"Meal planning" has become something of a buzz word in mommy circles. And understandably so - it's a necessary survival skill for a mom with three little kids. Mutiny is a real possibility if I have no idea what's for dinner by 4 o'clock. I tried e-mealz for about 6 months and liked it, but ended up canceling my subscription because I got tired of being told what to cook. I liked having all the week's recipes in one place and with an accompanying grocery list, but I actually like to cook and wanted to cook more of my family's favorite meals.
After Blue Eyes was born, life slowly settled into a routine and now (that he's almost 1yr old) I've finally found something that works for us. It revolves around this list:
Our family's favorite meals. I don't know about you, but my mind goes completely blank when I sit down to make a grocery list or walk through the aisles of the store. Having this list reminds me where to start and prompts me to think of other things when I'm at a complete loss. I usually cook 4 nights a week; we always eat leftovers or frozen pizza on Wednesdays and Sundays when we have small group or church and the kids have a sitter. That leaves one night a week for going out or having friends over...something outside the norm. So this list gets me about 6 weeks with no repeats.
How do you figure out what's for dinner? Do you find it necessary to meal plan and if so, what does your system look like?
I definitely meal plan! I love to cook and it would drive me mad to desire to cook a certain meal and then not have the ingredients on hand. I cook 5-6 nights a week and we have our list of "old faithfuls", but due to my adventurous cooking spirit and my husbands adventurous taste buds, we eat about half tried and true meals a week and half brand new recipes.
ReplyDeleteMeal planning is a MUST! Our strategy this year has been to plan all the week's meals on Sunday and do the week's shopping Sunday afternoon. The hard part for me is making sure I take into account leftovers and don't overbuy at the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a list of "go-to" meals, but I LOVE that idea. I need to write down all of our favorite meals and keep the list handy - it would make the meal planning go smoother, I think.
I typically do a bigger dinner Sunday night (when we have more time to cook). Monday's are often "meatless Mondays". Tuesdays are Taco Tuesdays. Wednesdays have become grilled cheese and soup night since the husband bowls that night. Thursday is often a pasta dish and Fridays are usually leftovers.
I get a lot of our meal ideas from the Clean Eating magazine and Pinterest!