If you saw the title and are wondering if I am suddenly becoming a food blogger, let me assure you: I am not. Recently a friend reached out to me and asked, “Can you write a post about how you manage to cook dinner for your family even when you are super busy?”
It is oh-so-easy to beat ourselves up for not doing “all the things.” We are in the drive-thru, wishing we weren’t. We are running around frantically trying to do so much more than we have the time to do. And even though I need a haircut, I have a basket of clean laundry that is waiting to be folded and my DIY pedicure definitely needs a refresh, cooking dinner is a beast I have *mostly* tamed. I figured I could write a blog post about it.
And when I sat down and started writing down some tips and tricks, I realized I had quite a bit to share!
So, for the next ten days–starting today– I am going to share ten thoughts about cooking dinner when you are super busy (or even when you’re not). These are not meant to guilt you into anything or shame you if you are eating out every night. My goal here is to empower you if you are interested in making a change. And if today’s not that day, pin this page or bookmark it and come back when you are ready. I get it.
1-Meal Plan
A while back I shared about my love-hate relationship with meal planning. It is SO not my favorite thing to do. It’s tedious. And every time I sit down to do it, my mind goes completely blank on every meal I’ve ever made and every food my kids will eat (because they change their tastes every other day). It is mental torture.
So I only do it once a month. Once. For the whole month.
Most of the time when I tell people about my one-and-done plan for the month, they quickly respond, “I could never do that.” To which I say, “Why not?” It sounds a whole lot more difficult than it really is. Trust me. For example, every Friday is “Pizza Movie Night” at our house. Simple. Every Friday, I write down “pizza.” Sometimes I save this move for when my brain feels totally empty and then I can plug those pizza days in and feel like I am making progress until new ideas come. Then I look at our calendar. Two nights each month I have board meetings to attend. I mark those days so I can plan easier meals for those nights. My twins have practices after school three evenings each week and three mornings early in the morning, Cub Scouts once a week. My husband is a coach, so I record when he is working at games (football season is the busiest–we are in Texas, after all). Once I have all of the known busy stuff in front of me, I can plan accordingly. Almost none of my meals are Pinterest-worthy, but I didn’t make a meal for my family so I could Pin it. I want to eat and I want my family to be fed. Have you ever seen fast food that looked as beautiful and appetizing as the pictures? Me neither. But we buy it and eat it anyway. Same idea. We have to let go of perfection and appreciate that we have something to eat.
Really I only need a dozen or so meal ideas at the very most. I plug a meal into the calendar, then I skip a week and move over a day and plug that exact same meal in again. If it’s hot outside, I’m going to choose fewer options that require turning on the oven (think pots on the stove, using the griddle, or outdoor grilling instead). And when it’s cooler, I make more of an effort to use the oven so we can warm up the house.
And here’s another sanity saver: once I have the meals figured out, I write them on a blank calendar page for the month and hang it up near the pantry. Because there are
So now when my kids ask the dreaded question, I’ve turned it into a game. Because the real menu is already posted. If you’re asking me, you can expect that I will not tell you the truth.
This posted calendar is also an easy reference for me if I am trying to remember what I wrote in my planner. I can get an idea of what I need to prep without running back to my office to glance at my planner.
Also, I take a picture of the calendar and text a copy to my husband. That way he has a calendar to reference, too.
The other comment I get a lot is, “But I just don’t know what I’ll be in the mood for in three weeks!” Me neither. But, I know what my kids like. I know what I like. I know what my husband likes (and what he can make when I am not going to be home). And not one month goes by where I don’t swap days at least once during the month. The beauty of it is that because I have already planned for the month, I can easily swap Tuesday’s quesadillas with Thursday’s fettuccine alfredo without disturbing the balance of the world. I have options and flexibility that come in handy when I have a last-minute something come up. Because those darn things always come up, but they seem to come up even more when we aren’t prepared.
You can do this! Try it. Seriously, it is not as hard as it may sound. It requires almost the same amount of time as meal planning for one week. Go ahead, give it a shot! In fact, here is a free October calendar just in case you don’t have one already. Print it out, or open it on your tablet or phone and mark it up. I’ll be back tomorrow with more! I hope this series brings you joy!
Want to see it in action? You’re in luck. I went on Facebook Live to plan our family’s October! October is pretty dang busy, so I chose lots of no-frills meals that are quick and easy for most days. I hope it inspires you to see how you could make monthly meal planning work for you and your family.
Two of the meals I referred to in the video can be found at the following links:
Chicken Cordon Bleu–Keto Casserole
Thank you for very much for these tips! I have been going through with this ordeal for a while now and it is the most stressful part of my day =( believe it or not.. LOL!
I am so glad today was helpful. Hopefully all 10 days will alleviate that stress even more! 🙂 Thanks for reading!