Mindful Ink     Life, Living and Productivity

In a great roundup post at Study Hacks Cal Newport reveals & recaps the unique blend of productivity strategies he’s using to cope with a tough semester. He calls his personal mix his “special sauce.” He covers all the bases, from the day-to-day grind (”Without an autopilot schedule I think I would drown in a sea of small but time-consuming tasks”) to the wide-angle lens of life strategy and happiness:

“Happiness takes work. I didn’t realize this in college. But I’ve come to appreciate it more and more as I get older. I now go out of my way to forcefully integrate many of these principles into my daily routine. My thought: life will never be perfect, so stop focusing on what you wish you had, and starting getting the most out of what you do.”

My special sauce takes a solid GTD Moleskine base, throws in a dash of mindful awareness, and finishes simply with a todo.txt file. What’s in your special sauce?

There’s only one big trick to getting into the habit of cooking some of your meals as opposed to letting the guy with a dirty apron getting paid $5.15 an hour be in charge of the stuff that keeps you alive.  Just one.

Have a well stocked pantry.

That’s it.

Well, that’s mostly it.  I also include in that your refrigerator and freezer.

If you stock up on basics that don’t go bad quickly you’ll always have stuff on hand and then grocery trips become “maintenance” trips as opposed to massive expenditures of cash.  The trick here is figuring out what to buy and how much of it.  If you cook an awful lot a place like Sam’s or Costco can be a pretty good deal, but if you don’t cook much than most of what you may buy there (plus the cost of membership) will go bad before you use it (with the exception of canned goods, pasta, etc.)

This site here can help you a lot in figuring out what those basics are.  So let me get to some other important bits.

• Spices - A well stocked spice cabinet can be the difference between a great and so-so meal, but unfortunately not many spices are all that cheap.  The good news is spices last a pretty long time before going bad.  So buy a couple of basics whenever you go shopping to cushion the price and eventually you’ll have all the spices you need no matter what you decide to cook.  For instance, one of my favorite recipes (Tandoori Chicken) is very simple to make with just a few ingredients, but it requires a LOT of spices.  But if you have those spices you can turn a chicken breast and some yogurt into an excellent meal!
• Meat - Meat’s pretty tricky.  I’m a pretty heavy carnivore, so it’s a staple of my diet.  The trick here is to avoid things like steaks and try to stick to chicken breasts, boneless pork chops, ground beef and ground turkey.  You can also get deli meats at good prices at most megamarts, but you have to eat it fast as they go bad quick!  When it comes to the meat you buy… well, economically your best bet is those giant bags of chicken breasts.  For ground beef or turkey, your best bet is to buy in bulk and then seperate it into one pound servings, put it into a freezer bag, date it and toss it in the freezer.
• Produce - Fresh produce is best, and usually pretty cheap.  Oranges and apples both last a long time, too!  And I always have a bag of mini-carrots around (cheap snack, low calories, good for you!)  As for other fruits and veggies - it just depends on how you eat with them but in general if you can get them frozen, it’s s cheap way to do so.  Using them won’t taste as good as fresh but you can make a great smoothie or some excellent stir-fry with frozen produce.
• Pastas & Beans - Now, pasta isn’t the healthiest thing in the world - but it is cheap and filling, and can really extend a good sauce or some meat.  I always have some handy - you can make an incredible pasta dish with just a bit of olive oil, some grated cheese, and some spices.  Beans are also great to have around - I don’t like eating beans by themselves, but I keep chickpea (garbanzo) beans and black beans around and frequently toss them into other recipes.  Couscous is also a nice thing to have around - it’s not very pricey, very fast to make, and you can add just a few ingredients to get many different tastes.  All of these offer a lot of bang for their buck and can be purchased in bulk.