I dread working out at the gym. It takes an extra hour or two between driving, maneuvering around other people, wanting for a machine to open up. I ran in the rain Saturday and Monday but decided to hit the pool yesterday. The evening was toast. It was better when I worked out at an office gym, no commute and it was pretty quiet after work. But I also used different muscles than usual and conked out when I got home. Can you swing kettlebells or do home repair as weightlifting?
If doing dishes takes you more than ten minutes, you're doing it wrong. I make a lot of one pot meals, eat one, portion out the 2-3, wash. But whether I make enough for one meal or 4, cooking one dish takes an hour. I put on some TV or podcast or music that I would have wasted time on anyway. Frozen vegetables are less work, but good knife skills or a mandoline can minimize this. I do huge, 10 pound batches of caramelized onions, because they do taste better if they're slow cooked. Then most dishes start with 1/2 cup of those onions, maybe with some ginger garlic paste, tomato sauce and spices. I've been cooking for a long time, so I'm comfortable chopping and stirring at the same time: I tend to do my prep work while I cook: if I'm making chili I can pull out ingredients while pan heats up, chop the pepper while the garlic onion meat fry, open the tomato, bean cans while the pepper fries, pull out the spices whenever I get a minute. If something needs constant stirring, turn the heat down so it doesn't.
I don't live in Alaska and I'm not a heavy sweater, but I do one load every other week. I also don't know why groceries should go bad faster there? I would expect them to last longer in a cold climate, unless they're bad when they get to you. I go twice a week but only because I hit different store, enjoy it, shop for 3 adults. I can drop to once/three weeks with an intermediate trip for milk, by using more frozn veg at the end. Good way to practice frig clean out.
