What’s for Dinner, Mom?
It’s 4pm in the afternoon, and the dreaded, “What’s for dinner?” question starts getting asked by your kids, hubby, wife or anyone else who lives in your house. You stare at the refrigerator and then move to the freezer. You say to yourself one of three things:
- We have no food to make anything edible.
- Nothing sounds good from what I have.
- If only I would have defrosted …..
Then, your thoughts go to restaurant coupons, ordering a pizza or takeout. If only I would have planned our meals over the weekend then I wouldn’t be trying to figure it out at what is now 4:30 pm and the natives are getting restless. Even your doggie is wondering what’s for dinner.
Well, never fear, meal planning is here. This might be the last night you have to order out because there is nothing in your house to eat. Meal planning is my saving grace every week. We all are so busy and it’s awesome to know that whatever you have planned is better than no plan at all. So let’s get started !!!!
Here’s what you will need:
- Weekly sales ads from local grocery stores
- List of things you are out of
- Meal planning sheet
- Freezer inventory
- Recipes
- Calendar
The first thing you need to do is check out your calendar to see what things you have going on during the week, (soccer practice, dance, gymnastics, doctor or dental appointments, meetings, etc) Figure out if you will be home for dinner at the normal time or will you need to pack snacks and have a late dinner. Second, go through the grocery store ads and write down what you would like to get from each store. Make sure you include the items you are out of too. Some people like to shop just one store and that’s fine. I always hit 2 or 3 depending on how good of sales they have that week. Third, go through your freezer and see if you have any leftovers to pull out or what veggies, meat, chicken, etc. you have that you can pull out and use. Next, it’s recipe time. We only eat meat once a week, so the remainder is filled with chicken, fish, vegetarian, paleo, etc. Now, pick the recipes you want to make that week and check to make sure you have what you need to make that recipe. The last thing you want to face is having a meal planned, but you are out of an ingredient that you need to make it. Also, make sure you allot for multiple recipes using the same item. For example, you picked 2 recipes that call for red pepper, but you only buy one and you really need two. Been there done that.
Are you ready? Do you have everything you need? Wait, no you don’t . You need your meal planning sheet. Well, here it is: Click here for your Meal Planning Sheet
This is a detailed meal planning sheet that incorporates Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and 2 snacks. In the beginning, just plan your dinners. From there you can expand as you would like. I hope this helps you see how easy it can be and how stress-relieving it can be. If you have any questions. please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Need help with this? Book a 45-minute consultation to start your year on the right track: https://Treeoflifehealthcoachingmarytate.as.me/healthcoaching
Until next time,
Mary
