Cooking Smart

Electricity is not cheap, neither is gas. So, whichever you use to cook with, use your head. Be smart and efficient.

My Mom, was not the finest cook, but she was smart about it. She never turned on the oven for just one item. Once a week, she would cook a roast, come chicken, maybe a meatloaf, and baked beans, macaroni and cheese and a bake a pie or a cake. At the same time, on the stove top, she would cook a pot of greens, some chili or spaghetti sauce and maybe a beef stew.

Then, during the week, we just warmed up what we wanted. Now, you may ask, why was that smart and efficient? Simple. It takes time and power to heat an oven, Once its hot, it doesn't take that much to keep it hot. In fact, if you heat an oven to 350, you can turn it off for the last fifteen minutes or so that you have food in it and it will keep cooking just fine.

In addition, using an oven, really heats the kitchen a lot and that, in turn, spreads heat to the whole house. In the winter, that's a good thing. In the summer, it is not. The more you heat the kitchen, the more your air conditioning will run and the electric bill goes up. By cooking so much at once, you are only heating things up a lot, that one time. Warming food doesn't take that much energy and you don't have to turn the oven, or burners up a lot, so less heat is created. In fact, heat things in a microwave and you create no heat and use little power.

We all need to save money and, more and more it is a good idea to not use so much electricity (every year, power companies, in the summer, threaten and sometimes implement, rolling brownouts). Gas, is not cheap either, especially if you are heating your home with it, so why use more than you must. Cook smart and be efficient.

Time is of The Essence

Time is something no one seems to have enough of. We all hurry and scurry frantically around and never seem to get enough done. The answer? It may seem paradoxical but, you simply need to slow down a little.

Let me explain. When you hurry too much and too often, you are not thinking clearly. Your brain will only move so fast. Now, it does move very fast but not instantaneously. Also, contrary to popular belief. multi-tasking is impossible. You cannot think of 2 things at once. Instead, your brain switches back and forth, at high speed, but you do not deal with 2 issues at once. That is an illusion. Now if you keep that up and especially if you keep adding tasks, trying to do several things at once, your brain, which is far from being perfect, will start getting tired and confused. Like an old fashioned Pin Ball machine when banged around too much,, it will finally say, "Tilt," and just stop, but, long before that, it will start making mistakes. Mistakes are inefficient, time and energy wasting.

If you slow down a bit, try to think one thing through before tackling the next, you will work more efficiently, and, as a result, you will find yourself with more time.

A lot of folks realize that but are pressured by bosses to stretch themselves thin. Here's what you do. Realize that  your unreasonable boss cannot watch your brain function.  Let your boss think that you are balancing everything at once, while, in fact, you are thinking through one task at a time. You will get good results and that is what bosses care about. If that boss continues to push, expecting more and more all the time, get a new boss. Believe me, if you work yourself to death, they will just replace you. Protect your mental and physical well-being.

Another way to function with more efficiency is to learn to take little mini-vacations throughout the day. Here and there, learn to shut your brain down, just for a minute or so. You can be in the middle of performing a task while letting yourself go for a very brief while. Call it meditation, prayer, day dreaming, wool gathering, whatever the name, just take a few deep breaths and take a quick trip to your happy place. You can picture your favorite place, your favorite, person. your pet cat, a flower, anything. You can chant, silently of course, a mantra, say a prayer, remember a funny saying or a snippet of a song. The point is to give your brain a break. When you do this, it is like hitting a reset button. The old garbage clears out and you find yourself refreshed. No one will be the wiser and you will feel a lot better. You feel better, you become more efficient and have more time. Warning: do not go away for too long. 30 seconds is refreshing, any longer and you might doze off.  Also do not close your eyes if anyone else is around, it's not necessary and you do not want to attract attention. And do not do this during an important meeting, that would be rude.

I promise you, learn these tricks and you will work more efficiently, have more time, and feel a whole lot better.

Stay Calm and Stay Efficent

When you are working, or just when you are living, the unexpected happens. Some freak accident, some unforeseen situation, an unwanted interruption. Your whole routine, your basic plan, is suddenly upset.

All of us deal with this in our own ways. Some yell and curse (always my favorite), some hold it in  and fuss and fume for hours, some just quit and walk off. Occasionally, some will resort to throwing things and slamming walls, or simply breaking things. Now, be honest, all of us do one or all of these things from time to time.

None of these are effective. True, you might feel a minutes relief but, when you're done, you still have the same problem. Actually, by the time you settle down, the problem may be worse.

All of us need to find a quick and efficient way to deal with such frustrations. I know of one (no, not having a quick drink or two. I've tried that and it and generally makes things worse). There is a simple technique and if you just trust it, you'll be back at it in seconds, calm and ready to go.

Simply breathe deeply. Deep breath in, hold briefly, then out. Do that 10 times, concentrating on nothing but feeling the flow of air, in and out of your lungs. I guarantee that you will calm right down and feel a whole lot better.

When you are calm, you function more efficiently. It is great to get excited when you are doing fun things but excitement over a problem  with a job is ineffective, in fact detrimental. So, learn to take a few deep breaths and just chill out.