Weekly Meal Planning - Save Time and Energy
One of the hardest parts about motherhood to me has always been the daily struggle of putting quality meals on my families table in a timely fashion. I have not met a mother who does not worry and stress about this daunting but necessary task.
Whether you are trying to juggle your family with a full time job or you spend the day at home in the trenches with your kids… all mothers can agree that it is hard to find time for dinner.
Many a mother, myself included, have experienced what I like to call the dinner time panic. This is that phenomenon when you realize that dinner should be served in about an hour and you not only have no idea what you are going to make… you do not even know what you have in your kitchen cabinets to make.
After many years battling the dinner time panic myself, I finally came up with the perfect solution for me. I encourage you to give it a try to see if it works for you and your family.
Every Sunday afternoon I plan what I am going to serve for all meals for the upcoming week. This allows me to put together a comprehensive grocery list that eliminates emergency trips to the store for a forgotten key ingredient or milk in the middle of the night.
I have made a chart on my computer that has four columns for the names of the days, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. The chart then has eight rows a blank one and then one for each day of the week.
I print out a chart and sit down at my kitchen table with it, a blank grocery list, a pen, my calendar and recipe books. I map out everything we will be eating that week, I have even gotten to the point that I also write in the side dishes, vegetables, and desserts that I am planning to serve with each meal.
I use my recipe books as guides to help me find new things to try with my family. I have the calendar out because I also see what events my family has going on that week and take them into account when planning meals.
For example, if I know it is going to be a late night, I may plan a slow cooker meal. If I know we are on the run, I may set aside money to grab dinner on the go or make a meal that we can take with us.
This does two things for me, keeps me organized for the week and reduces my panic level.
As I write a meal into a box I write down all the ingredients that I need from the grocery store to make it. So that when I go to the store once a week I know that I have everything I will need to feed my family during the week.
After I have finished the chart I hang it on the fridge so that I can look at it each day and know if I need to lay something out ahead of time to thaw or not.
It may sound like a lot of extra work… but you will be amazed how much time and energy that you will save not stressing about what to serve your family at each meal.
You can take the idea and customize it to work for your family. You pick the time of week that works best for you to plan, Sunday afternoons are the quietest at my home. You may choose to do two weeks or even a month of planning and shopping all at once instead of each week.
You do not have to have a computer chart… you can simply jot it down on a piece of notebook paper. The idea is to make your life easier so don’t make it any harder than you need to.
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