Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: This is Laura Vandercamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
Speaker 2: and speaker.
Speaker 3: And this is Sarah hart Hunger. I'm a mother of three,
Speaker 3: a practicing physician and blogger. On the side, we are
Speaker 3: two working parents who love our careers and our families.
Speaker 2: Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about
Speaker 2: how real women manage work, family, and time for fun.
Speaker 2: From figuring out childcare to mapping out long term career goals.
Speaker 2: We want you to get the most out of life.
Speaker 2: Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. This
Speaker 2: episode is airing in most likely mid to late September.
Speaker 2: Sarah is going to be interviewing Allison from Preptish. Allison
Speaker 2: is a longtime friend of our podcasts, and Sarah has
Speaker 2: been following Preptish for quite a while. Now it's the
Speaker 2: service that will you tell us, Sarah, what does it
Speaker 2: do for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So, I was interested in Preptish for many years.
Speaker 3: I heard about it on other podcasts, but I admittedly
Speaker 3: didn't start using it until Alice had reached out to
Speaker 3: me to sponsor Best Laid Plans.
Speaker 4: So she does. They are a Best Laid Plan sponsor.
Speaker 4: But now I am.
Speaker 3: I think in my third year of using Preptish, and
Speaker 3: I use it like I wou'd say seventy percent of
Speaker 3: the time for our weekly meal planning because it is
Speaker 3: weekly meal planning that I do not have to do.
Speaker 3: So like they send you in your email a whole
Speaker 3: shopping list and like this is what's for dinner, and
Speaker 3: they tend to be like I don't want to say,
Speaker 3: like health conscious, but like thet more whole foods based,
Speaker 3: like not a lot of processed ingredients, simple recipes, and
Speaker 3: very strategic, like you'll make a sauce that is used
Speaker 3: in two fairly different dishes two days apart, so that
Speaker 3: it like saves time.
Speaker 4: Our nanny does.
Speaker 3: A lot of the prepping of our preptice, so she's
Speaker 3: used to how the system works. But if she's away
Speaker 3: for a week, then I usually do it on Sunday,
Speaker 3: And I'm like, this is it's like actually making life
Speaker 3: easier versus like making a bunch of fancy stuff that
Speaker 3: takes like eight hours and then you put it in
Speaker 3: the freezer and have to thought out. This is like
Speaker 3: it's thought through in a very efficiency minded way. So anyway,
Speaker 3: I love Preptish. I love working with Allison. She started
Speaker 3: her company I think before she had kids, and it
Speaker 3: has grown and done well and she's the head of
Speaker 3: this thriving small business. So when she reached out to me,
Speaker 3: I thought it would be really fun to have her
Speaker 3: on to talk both about her business building but also
Speaker 3: about the concept of preptish and meal planning in general.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because this is I mean, of all the questions
Speaker 2: we get, I think the two questions we get most
Speaker 2: often is like, should I have a third kid? And
Speaker 2: then I need to plan my meals for the week.
Speaker 2: Like these are like the two pain points that people
Speaker 2: write into us about. And so yeah, we get a
Speaker 2: whole lot of interest in meal planning, especially in September
Speaker 2: with new routines things like that people trying to think
Speaker 2: through if you know they're trying to get family dinners
Speaker 2: on the table, or even just feed people in shifts,
Speaker 2: if you know you're trying to feed yourself at lunch,
Speaker 2: if you don't want to just rely on restaurant food
Speaker 2: all the time, or you know, if you're trying to
Speaker 2: eat in a more sort of whole foodsish way, whatever
Speaker 2: it is that you are trying to do that a
Speaker 2: lot of people are thinking about it, especially at this
Speaker 2: time of year, you particularly, I mean, so preptish is
Speaker 2: mostly for dinner, but you're thinking about your lunches more
Speaker 2: these days too, right, Sarah.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 3: My like prompt was like, is there anything you want
Speaker 3: to change about your meal planning game? And I'm like,
Speaker 3: I need to figure out lunch because I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think it's just because it's the start of the
Speaker 3: school year and everything's been more hectic, but also something
Speaker 3: I used to take for lunch. I'm not going to
Speaker 3: like disparage a food item, but like I just decided
Speaker 3: it didn't like agree with me, and so I'm like,
Speaker 3: I need a new like standard lunch.
Speaker 4: I need a system.
Speaker 3: So I just I feel like I need to do
Speaker 3: lunch planning, and I think I might just come up
Speaker 3: with like the world's easiest lunch template, like selid from
Speaker 3: Trader Joe's, with like some kind of protein that's already
Speaker 3: pre made for Monday, and then like something hard boiled
Speaker 3: egg based on what.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just need to like routinize it rather than every
Speaker 3: day be like this is a new problem I've never
Speaker 3: had before.
Speaker 2: When I go out, I had to do lunch before
Speaker 2: what is this? The world is new and I am
Speaker 2: facing it for the first time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I don't.
Speaker 3: I mean, I have no problem with like delivery, but
Speaker 3: I just find like the quality is never that great
Speaker 3: and like I never know if it's gonna come or
Speaker 3: if it's gonna come and be like Luke, like I
Speaker 3: just I'm sort of over it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, it's like it doesn't come until you're back with
Speaker 2: your patients or something ridiculous, and then you can't really
Speaker 2: eat it. And yeah, no it's not gonna work.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I kind of want to get better about my breakfast
Speaker 2: and lunch game. I would like to eat slightly more
Speaker 2: I don't know, vegetable slash protein based stuff for those meals.
Speaker 2: And if we have the stuff in the house then
Speaker 2: I can. It's just if we don't have the stuff
Speaker 2: in the house, then I'm not I'm gonna eat whatever
Speaker 2: is there. So this is complicated by the fact that
Speaker 2: I'm usually not doing the grocery shopping like my husband does,
Speaker 2: and I can't necessarily articulate what I want him to
Speaker 2: get unless I think it through ahead of time, but
Speaker 2: I usually don't because it's just all complicated. So either
Speaker 2: I need to make like a quick grocery shopping trip
Speaker 2: at one point during the week where I basically just
Speaker 2: only shop for me or else. I need to think
Speaker 2: it through and go with a list for whoever is
Speaker 2: grocery shopping and do that all.
Speaker 4: It easier to think it through and go with a list.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, then you don't have to go to this,
Speaker 2: then I don't have to go. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: mean it's yeah. We do basic stuff, you know, like rotations.
Speaker 2: There's a limited number of meals my kids will eat.
Speaker 2: So if I am trying to have all of us
Speaker 2: sort of eat the same stuff, it's going to be
Speaker 2: more limited than if it's just me eating. But it
Speaker 2: is just me eating at lunch. So if I could
Speaker 2: figure out something, you know, for like three days, make
Speaker 2: it for one day, and then eat it for three days,
Speaker 2: that would probably be great. I could do that and
Speaker 2: find lunch more exciting. So maybe that's on my goal
Speaker 2: for the list. And you want to do more bake goods,
Speaker 2: you're going to bake No, that's my fantasy, So that's
Speaker 2: your fantasy.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 3: In my fantasy world, I make some big good on
Speaker 3: the weekend that we eat all week, but then I wrote,
Speaker 3: the real world tends to not resemble this world, so
Speaker 3: I just buy a Trader Joe's banana bread and a day.
Speaker 2: So Ruth has actually started doing a lot of baking,
Speaker 2: so I'm gonna more encourage this, and she's missing it,
Speaker 2: and we're recording this while we're still at the beach,
Speaker 2: Like I miss baking.
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay, so.
Speaker 2: Maybe she'll start making a banana bread on the weekend.
Speaker 4: And we're Cameron because he's like my omelet chef he
Speaker 4: makes for there.
Speaker 2: Yeah he might like it, you know, think about like
Speaker 2: what he would like to make, and then next thing
Speaker 2: you know, you've got big goods all week and it's
Speaker 2: not fancy.
Speaker 3: All right, when it disclosed before we start the episode,
Speaker 3: just in case anyone's like, is this a sponsored episode?
Speaker 1: It is not.
Speaker 3: So this was just we thought it would be great.
Speaker 3: I like Allison, she does sponsor ads on Best Laid Plans,
Speaker 3: But this is just us thinking she would be fun
Speaker 3: to have on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sounds good. All right, here's Sarah with Allison.
Speaker 3: Well, I am here with Alison Shaw, who I have
Speaker 3: actually spoken to and worked with a little bit before,
Speaker 3: because she is the founder of Preptish a company which
Speaker 3: does happen to be one of Bestlaid Plans sponsors, but
Speaker 3: also as a company that I use on a regular basis.
Speaker 3: So Alison is also a listener of Best of Both Worlds,
Speaker 3: which is not something I realized, but I'm super excited
Speaker 3: to hear a little bit more about that. And Allison,
Speaker 3: go ahead and tell our listeners who you are, a
Speaker 3: little bit about your business and maybe a little bit
Speaker 3: about your current situation in life with your kids.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. So my name is Alison Schoff. I'm
Speaker 1: the founder of Preptish. I founded that company over ten
Speaker 1: years ago. So way pre kids. Currently I have a
Speaker 1: four and a half year old and an almost three
Speaker 1: year old, so and yeah, so that's where I'm at
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 3: That can be saying a lot in a very few words,
Speaker 3: a four and a half year old and an almost
Speaker 3: three year old is that is a time definitely can
Speaker 3: be a very challenging time for me. That was slightly
Speaker 3: better than the like one and a half and a
Speaker 3: three year old. So maybe you've gotten somewhere, but still
Speaker 3: a lot of child feel like.
Speaker 1: We're actually at a good stage. It's kind of yay.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's like the past month has been
Speaker 1: like this window, you know how there's like windows or
Speaker 1: it's like okay, everything's like good because they're really playing
Speaker 1: together a lot, and even independently playing together. Like if
Speaker 1: I'm with them, I can actually let them go and
Speaker 1: do their little imaginative play and I can you know,
Speaker 1: get dinner going, for example. And they're really good on
Speaker 1: their own right now, so it's really nice.
Speaker 4: That is amazing.
Speaker 3: So first I want to start a little bit about
Speaker 3: from the beginning, like how did practice get started, including
Speaker 3: how did you?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: This was a while ago and I almost feel like
Speaker 3: the idea of like women starting an online business is
Speaker 3: more common now, but you were kind of a trailblazer.
Speaker 4: So tell us a little bit about kind of the backstory.
Speaker 1: Well, I went to culinary school and I'm also a dietitian,
Speaker 1: and I started out as a personal chef, so I
Speaker 1: was going into people's homes and cooking for them and
Speaker 1: it was a great job, like I actually really loved it.
Speaker 1: But when I looked into the future, I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted a family, and I just didn't see that as
Speaker 1: like a sustainable career for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: And also in working with the clients. You know, I
Speaker 1: was able to max out of maybe six people a week,
Speaker 1: and that was a lot, So you know, I just
Speaker 1: didn't see a way to reach a lot of people either.
Speaker 1: But in doing that process of going in and cooking
Speaker 1: for people in their homes, I created this process. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: I was very systemized, and I was very incentivized to
Speaker 1: be as quick as possible but still have the food
Speaker 1: be you know, really healthy and tasty and all of that.
Speaker 1: So as I was doing this, I saw this opportunity
Speaker 1: to take what I was doing and document that and
Speaker 1: then get it out to the masses. And so that's
Speaker 1: exactly what I did. I actually created Preptish while I
Speaker 1: was still personal chefing because I could kind of write
Speaker 1: out my recipes and I had a real live audience
Speaker 1: to test the recipes with. And even though I didn't
Speaker 1: have kids, a lot of my clients did. And so
Speaker 1: I just saw this as something that you know, busy
Speaker 1: moms could really use. And it really came full circle
Speaker 1: because then, you know, eventually I went on to have
Speaker 1: my own kids, and now it's like I use the
Speaker 1: meal plans but in a way that like I need
Speaker 1: them worse In the past yes, I use them. I
Speaker 1: created the recipes. I thought it was a great concept,
Speaker 1: but now it's something that personally in my life like
Speaker 1: I have to have. So it's really cool that I'm
Speaker 1: now like using this product that I created years ago.
Speaker 4: That is awesome.
Speaker 3: You're like, wow, it really does work, thank goodness, And
Speaker 3: I can vouch for that as well.
Speaker 4: Well. As your business has grown.
Speaker 3: And you ended up having kids kind of in the
Speaker 3: middle of that process, did that change anything about how
Speaker 3: you've decided to run your business. This is a kind
Speaker 3: of sensitive best of both worlds questions, not that we're
Speaker 3: looking for a specific answer, but what have you found
Speaker 3: regarding childcare? And yeah, just take us a little bit
Speaker 3: through that journey of when you first realized that you
Speaker 3: were going to have a baby, but you were already
Speaker 3: running kind of a successful business on your own. Actually
Speaker 3: I said, but but I should have said, and you
Speaker 3: are already running a successful business on your own.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a really interesting journey for sure. One
Speaker 1: because so our path to having a family was an
Speaker 1: easy one. I actually so I have a little side
Speaker 1: project that is now officially a nonprofit called Miscarriage Hope Desk.
Speaker 1: But I ran into the issue of having not just
Speaker 1: one miscarriage, but multiple miscarriages and led us on the
Speaker 1: path to you know, adoption and then eventually a biological
Speaker 1: sun And so that's a whole side project that I started,
Speaker 1: you know, in the past few years as well. And
Speaker 1: so I felt like even before we had kids, there
Speaker 1: was a lot that was going into my fertility and
Speaker 1: so with Preptish, one of the big things that changed
Speaker 1: was delegating, you know, finding a team that helped me
Speaker 1: to you know, in the beginning, like I said, I
Speaker 1: was a personal chef. I was creating Preptish, I was
Speaker 1: working a lot of hours, but I was also single
Speaker 1: and on my own. And then as the years have
Speaker 1: gone by, I've definitely cut back the amount of hours.
Speaker 1: I've tried to really figure out what are the tasks
Speaker 1: that I needed for and it's been so cool to
Speaker 1: bring on a team that also you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of actually think now everyone on the team is also
Speaker 1: a busy mom and uses Preptish, and so to have
Speaker 1: them be able to have a career that they're passionate
Speaker 1: about as well, and we can all work on it
Speaker 1: together versus just me on my own. So that's been
Speaker 1: a big transition and then figuring out childcare. I will
Speaker 1: say best of both worlds has actually been a really
Speaker 1: important resource to find that, you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: you can't overdo childcare, you know, like I am a
Speaker 1: big fan of all the childcare hours and all the support,
Speaker 1: even if that just means that way I can have
Speaker 1: a little more one on one time with one of
Speaker 1: the kids, And that's something that I definitely have learned
Speaker 1: through listening to y'all's podcast. And we have found that
Speaker 1: the best fit for us is working with O pairs.
Speaker 1: So we actually currently are in between O pairs, so
Speaker 1: there's like been about a month gap, but over the
Speaker 1: past four and a half years, we've worked with several pairs.
Speaker 1: If you ever want to do an entire episode on
Speaker 1: interviewing O pairs and working with them, I could probably
Speaker 1: answer a lot of questions. We've had some really amazing
Speaker 1: ones and then a few that weren't a fit, but
Speaker 1: overall it's really been the best fit for us.
Speaker 4: That is awesome.
Speaker 3: Actually, we did at one point do a interview with
Speaker 3: someone who worked at an O pair agency, which is
Speaker 3: really interesting, but we haven't revisited O pairs in a while,
Speaker 3: so not that I want to totally sidestep the stuff
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you about meal planning. Could
Speaker 3: you just give a little bit more detail about how
Speaker 3: it's been, how it works, how do you set hours,
Speaker 3: What do you like about it?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll start with what I love about it is
Speaker 1: the flexibility of the hours. We live in the country.
Speaker 1: So when our first was born, we started out with
Speaker 1: a nanny, but sometimes she wouldn't be right on time,
Speaker 1: which I would understand. You know, it's a drive to
Speaker 1: get here and they would hit traffic. And then you know,
Speaker 1: even since then, we'll sometimes work with babysitters and it's
Speaker 1: just the reliability of getting someone here is tricky, and
Speaker 1: when we've got work calls or such. You know, you
Speaker 1: reliabilities Keith when it comes to childcare. So with the
Speaker 1: open they it's an exchange program. They live in your home,
Speaker 1: but our house has a nice setup where her room is.
Speaker 1: It's attached to the house, but she actually has to
Speaker 1: exit our home to get to her room, so she
Speaker 1: definitely has privacy, and then we have privacy as well,
Speaker 1: which works out I think for both parties. There's a
Speaker 1: total of forty five childcare hours a week. You do
Speaker 1: have some restrictions and that you can only do, you know,
Speaker 1: ten hours a day, and they have to have one
Speaker 1: weekend off a month, and you know, certain things you
Speaker 1: have to kind of abide by. But once you figure
Speaker 1: out the scheduling and the rhythm, it really and it's
Speaker 1: also very flexible and that you can split those hours
Speaker 1: up however you wish, right like if I, especially with
Speaker 1: a baby, if they take a two hour nap in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, she can take a break in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: which often works good for the O pair as well
Speaker 1: because she go go back to room, maybe call her family.
Speaker 1: You know, I can add Saturday mornings on the schedule,
Speaker 1: I can do date nights and you know that's just
Speaker 1: really I think hard to come by with that, just
Speaker 1: unlimited flexibility. And yeah, it's just been a really great
Speaker 1: fit for us.
Speaker 4: Awesome, Well, thank you.
Speaker 3: That was an unexpected bonus bonus tip session during this episode.
Speaker 1: I should mention is I think people don't mention that
Speaker 1: it's actually very affordable too. I think people think, oh,
Speaker 1: it's someone that's like living in home with you and
Speaker 1: this you know, it's totally out of the budget, but
Speaker 1: you know, you are paying for their living expenses, but
Speaker 1: when you compare it to like a full time nanny,
Speaker 1: it's often more affordable. And so I think I always
Speaker 1: encourage people to just check it out and see if
Speaker 1: it might be a fit. Because I have a lot
Speaker 1: of friends and now have bo pairs. Let's just say that.
Speaker 4: That is awesome.
Speaker 3: All right, So I do want to talk a little
Speaker 3: bit about meal planning. We're going to take a quick break,
Speaker 3: but I know a lot of our listeners came here
Speaker 3: to absorb all of your wisdom on this topic, so
Speaker 3: we will go back in just a couple of minutes
Speaker 3: to talk about that. All right, we are back, and
Speaker 3: Allison shop is a business owner, a mother. Sounds like
Speaker 3: she has really good systems, but one of the things
Speaker 3: that she is truly a master at is the art
Speaker 3: of planning meals in a very efficient way.
Speaker 4: Tell us all your secrets.
Speaker 1: Well, I always say, again, like having that background of
Speaker 1: like looking at meals through two lenses, right, Like I
Speaker 1: want the food to be healthy but also tasty, like
Speaker 1: and I always say kind of chef lens first of
Speaker 1: making sure it's tasty, especially with kiddos, you want people
Speaker 1: to actually be eating the food that you're preparing. But
Speaker 1: the key to getting healthy food on the table is
Speaker 1: to number one, have a plan. I always say the
Speaker 1: worst time to figure out what you're going to eat
Speaker 1: is like five or six o'clock at night, when you've
Speaker 1: gone through the day, you're maybe in this decision fatigue
Speaker 1: mode and then trying to figure out what you're going
Speaker 1: to eat. So even if it's just like you know,
Speaker 1: spending Friday afternoon looking at the upcoming week and jotting
Speaker 1: down some notes, having a plan of what's for dinner
Speaker 1: each night, like that step right there is huge. So
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of just like the first baseline,
Speaker 1: like at least have some sort of plan, and then
Speaker 1: from there I like to take things a step further
Speaker 1: and add in a meal prep component where you're actually,
Speaker 1: you know, doing some chopping and mixing up some marinades
Speaker 1: and doing all of that kind of heavy lifting up front.
Speaker 1: So then that way, when it gets to meal time,
Speaker 1: it's just like, not only are there no decisions, but
Speaker 1: it's really easy. It's just kind of like doing the
Speaker 1: finishing touches and getting the meal on the table.
Speaker 3: I feel like a huge piece of what makes your
Speaker 3: system very efficient is the batching aspect. Because that's not
Speaker 3: something I mean I always knew about like leftovers, but
Speaker 3: somehow you're able to repurpose things. So give listeners some
Speaker 3: examples of how you use batching and I guess repurposing
Speaker 3: of things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a big fan of batching. That was something
Speaker 1: that I found even with my you know, personal chef clients.
Speaker 1: I was visiting them once a week, so basically what
Speaker 1: I was doing for them was a meal prep, right, Like,
Speaker 1: I was prepping their meals, but I would always encourage
Speaker 1: them to not have me actually cook their food, so
Speaker 1: that way they weren't eating leftovers. Right, So I was
Speaker 1: doing the chopping of the vegetables. And even just if
Speaker 1: you start with that right, just at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the week, chop all of your vegetables, it's going to
Speaker 1: be more efficient. You're only pulling out your cutting board
Speaker 1: once instead of every single night. And so you know,
Speaker 1: maybe if you do it once at the being in
Speaker 1: the week, it's twenty minutes of chopping, and if you
Speaker 1: do it every single night, it's five or ten minutes.
Speaker 1: So it's just like over time, you're really going to
Speaker 1: save a lot of time just on those little tasks.
Speaker 1: And then we take things a step further by looking
Speaker 1: at ways where we can kind of batch even ingredients
Speaker 1: and dishes. So for example, maybe using a marinade on
Speaker 1: two different dishes, or even using a marinad for meat
Speaker 1: and one dish and then reusing that, or you know,
Speaker 1: doubling it and using the other half as a dressing,
Speaker 1: like it's a salad dressing or something. So I don't
Speaker 1: want it to be feeling like you're eating the same thing,
Speaker 1: So using the same ingredients in the same kind of
Speaker 1: process but not having it be a repeat or feel
Speaker 1: like you're eating the same thing and keeping it really fresh.
Speaker 1: So that's something for sure. And then yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: just the whole concept of batching it just as such
Speaker 1: a game changer in terms of saving time, and it's
Speaker 1: something that I use not just in my cooking, but
Speaker 1: I'm always looking for areas of my life where I
Speaker 1: can batch different tasks to make them more efficient.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the marinate a cela addressing thing. I've seen that
Speaker 3: a lot, and it works really well because actually something
Speaker 3: will take on very different dimensions when used in those
Speaker 3: two different ways, so you really don't feel like you're
Speaker 3: eating the same thing, but you only had to put
Speaker 3: it together one time, and it really doesn't take any
Speaker 3: longer to make a double or triple batch of certain
Speaker 3: things than it would to make just a single. So
Speaker 3: for me, that's been very, very helpful and probably one of.
Speaker 1: My life Like another way of doing that is just
Speaker 1: like doubling. So say you're making a soup or a lasagna,
Speaker 1: making double of that and sticking half in the freezer,
Speaker 1: so then that way you know you're having it this
Speaker 1: week and then maybe in a month, you pull it
Speaker 1: out on a night where you know, pull it out
Speaker 1: a morning when you've got a busy night and it
Speaker 1: feels like a fresh new dish because you only you
Speaker 1: had it a month ago. And same thing when you're
Speaker 1: making double the amount of soup, it doesn't take double
Speaker 1: the amount of time.
Speaker 3: I saw a recent hack regarding this then I don't
Speaker 3: remember where it may have been the Lazy Genius podcast,
Speaker 3: but I have to share it, which is that if
Speaker 3: you do a double batch, go to your planner or
Speaker 3: whatever digital calendar you use, and actually write on a
Speaker 3: future date when you're going to use that other half,
Speaker 3: like maybe it's in a month. Because I tend to
Speaker 3: be somebody who makes stuff, puts it in the freezer,
Speaker 3: and then forgets about it forever. But if it's like
Speaker 3: on your planner that like, oh, I've already meal planned
Speaker 3: Wednesday and it's already there, I mean, like it's so obvious,
Speaker 3: but I never thought to do that, and I'm totally
Speaker 3: going to do that.
Speaker 4: So for anyone, I.
Speaker 1: Love that idea. Yeah, we do freezer challenges and I
Speaker 1: don't even know that we have that in there, So
Speaker 1: I'm totally taking that back and going to use that
Speaker 1: tip of like put it on the calendar. I just
Speaker 1: always know that I have something in my freezer because
Speaker 1: I just make sure there's always something in there. But
Speaker 1: putting it on the calendar would be really smart, and
Speaker 1: then it would be really exciting to look at your
Speaker 1: calendar and be like, oh my goodness, I already have
Speaker 1: my meal already for this day.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 4: How about kitchen tools?
Speaker 3: Do you have any like absolute favorite gadgets or tools
Speaker 3: or on the flip side, well, I don't want to
Speaker 3: like bash anything, but anything you feel like people talk
Speaker 3: about a lot but might be a little overrated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, both, So I am a fan of not overdoing
Speaker 1: it on the kitchen gadgets, I don't like a lot
Speaker 1: of clutter. I don't like a lot of things on
Speaker 1: my countertop. So I always try and especially you know,
Speaker 1: just with preptish. I always like, yes, there's people that
Speaker 1: have been with us for years, but we always have
Speaker 1: new people coming on and I don't want to overwhelm
Speaker 1: them with like, oh, you need this fancy tool or equipment.
Speaker 1: The number one thing that I always say is just
Speaker 1: a really good chef's knife and a really like a
Speaker 1: nice cutting board for doing some chopping. If you want
Speaker 1: to eat healthy, that's going to include some vegetables, it's
Speaker 1: at some point going to include some chopping. I mean
Speaker 1: it is good nowadays you can get a lot more
Speaker 1: pre chopped veggies, but I you know, there is going
Speaker 1: to be some chopping involved. So I think a really
Speaker 1: good chef's knife too often. So I also used to
Speaker 1: do cooking lessons in home for people back when I
Speaker 1: was doing more of the chef work, and I would
Speaker 1: find that people would be using like a little pary
Speaker 1: knife or maybe like one of those little glass decorative
Speaker 1: cutting boards, and it's really hard to be quick and
Speaker 1: efficient if you don't have like a really good knife.
Speaker 1: So that's always my top one and then from there,
Speaker 1: you know. And so one that I don't use but
Speaker 1: I know everyone else in my team does is the
Speaker 1: air fryer. I know people are a huge fan of it,
Speaker 1: and I did, gosh, this is like a big rabbit hole.
Speaker 1: I got one at one point. One of my issues
Speaker 1: too with the air fryers is it's really hard to
Speaker 1: find ones that don't have the nonstick coating, which I
Speaker 1: try and avoid. And I have a really good oven
Speaker 1: with a really good broil feature, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: For me, I don't need it a lot. I think
Speaker 1: people definitely use preptish and still use their air fryer.
Speaker 1: Same thing with the instant I actually do use the
Speaker 1: instant pop more, but none of our recipes are specific
Speaker 1: where you have to have it. But for me, it's
Speaker 1: like sometimes I can sneak away in the afternoon stick
Speaker 1: something in the instant pot and have it be ready
Speaker 1: for dinner. So and I like it better than the
Speaker 1: crop pot because I feel like I'm not always as
Speaker 1: good at like doing the meal like first thing in
Speaker 1: the morning, but in the afternoon I am, So the
Speaker 1: instant Pot's kind of good for my timing, I guess,
Speaker 1: But yeah, and then I mean from there, oh, for
Speaker 1: meal prep. The other really big one is just really
Speaker 1: good containers. So having some nice like storage containers, I
Speaker 1: prefer glass for multiple reasons. I also think it helps
Speaker 1: keep the food fresher longer, but you know, investing in
Speaker 1: some of those upfront can help as well. Yeah, overall,
Speaker 1: I don't think there's like a lot of really fancy
Speaker 1: equipment that's needed.
Speaker 3: That's probably one of the things I like about your
Speaker 3: system because we do use it and I don't have anything.
Speaker 4: I don't have an air fight. I don't. I also don't.
Speaker 4: I mean, I have a food processor.
Speaker 3: We do have a blender, but that's like it's kind
Speaker 3: of the stent and I kind of like not having
Speaker 3: to worry about like fancy stuff on the countertop, like
Speaker 3: an air fryer or.
Speaker 4: Even an instant pot. Don't hate me, I don't have
Speaker 4: no I agree.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm glad to hear that you've gotten by
Speaker 1: just fine. Like that's our goal. We don't want people
Speaker 1: to feel like they have to rush out and buy
Speaker 1: all this stuff that then they're not going to use,
Speaker 1: you know. I think again, cooking's it's really the basics.
Speaker 4: I will say, good Dutch Oven very helpful. Love that anyway.
Speaker 3: Okay, so kids, let's get to this, because a lot
Speaker 3: of people are like, that sounds wonderful. I would love
Speaker 3: chef inspired meals, and my kids are going to be
Speaker 3: very hesitant. That's not necessarily as much been my experience,
Speaker 3: because I do have kids that tend to be fairly
Speaker 3: adventurous eaters, at least two out of the three of them.
Speaker 3: And then I know my hack is usually to just
Speaker 3: sort of leave certain little components plane and also have
Speaker 3: a very boring, easy alternative, which is usually carrots and hummus.
Speaker 3: If someone is like outright rejecting an but you tell
Speaker 3: listeners like, what would you advise people who really want
Speaker 3: to get their prep system going, either yours or another
Speaker 3: type of thing, but struggle with kids who have limited
Speaker 3: interest in trying new things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, of course we hear this a lot,
Speaker 1: and we're actually in the process of putting together we
Speaker 1: did a Picky Eater challenge and now we're going to
Speaker 1: have an ongoing product that people can buy to help
Speaker 1: with this. But we are always looking for ways to
Speaker 1: help and a lot of different kind of tools and
Speaker 1: tricks that you can use. One is I think it's
Speaker 1: important to each kid. First of all, there's no like
Speaker 1: quote unquote kid food right, Like one kid's going to
Speaker 1: really love broccoli and the other kid might really love asparagus,
Speaker 1: So it's really hard to put together like, oh, here's
Speaker 1: the kid friendly vegetables, you know. I think part of
Speaker 1: it's knowing your kid. And one thing I do suggest
Speaker 1: is if there is a meal that you're looking at
Speaker 1: and you're like, there's nothing on here that is like
Speaker 1: familiar for my child, then maybe add something that you
Speaker 1: know that they like, for example, like some rice, like
Speaker 1: having that as a side dish, so that way it's
Speaker 1: not all new. You don't want to overwhelm them with
Speaker 1: too much new stuff. And I also even my kids
Speaker 1: are great eaters, but I often do what you said is,
Speaker 1: which is like, you know, not compiling it all right,
Speaker 1: like not mixing it all together so they can kind
Speaker 1: of pick and choose what they want. And then also
Speaker 1: just looking at it is like, hey, here's this opportunity
Speaker 1: to introduce our family to a lot of different foods.
Speaker 1: I like to remind people that often takes several introductions.
Speaker 1: So I always say like, oh, my kids are great eaters,
Speaker 1: but like that doesn't mean we don't have a meal
Speaker 1: where one kid will refuse to eat anything, right, And
Speaker 1: that's okay. And I always look at kids, especially like
Speaker 1: the younger ones, it's not like we tend to regulate
Speaker 1: our food over a twenty four hour period. Kids regulate
Speaker 1: their food intake and their calories really over like a
Speaker 1: week long period. So just because they have a whole
Speaker 1: entire day where they don't eat a lot, they're not
Speaker 1: going to starve like they're really good. They regulate their calories,
Speaker 1: but it's not that twenty four hour period. It's usually
Speaker 1: like a week long period. So I even have to
Speaker 1: find myself reminding myself of that because I will have
Speaker 1: days where I can't keep up with my kids, like
Speaker 1: they're eating so much food, and then a few days
Speaker 1: later they won't touch something that I know they love.
Speaker 1: And I also think it's just really important too to
Speaker 1: not have a lot of comments on that and just
Speaker 1: leave it to them, because again, they are very good
Speaker 1: at regulating and letting them just kind of explore and
Speaker 1: consume in their own time. And I found that actually
Speaker 1: probably the number one tip and dealing with kids is
Speaker 1: just letting them stay in their lane and I stay
Speaker 1: in mind and don't even pay attention to it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you might be surprised how much they try when you
Speaker 1: kind of remove yourself from the situation.
Speaker 4: That is awesome.
Speaker 3: How about meal planning for non dinner meals, Like, what
Speaker 3: if someone has their dinner game really locked down, but
Speaker 3: breakfast is like a new challenge every day, or they're
Speaker 3: tired of eating the same things for lunch. Our resources
Speaker 3: are mostly dinner focused, at least, I have to admit
Speaker 3: I have not delved into anything beyond dinner in the
Speaker 3: Preptish realm. But I don't know what would you say
Speaker 3: for people struggling more with those other meal times.
Speaker 1: Well, I can tackle them kind of one by one.
Speaker 1: So for lunch, one thing I suggest is if people
Speaker 1: are using Preptish for their dinners, just doubling up their
Speaker 1: dinner and then using those leftovers for lunch. That's what
Speaker 1: we do usually at our house is I'm just like
Speaker 1: making double for dinner and then whatever is leftover using
Speaker 1: that for lunch. Or sometimes instead of having it exactly
Speaker 1: the same way, I'll make it into a salad. So
Speaker 1: if I've had like chicken and asparagus and rice, and
Speaker 1: I'll chop up the chicken and asparagus and put it
Speaker 1: on a salad. So just kind of like reusing those
Speaker 1: dinner items for lunch, or you know, finding something again
Speaker 1: that you could batch, like maybe doing some sort of
Speaker 1: roast and then you know, having tacos or you could
Speaker 1: even do like you know, tacos one day and like
Speaker 1: a Mexican bowl the next day and a salad the
Speaker 1: next So kind of like get that concept of making
Speaker 1: one item and reusing it in multiple ways. And then
Speaker 1: for breakfast. Breakfast is one that I tend to repeat.
Speaker 1: You know, it depends on how much you know variety
Speaker 1: you want, but I do think it's okay to repeat
Speaker 1: dishes and so figuring out. But for me, it's more
Speaker 1: like I have my go tos that I repeat over
Speaker 1: the course of a month. But like day to day,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing the same thing every day, and I
Speaker 1: do try and plan out, like if we're doing oatmeal,
Speaker 1: like I'll soak it overnight, and I find that if
Speaker 1: I start things the night before that helps so I'm
Speaker 1: not scrambling that morning. So I do try and plant
Speaker 1: out the breakfast. I think that's really helpful to just
Speaker 1: not wake up and be like, oh my gosh, when
Speaker 1: am I going to feed these kids when they're asking
Speaker 1: that they're hungry, Like, I already know what I'm feeding
Speaker 1: them when I wake up, So I find that really
Speaker 1: helpful as well. And then on our Preptish plans, so
Speaker 1: the super Fast is just dinners, but we do have
Speaker 1: two of the Paleol gluten free do include a new
Speaker 1: breakfast item each week and new salad each week, so
Speaker 1: there is some variety on those as well.
Speaker 4: I am a super fast die.
Speaker 1: Hard all the way.
Speaker 4: I use that very frequently, so and I'm like, why
Speaker 4: not why a venture beyond super fast?
Speaker 1: I like fast.
Speaker 4: So we don't have specific dietary restrictions at our house,
Speaker 4: so that works really really well for us.
Speaker 3: Favorite easy host meal. So if you have people coming over,
Speaker 3: I mean we haven't talked to many about like specific dishes,
Speaker 3: but like, what is your go to I'm having a
Speaker 3: group of people over, I.
Speaker 4: Want to keep things really easy. This is what I'm making, you.
Speaker 1: Know, Honestly, sometimes I just do what I'm going to
Speaker 1: be doing for dinner in a way. And I hear
Speaker 1: this a lot from Preptish subscribers. They'll just use, you know,
Speaker 1: their prep dish meal their meals that are on there,
Speaker 1: and some people really like the fact that, like if
Speaker 1: they do have unexpected oh, someone's going to come over,
Speaker 1: they can just you know, use that. One thing that
Speaker 1: I really like, so we just had it the other night.
Speaker 1: We haven't had it in a while, is so this
Speaker 1: keep budget in mind. But Chiley and Sea Bass, if
Speaker 1: you want something that feels like super fancy, it is
Speaker 1: a little pricier, but it's so easy because you don't
Speaker 1: have to do anything other than add salt. So that's
Speaker 1: one that I really like to pull out. Sometimes we
Speaker 1: do a lot of grilling when we entertain just because
Speaker 1: it's usually like we're outside and things like that. But
Speaker 1: it also one that I go back to a lot
Speaker 1: is like a mustard chicken, just like the grainy mustard
Speaker 1: and like either a honey mustard or a maple mustard
Speaker 1: like dressing because I feel like that's just everyone kind
Speaker 1: of likes that. And then some vegetables and a salad
Speaker 1: and I don't know, I really don't stress about making
Speaker 1: it anything different than what we're eating on a day
Speaker 1: to day basis.
Speaker 4: Love it.
Speaker 3: And last question, advice you would give to someone looking
Speaker 3: to start a business. So as a veteran, someone who
Speaker 3: grew this kind of from scratch and out of your
Speaker 3: own talents, if someone was like, I'm really good at XYZ,
Speaker 3: I don't know, how would you tell them to start
Speaker 3: and what advice might you provide? Oh, my goodness, And
Speaker 3: it's a really broad question, but maybe your favorite tiest
Speaker 3: of advice.
Speaker 1: I know there's so much because you know, when I started,
Speaker 1: like you said it was it was so long ago.
Speaker 1: And I think one is like kind of really figuring
Speaker 1: out what it is that you want to do, and
Speaker 1: you know, you said, oh, I'm really passionate about this thing,
Speaker 1: And is it that you're really passionate about that thing,
Speaker 1: like maybe it's like making cakes for example, or is
Speaker 1: it are you passionate about running a business? Because for
Speaker 1: me now, like yes, I'm really passionate about meal planning,
Speaker 1: but I don't like I'm not doing all of the
Speaker 1: even the recipe testing anymore. Like really, my role right
Speaker 1: now is running a business. So kind of figuring out
Speaker 1: before you jump in, is like what's your end goal
Speaker 1: and is it just doing that thing that you love
Speaker 1: or is it like starting a business and running a
Speaker 1: business and what's the best way to do what you're
Speaker 1: wanting to do, you know, like, do that thing that
Speaker 1: you want that you love, and is it starting a business,
Speaker 1: because I think sometimes people think because I love this thing,
Speaker 1: I should make it a business. But maybe it's like
Speaker 1: you should do it either as a hobby or do
Speaker 1: it as your work, but not a business that you run,
Speaker 1: because running a business requires a lot more than just
Speaker 1: doing that thing. If that makes sense.
Speaker 3: That does make sense, Okay, So make sure you look
Speaker 3: at the bigger picture of what your role might look like,
Speaker 3: especially as things scale, rather than having the tunnel vision
Speaker 3: of like, well, this is what I'm doing today, I'm
Speaker 3: making meal plans.
Speaker 4: Totally makes sense.
Speaker 3: Well, this would not be a best of both Worlds
Speaker 3: episode without Love of the Week. And I was so
Speaker 3: excited that you were like, of course, I know I listened,
Speaker 3: so that made me super happy. But I will do
Speaker 3: mine first, even though you're prepared. I'm super into after
Speaker 3: my runs drinking a huge thing of element te and ice.
Speaker 3: I struggle with migraines and I don't think this is
Speaker 3: like the magic bullet, but I do feel like it's
Speaker 3: somewhat helpful. And I really dislike the taste of a
Speaker 3: lot of powdered beverages. But for some reason, I actually
Speaker 3: like this. It's extremely salty, so some people actually think
Speaker 3: it's disgusting, but I actually like it so Element the
Speaker 3: citrus flavor.
Speaker 1: I love Element. And I'm gonna say one thing I
Speaker 1: just started doing, so I'll sometimes do they just like
Speaker 1: the salty water and drink it cold. But I have
Speaker 1: started using the chocolate one, which at first I thought
Speaker 1: was really gross. But I'll add a little bit of milk.
Speaker 1: Just bear with me. One of my friends really likes
Speaker 1: it too. But you use the chocolate element, add a
Speaker 1: splash of milk and either over eyes and it tastes
Speaker 1: like chocolate milk, or you serve it hot with a
Speaker 1: splash of milk and it tastes like a hot cocoa.
Speaker 1: So I'll do that a lot of times. Is like
Speaker 1: my wine down drink at night, and it's really good.
Speaker 1: It sounds a little strange, but so.
Speaker 4: Good, super interesting.
Speaker 3: Not what I'm gonna want after an eighty degree run,
Speaker 3: but maybe I'll have to try it over the winter.
Speaker 3: That is awesome. That was an unexpected tip. Warm Element
Speaker 3: with a splash of milk.
Speaker 4: All right, what is your love of the week?
Speaker 1: Other than that, Yes, we are going through a Homer
Speaker 1: innovation that has, as they always do, taken a little
Speaker 1: longer than we would like. But we just had some
Speaker 1: new wallpaper that was put up. It's actually not what's
Speaker 1: behind me. But I'm a big fan of fun wallpaper
Speaker 1: and it has birds on it and it's really cool
Speaker 1: and it's just exciting to when the more visible pieces
Speaker 1: of a renovation are up. I think that's always fun
Speaker 1: and exciting. So fun wallpaper, I love it.
Speaker 3: And yes, you have to wait such a long time
Speaker 3: in a renovation to get to like the fun part,
Speaker 3: but then it must be very rewarding. And I say
Speaker 3: that as someone who's done very few renovations, but I
Speaker 3: bet it's going to look amazing.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you Allison so much. This has been so
Speaker 4: much fun.
Speaker 3: I'm already like hmm, I want to cook again, like
Speaker 3: get motivated just talking to you. So tell listeners where
Speaker 3: they can find you. And again, this is a non
Speaker 3: sponsored episode. Everyone like, I really respect Allison's wisdom around
Speaker 3: meal planning. But she does have a product that you
Speaker 3: can check out, so I'm gonna let her tell you
Speaker 3: all about that.
Speaker 1: So you can find me at Preptish on in all
Speaker 1: of the places, and we did set up if you
Speaker 1: want to try preptish for two weeks, it's just preptish
Speaker 1: dot com slash best of And because I did mention
Speaker 1: it earlier, I also have the nonprofit Miscarriage Hope, so
Speaker 1: I know that probably touches some of your listeners, so
Speaker 1: you can check that out if that's relevant as well.
Speaker 4: Awesome, Alison, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: Well we are back, thanks to Sarah for that great
Speaker 2: interview with Alison from preptish about meal planning and building
Speaker 2: a small business and all those good things. So we
Speaker 2: have a question from a listener who is hoping that
Speaker 2: we can settle a debate between her and her husband.
Speaker 2: This is always tricky ground to navigate. She says, does
Speaker 2: swimmer and towels used at an indoor pool need to
Speaker 2: be washed after every use? So her husband and son
Speaker 2: swim every weekend. I'm trying to get out of washing
Speaker 2: the suits and barely use towels every time. She says,
Speaker 2: I think my husband was conditioned by his upbringing, where
Speaker 2: his mom would wash absolutely everything after just one use.
Speaker 2: She doesn't think this is.
Speaker 3: Necessary, so what do we think, so, Sarah, do you
Speaker 3: have thoughts? Okay, Well, first of all, I don't know
Speaker 3: if an indoor pool is different than outdoor pools, because
Speaker 3: we like never go to indoor pools. It's like not
Speaker 3: very common here. But when we do go to the pool,
Speaker 3: we do.
Speaker 4: Wash the suits and the towels after each use.
Speaker 3: In fact, we do things that are not advised, like
Speaker 3: throw all the bathing suits and the towels into the
Speaker 3: laundry and the dryer at once, and they seem to survive.
Speaker 2: So even after when this was like your own.
Speaker 4: Pool, would you do that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Really yep, really.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I don't even have anywhere good to
Speaker 3: like hang them to dry, and things mill do like
Speaker 3: in ten seconds here. Yeah, so it just makes the
Speaker 3: most sense. Literally, we would sometimes tell the kids to
Speaker 3: basically like strip and just throw their stuff in the
Speaker 3: wash and it's like an automatic thing you do after
Speaker 3: you go swimming, as you throw everything in the laundry. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I knew it wasn't the answer she wanted, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Going to give for a different answer. I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: for two answers that I hope she'll like more, which
Speaker 2: is like, no, I mean I don't know if there's
Speaker 2: any difference between an indoor and outdoor I mean maybe
Speaker 2: if you're like, oh gross outvite or side, but we'll
Speaker 2: get to that. So for our outdoor pool in our
Speaker 2: own house, no, we get out, like hang the suits
Speaker 2: or towels in a bathroom and then reuse them like
Speaker 2: the next time you go in and wash them on occasion.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't seem to be causing any problems for
Speaker 2: anyone yet. But people have different preferences. People have different
Speaker 2: levels of cleanliness that they like or you know, just
Speaker 2: things that they are used to. And so if your
Speaker 2: husband wants them washed after every use, he should just
Speaker 2: wash them, Like I don't even understand why this involves you,
Speaker 2: Like if he is the one swimming and with your
Speaker 2: son and they're swimming with the suits and the towels, like,
Speaker 2: he goes and washes them and then they're washed, and
Speaker 2: it's not even something that you have to fight about.
Speaker 2: So I think that he can do this and then
Speaker 2: he can do whatever preference he wants, whatever frequency. He
Speaker 2: can wash them twice after every time he goes swimming.
Speaker 3: For I did note in my comment that I am
Speaker 3: the third most common laundry doer in our household after
Speaker 3: our nanny, who is number one by a lot, and
Speaker 3: then Josh was number two, beating me by a lot.
Speaker 4: So there's my answer as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree that I don't think doing the
Speaker 2: laundry is that difficult, especially with like modern washers and
Speaker 2: dryers and if you you know, just throw something in
Speaker 2: quick and move it over and then people sort it
Speaker 2: as they need. But like, again, you don't need to
Speaker 2: do this, Like, why is he having you do the
Speaker 2: laundry that he's creating and expecting you to do it
Speaker 2: on a certain timeline. It just doesn't even make sense,
Speaker 2: all right. Well, Sarah has been talking with Alison of
Speaker 2: Prep Dish in this episode. We will be back next
Speaker 2: week with more on making work and life fit together.
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com
Speaker 3: or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you can.
Speaker 5: Find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has
Speaker 5: been the best of both Worlds podcasts. Please join us
Speaker 5: next time for more on making work and life work together.
Speaker 1: Use