Preparing For the Apocalypse...With Chili

Alright, so the end of the world is not upon us, but what the heck, I like to be prepared.

This need to feel prepared, I believe, dates back into the far reaches of my childhood. As a youngster in elementary school, I remember wearing my school uniform to bed so that I could wake up the next morning already dressed and ready to go. Seriously. My eight-year-old self was convinced I was so clever to have come up with such an idea. Proud of all the time I was saving in the morning (which couldn't have been more than 5 minutes at most), I would secretly congratulate myself as I jumped out of bed clad in a white collared blouse and navy jumper smurking I bet no one else does this! Yes that's probably true, because all the other 4th graders were busy being normal kids and waking up for school in normal pajamas. Looking back, #1 I can't believe my mom let me go to sleep dressed like that. It's nearly impossible that I woke up with anything less than 1,000 wrinkles all over my uniform which she then had to iron out. And #2, did I not shower in the mornings?? If I did, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of hopping out of bed dressed and ready to go? These are just a few of the burning questions I wish I could go back and ask my eight-year-old self. Unsurprisingly, all I can seem to recall is how pleased I was with myself for coming up with the whole idea.

Veggies give their last looks.

Eventually I grew out of the habit, but revisiting the memory now it's clear, in hindsight, that my adolescent self was just trying to wrest some sort of control over the seeming chaos of the morning school-day routine. Anticipate the "unknown" in some way. That, or capture a few extra minutes of sleep. As anyone who knows me can attest, I love my Z's. Regardless, having said all of this leads me to Sunday's chili-making spree. In my adult life I'd like to think I've learned to go with the flow more and remain flexible in the face of uncertainty, but admittedly, my latent preparad-ness tendencies only manifest themselves in less crazy ways than when I was a kid. Exhibit A: batch cooking for the week. Sunday was spent slicing and dicing onions, bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and parsnips (along with some ground turkey and black beans!) into a delicious, hearty pot of chili that's served as my lunch every day this week. With the cool, crisp days of Fall just around the corner, there's really nothing better than stick-to-your-ribs chili.

Simmer away!

In a strange way, having my lunches/food ready to go for the week beforehand makes me feel generally less-stressed and mentally ready to tackle the workweek along with whatever else crops up. The way I see it, already knowing what I'm going to eat for lunch is one less "decision" to think about during the day. Don't get me wrong, I love a splashy Chipotle lunch as much as the next gal. As they say, variety is the spice of life. But for the most part I find it works for me. Plus, it helps at the end of the day too, when work goes late and I'm about to eat my arm off in sheer starvation--to have healthy food options already prepared and ready to pop in the microwave. Literally, life- and arm-saving. 

What little tricks and tips do you do to prepare for the day/week ahead? Hopefully it's not sleeping in your next day's clothes!
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