kitchen tip: wear shoes

I expect to get plenty of old lady comments from this post, but I don’t care because I wish someone would have told me this years ago. At least once a week, I spend three+ hours in the kitchen at a stretch, usually prepping food for the week. During the growing months, I am probably in the kitchen for long stretches two or three times a week processing and putting up food. I love spending time in the kitchen, but afterwards I wind up sore in weird spots, exhausted, and wondering if 34 really is the beginning of the end. I mean, it’s not like I’m running a marathon or something in the kitchen!

I was talking to a friend at the pool several weeks ago now, and she had spent the day before planning for a party at their house. She was pregnant at the time, so I said something like, “aren’t you so sore today after being on your feet all day yesterday?” She mentioned that she puts on her running shoes when she has a lot of work to do in the kitchen. Lightbulb!

We don’t wear shoes in the house, so I had always just worked in my bare feet or socks, but these days, if I have more than an hour’s worth of work to do, I throw on my old running shoes and work away. Some of it might be placebo effect, but who cares?! I feel so much better and less sore afterwards.

Minor detail: the first thing Jasper says to me when he comes downstairs and sees me working with my shoes on? “MOM! Shoes aren’t allowed in the house!”