Time Tips: Batch Meals for Speed

I find that preparing a large batch of "major meal components" all at once is very time-saving. For example, I:

Make a big batch of my tuna/egg mix (eggs, tuna, yogurt, mustard, onions, various spices) and stick that in the refrigerator. I have it over the next few days, making "sandwiches" with it. Instead of eating bread, I use leaves of bok choy, kale, romaine lettuce, etc.
Make a big stir fry in a big pan. I put that into several containers that go into the freezer. I thaw one at a time in the refrigerator as needed.
Make a pot of beans, which I divide into containers and freeze, etc. In the summer, I buy canned beans because of the heat.
Make up several bags of raw nuts and raw soybeans, which I use as snacks when I am away from the house or get the munchies--about 100 calories worth stops the hunger.
Make a batch of salad dressing that I use over the next week or so (the stuff in the store is usually loaded with sugar, damaged fat, and other poisons--mine tastes infinitely better and doesn't try to kill me).
Boil 8 or 10 eggs right after cooking a morning omelet.
Cook several steaks, chicken, etc., at one time--cut them into chunks or sections for freezer storage. On this last point, I have pretty much given up on cooking meats at home. With my various networking meetings, I am dining out a few times a month and use those occasions to have a small steak, fish, or chicken portion. Anything larger than my palm goes into a doggie bag and into my refrigerator!

Note that I don't do all of this at once. It's just that when I need a component, I make enough to last a while. Depending on what it is, I freeze it or refrigerate it. Here are some advantages:

Quick meals or some "mix and match" components.
No temptation to eat junk--good food is ready and waiting.
Ability to throw together something tasty and nutritious--quickly.
Meal planning is quite easy, this way.
Because the meals are good and the portions are pre-controlled, I am able to eliminate hours of treadmill time, doctor visits, jogging, getting sick, etc. I'm pretty happy with my present 8% body fat level. The average man my age is at 30%--and he spends a lot of time getting there!

Note: this article was originally written in early 2003. I have since changed my diet a bit and also am happy with my body fat at 6%, not 8%. -- Mark Lamendola, March of 2005.

A great way many businesses are managing time is using software. There are many forms of time and attendance software which allows managers to track and monitor employees time usage.

More thoughts on time management

The phrase "time management" is an unfortunate language quirk. You can't really manage time. It just is. You can't gain time, create time, or even lose time. Time is what it is, regardless of what we do.

It would be better to say "time allocation" or "activity management" "time usage" or some other phraseology to indicate that it's not time itself you're managing but how you use the time that exists. But we'll use the common terminology here to avoid confusion.

Some things time management is not:

Being more efficient. Suppose you become very efficient at making buggy whips. Does this fact mean you are managing your time well?
Getting more done in a given amount of time. Getting more done of what? And to what degree of quality? If you rake the leaves on a lawn from one side to the other all day long, does that mean you are a good time manager?
Being able to juggle multiple priorities. Instead of juggling priorities, assign priorities. First tend to the urgent things, then the most important things.
Mastering multi-tasking. This concept conflicts with what we know about the human brain. If you buy into this self-defeating, time-wasting, quality-killing ideology, you might also be interested in practicing solo flight by flapping your arms frantically.
Working faster. No, this mode is how you make mistakes that you subsequently have to spend more time fixing.

Some things good time management involves:

Deciding what to do. This is trickier than it sounds. Which is why there are time management experts.
Deciding what not to do. This is even trickier than deciding what to do. Which is why there are time managers and why discipline is a huge, huge factor in accomplishing this.
Deciding what to do when, and in what order. In essence, prioritization.
Determining the scope, goals, and metrics for each activity you undertake. In this area, we the find most room for improvement. Precision here allows you to avoid waste on the one hand, and falling short on the other.
Planning out the work, task, project, or activity such that you determine the necessary steps to quality completion. That is, what must you do to meet the intended goal and quality metrics?
Identifying unnecessary steps. Get this right, and you can cut your wasted hours significantly.
Figuring out what resources to use. Not all resources applicable to a task are equal. Picking the right tool for the job saves time, improves quality, and makes life less stressful.

We've highlighted only some of the factors involved in good time management. We actually teach extreme time management, which is a methodology that allows you to make effective use of your time almost second nature. You don't need a complicated system. Our system puts many of the variables on autopilot, so you have more time to do what you need to do. Our system goes way beyond most other systems in results, yet is far simpler.

Contact us for a presentation to your organization: comments @ mindconnection.com (remove the spaces after pasting into your e-mail client's "to" box.