The Meal Time Mamba

  Set an alarm to ring half an hour before lunch and 1 to 1 ½ hours before supper (it may take some experimenting to figure out how much time you need, and, yes, I have more than half a dozen alarms that ring throughout my day. Smart phones are quite handy to this distractible person). When the alarm rings, stop whatever you are doing and go start the next meal.

   Check your menu plan. Always be thinking two meals ahead. At supper take anything you will need for lunch tomorrow out of the freezer. At breakfast take supper out. At lunch, take breakfast out.

·      
  What do you need to do to get ready for two meals down the road? (i.e. start the crockpot?)

·        What do you need to do for the next meal? (i.e. run the bread machine?)

·        For this meal, what will take the longest to cook? The next longest? Start them going in that order. (You may need to make notes in your family cookbook for how long things take. Some things seem to take a long time when they don’t and vice versa. Time yourself and adjust accordingly.)

·        Set the table. The prettier food looks, the better it tastes.

·        Set timers, use electric thermometers that beep when food is done, and check everything every few minutes.

·        Serve the food in pretty dishes.

·        Calm your mind.

·        Thank God for blessing you with food to eat, supplying all your needs, and dying for your sins.

·        Enjoy your family’s company. Keep the conversation happy. 

Encourage laughter.

When everyone is done eating,

·        Put up all the leftovers that can be used by humans in the future.

·        Put the rest of the leftovers in pet bowls (special bowls just for leftovers, preferably. Dry kibble won’t have to be thrown out because it’s contaminated by people food this way.)

·        Put all the garbage in the trash can.

·        Take all the dirty dishes to the sink.

 If you have a dishwasher

o   Rinse and load the dishes.

o   Add soap

o   Turn on (you can wait and only do this once a day, just before bed, if your family is small and only uses one machine-full a day. Mine would use about six loads, which is why we don’t bother owning one. Its faster to just do them by hand when you have this volume)

o   Put anything that can’t wash in the machine into a sink of hot soapy water.
 
If you do not have a dishwasher (my preferred)

o   Fill the sink with dishes and hot soapy water.

o   Let soak

·        Wash the table, wiping each chair as you pass.

·        Start at the door to the kitchen and wash each counter and appliance as you come to it. Lightly wipe the cupboards if they need it. DON’T SCRUB! This is just a quick wipe up. You will get the hard stuff when you get to the kitchen in the Clean House Conga. You can use all-purpose cleaner here if you feel your house needs it. I do about once a week, though most the time a plain wet cloth is more than enough.

·        Sweep the dining room and kitchen.

·        Wash, rinse, dry and PUT UP what’s in the sink.

·        If you have a dishwasher, unload it and put the dishes up. Don’t leave it sitting full of clean dishes. (If you only do one load a day, unload it first thing in the morning and turn it one before bed every night. Then it will always be ready to put dirties in. This will make it easier for your household to get in the habit of always putting their dishes in the machine.)

Only wash one sink’s worth after breakfast and lunch and two after supper. Few families will actually fill the sink this many times in a day (If you do than fill one more sink’s worth per meal). You will eventually get them all washed, though it may take a while.

Do this Mamba after every meal every day, even Sunday.