can’t wait to get a break from the kitchen).