Hello, Friends. I’m Christy, a Moink Hen and Marketing Maven. I’ve been with Moink since the get-go, and it’s been my pleasure to watch Head Hen Lucinda’s crazy dream of connecting fellow tender-hearted carnivores like you with ethically-sourced, humanely-raised, exceptional tasting meat from family farms come to life.
Did you know that all of us Moink Hens are working mamas of littles living in multiple states? Like Healthy Hen JoAnna, I’m a working mom of three small kiddos, trying to juggle life, family, friends and a job I love.
As my family and career have grown over the last few years, I’ve become increasingly interested in the idea of “working smarter, not harder” to manage my very full life. I’m an avid reader, and I inhale every book I can find on this topic – not just so I can be more efficient, but so I can free up space to be fully present in my life. These years are so precious, and I don’t want to miss any of the “good stuff” because I was too busy wasting time, stressing over an over-packed schedule, or getting bogged down with tasks that don’t really matter in the long run.
I’m by no means an expert in this area of work-life balance, but I’ve come a long way. Here are three life nuggets that are currently saving my life.
ASK FOR HELP
When people ask how I do it all, I cringe. I do not do it all. I have a nanny who comes 20 hours a week, while I work, and loves my kids like family. I also have a housekeeper who deep cleans my house once a month. Most importantly, my husband is my biggest cheerleader, and I have parents who can rock an overnight stay with the grandkids so we can get away from time to time. From the outside, I might look like I’m doing it all, but I lean on others in so many ways. It turns out there really is something to that whole, “It takes a village” thing!
START A MEAL CO-OP
We spend so much time thinking, planning and stressing over what to make for dinner, am I right? About a year ago, I discovered a co-op system that would allow for me to only have to cook one dinner a week (All the praise hands!). Lean in people, and I’ll tell you how it works. Find 2-3 families who want to be part of the co-op. Try to find families that are about the same size as yours with similar food preferences to make life easier. Figure out who wants to cook and on what days. I spend time on Saturday afternoons preparing and delivering a large meal for three families (including my own), and then I’m DONE for the week! Homemade deliciousness is delivered right to my door on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The portions are usually large enough to last for two nights, so we can eat the leftovers on non-delivery days and grab pizza or have a family date night the other night. It’s brilliant, right? And it keeps my family out of a dinner rut and always enjoying something new. We cook reasonably healthy most of the time and throw in an occasional, true clean-eating month here and there.
GUARD YOUR TIME
Here’s the hard one. We have to protect one of our most prized commodities, our time. In recent years, I’ve taken a hard look at the most valuable parts of my week, the moments I’m not willing to miss. I love the chats I have with my daughter when I take her to school a couple mornings a week instead of putting her on the school bus. I do my best to unplug from work on Fridays and spend the day with my kids. I try to be intentional about scheduling date nights with my husband, lunches with spiritual and professional mentors, and reunion trips with my dearest friends. Prioritizing all these things means I have to say the dreaded “no” A LOT, sometimes to good things. Often to very good things. It’s not always easy for a people pleaser like me, but I’m finding it’s always worth it.
Ordering a Moink Box can mean so much more than stocking the freezer with weeks’ worth of great meat. It means less time at the grocery store trying to interpret food labels with weird ingredients and additives to determine if you want them going into the bellies of the people you love the most. It also means knowing you’re giving your crew the highest-quality proteins, from animals that were humanely raised. You also get to support family farmers who work every day to be good stewards of the creatures and the land. (I get to interview all of our farmers and they are the real deal. What a joy to share their stories with the world!)
When it comes to feeding your family well, work smarter, not harder. Try a Moink Box today!
Ready to join the Moink Moovement and help us fight for the family farm?
