Menu Planning and Cooking

When my husband and I were living in the condo during our first year as a married couple, we ate take-out food everyday. We were staying at a strategic location in Salcedo Village, hence we were in near proximity to a lot of restaurants and fast food chains. I was pregnant with my daughter then, so this explained why I gained 60 lbs given my petite frame of 5'1".

After we transferred to our own home in Taguig, I was at a loss on how to plan the family menu. With 2 helpers in the house, we cannot survive on take out everyday.

Admittedly, I was not a learned kitchen diva 3 years ago. I knew how to cook spaghetti and adobo, but I can never claim any title in the realm of food. As a beginner, I simply read cookbooks and food magazines and asked more experienced cooks about meal planning. I wrote simple recipes (i.e., adobong kangkong, chop suey, pakbet, tapa) in index cards. Our helper did mostly the cooking (because hubby rarely eats at home) but I'm quite hands on in the whole cooking process. Later on, we graduated to more complicated recipes.

Every Sunday prior to market day, I already plan the menu for the week. Since we are only 3 in the house (me and the 2 maids) who really eat (my daughter consumes too little food to be counted), we only cook once a day. I'm very particular with the combination of food that is served. I make sure that there's always vegetables in the menu. Weekends are usually special days wherein we either eat out or prepare something really yummy because my hubby eats with us.

Upon completion of the new kitchen, I got a little more hands on in cooking. There were a lot of new additions in my recipe collection. I promised myself to study cooking and baking next year.


My recipe collection. We had to dry them out because the accordion folder that secures the cards got wet when we stored it under the sink.

Decluttering One Space At A Time

Since I am still in the midst of recovering from surgery, I promised myself that I will be taking things easy. First thing I did was stop taking orders from my online shop and my distribution of Ecobloks-- quite challenging because I really enjoy transacting with fellow moms and it was part of my commitment to BiD Network and Philippine Business for Social Progress to grow Ecobloks.

But that's just work. If there was something I realized during my on and off confinement at the hospital, I have more important commitments for my husband, my daughter and to myself. Yes we need the extra income, but let's just say I am more willing to be frugal now.

Of course, I just don't lie down in bed at all times. While being more focused in planning the menu of the family and preparing hubby's baon daily, I promised myself to declutter at least one space at home per day.


Our pantry. There was a renovation done at our kitchen hence the bigger storage space.

It was very therapeutic. I was so happy when a guest told me that my house now has a different vibe. It used to be a bit gloomy because the design of our interiors was very minimalist with a limited palette of gray, brown and white. It looked good in pictures but felt cold and unfriendly in actuality. Aside from the new orange wall as suggested by my husband, I re-arranged our bar and removed the unnecessary clutter (old toys, bills, etc) and enhanced the living/ dining area with some interesting details (i.e., a plant, artworks).

My husband was against showing pictures of our house, so I just shared some spaces where I did some decluttering, such as the medicine cabinet and our pantry (well, we're nearing month end so it's close to empty).


Aside from organizing the medical items, I also threw away expired medicines.