Make-Ahead Barbecue Ideas

Save yourself the time of doing all the cooking and preparation work for your barbecue on the day-of. Instead, get everything you need prepared ahead of time so you can relax and enjoy the barbecue with your household!

Drinks

There is plenty you can do ahead of time to make sure everyone stays refreshed and hydrated. Bar tools can be brought out from storage and given a quick rinse, and any outdoor cups and pitchers can also be given a quick wash and organized in a bar area or on a counter until they are needed outside. Make sure to put cans and bottles into the fridge to chill in advance and bring out any coolers that may be needed. Don’t forget to make sure you have plenty of ice as well! 

While some garnishes are best prepared closer to the actual barbecue to prevent them from wilting, others can also be cut up and placed in containers until everyone in your household is ready for dinner.

Thrillist has a list of cocktails that can be made ahead of time. While they had the beach in mind for these drinks, the recipes can also work great to cut down on preparations even if you’re just at home and relaxing with your household in the backyard.

Otherwise, you can start planning what ingredients and tools you might need to make these classic cocktail recipes that are perfect for any size of household, like these Peach Bellini and Sangria recipes or this unique Apposta Cocktail recipe, all from Better Homes and Gardens.

Food

The food is obviously the main event of any barbecue, and many classic barbecue dishes can easily be prepared in advance so all you need to do once supper time comes is heat the grill and cook!

These two foil pack recipes from Delish conveniently include all you need for a barbecue meal in one individualized pouch. Even better, you can easily put these together ahead of time by prepping the vegetables, preparing the foil pouches, marinating the meat, and assembling everything together ahead of time to store in the fridge. Check out this recipe for Chicken, Tomatoes and Corn or this one for Sausage and Peppers.

Burgers are a popular meal to serve at a barbecue, and this “Full Works” burger from Olive has it all! While it looks like a lot, the sauce and other garnishes are best made a few hours or even a day before, leaving you with less preparation right before the meal.

Barbecue ribs, like this recipe from Food Network Magazine, are always a great choice to cook on the grill, especially if you have a larger household to feed. To get the most flavour out of these ribs, they are best if the spice mixture is prepared and rubbed onto the ribs the night before the barbecue – leaving only the cooking to be done in the oven a couple of hours before they are finished off on the barbecue.  

Every barbecue star dish is not complete without a side dish (or more!), and there are plenty of recipes and ideas that are easy to prepare the day before or morning of. For example, this unique take on a tomato salad from Taste of Home features a lot of different vegetables that can easily be prepared a day or two before so it only needs to be assembled right before eating.

 An even simpler dish like grilled vegetables requires even less effort – simply wash and cut your favourite vegetables, give them a light seasoning, and place them on the grill! This grilled rapini recipe from AllRecipes shows just how easy and delicious grilled vegetables can be! A lighter salad or dessert option perfect for an outdoor barbecue is a fruit salad, which is also good to prepare in advance and leave in your fridge. You can simply put together a salad from what fresh fruit you have on hand or try something new like this watermelon and basil salad from AllRecipes.

Email Organization: Declutter Your Inbox!

It’s not just a person’s physical spaces that can accumulate clutter.

For many people, the email inbox is almost always flagged with unread messages. With multiple emails coming in daily, it’s no wonder they can begin to pile up to the point that there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Just when it looks like everything has been dealt with, there always seems to be more waiting at the top of the list.

Whether it is a personal inbox or work inbox, it can be extremely helpful to take the time to get the main inbox organized and establish a process for all incoming messages to prevent any more major pile ups. This way, people can stay on top of any incoming mail, increase their productivity, and find old messages or information need easily.

The first step to tackling the huge inbox of messages is to create a new folder labelled as the Storage Inbox. Transfer all the messages that are currently in the inbox into this folder. This helps start the inbox off fresh and clean so it will be easier to handle anything that comes in the meantime.

However, all those messages in the Storage Inbox can’t just be ignored. Think through what common themes there are amongst all the messages. For example, are there a lot of flyers and newsletters? Emails about a child’s school or sports team? Taxes? Whatever the categories are, use these to create new subfolders in the inbox. Start going through the messages in the Storage Inbox and begin to transfer them into the appropriate folder, creating any additional folders as needed. Utilize the tools and resources in the email platform to search for related messages, senders, and subjects to make this process easier and faster.

While this will help solve the problem of messages that are currently in the inbox, this problem will only continue if a solution is implemented for all new messages. Setting up smart inboxes or creating rules in the email account is a great way to ensure all incoming messages end up where they need to go. For example, all subscription emails can be set up to go to a specific folder (or even the junk folder if there are too many!) so they don’t just sit in the inbox and can easily be found if needed. These can even be organized by person if working on a project that needs to be managed from a specific person. For people renovating their home, consider adding the contractor, builder, or any other trades/professionals to a smart inbox so all the emails are always kept in one place.

The process may  be a bit time consuming at the start, but once the inbox is completely set-up, it will save a lot of time and effort in the future. An organized inbox can have a significant effect on organization in other areas of life – so why wait any longer?

Learn more about setting up an inbox the right way here (for Apple mail) and here (for Outlook mail).

Ready for Spring Cleaning? Make Your Checklist!

Spring is almost here! As with every year, that means it’s time to get your home and yard cleaned and organized after the long winter. In Calgary, it often feels like winter has never left us, but even one sunny day can be enough motivation for the warmer season ahead to get started on all the cleaning tasks needed to be done. 

While getting clean and organized always feels good at the end of the day, it can take a lot of energy and motivation to get started. Often, the number of tasks we know we need to get done can seem overwhelming. In cases like this, many of the activities we hope to accomplish end up not being completed, or we start something that we just don’t have the time or resources to finish.

This year, avoid falling short of your spring cleaning goals by creating an easy to manage checklist that will only ensure success. The key is to focus on breaking down the big picture tasks you want to do and breaking them down into easily-manageable activities that won’t take up an entire day. These activities should be easy to do in a couple hours or an afternoon and spread out over a longer period of time. This way, you can work towards one project at a time.

For example, if one of your spring cleaning goals it to organize the garage, don’t just leave it at that. There is so much involved in organizing and cleaning a garage, so try breaking it down into even smaller steps:

Organize the Garage

Declutter

• Go through all items currently in the garage.

• Sort through items (what is to keep, what is to donate, what is to sell, and what is to discard).

Cleaning

• Sweep the garage floor

• Spray out the garage floor.

• Wipe down any cupboards/containers.

Storage

• Create a plan for storing items.

• Purchase or re-purpose additional bins/shelves/hooks needed to store items.

• Put items away in their proper place.

Whatever your spring cleaning projects may be, breaking down everything that needs to be done can make the tasks more achievable and not so daunting. Plus, creating a checklist can also help you keep on track on what has been completed and what needs to be done so you don’t start a project without finishing it.

Before the season starts in earnest, take the time to create your spring cleaning checklist with everything you want to get accomplished. Even the most basic checklist can help make your projects simple, easy, and manageable!