Thoughts on planning meals

I forgot how simple making dinner was each night if I just have a plan.  It's not like this is an entirely new concept to me.  I did it this way for years, but these past couple years it's been more of a struggle.  The girls were more demanding of my time during that dinner-making hour (and- let's face it- all the other hours, too!  ;)), so meal-planning become more sporadic.  I cooked, and we ate- but meals were thrown together, last-minute, and we were relying more-than-usual on others (hello Papa Murphy's, Trader Joes, and take-out Thai food!) to make our food for us.  ;)

Also, summertime is always a little more challenging for me to think up meals, so autumn is a good time to get reorganized.

Just writing it down and posting it where I can see it throughout the day is enough.  That posted plan serves as a reminder to me.  My children, too, will see it and say, "Oh!  We're having _________ for dinner tonight?" And I think, Oh yeah.  I should take that meat out right now while I'm thinking about it.

I'm three weeks into this new system and I'm thankful.  Thankful for the food God provides, thankful that I am able to cook for my family (and enjoy it so much), thankful that I can bless Mark by having a hot meal ready(ish) for him when he comes home from work.

Here's what my list looked like this week:

Monday | Tortellini -from Costco, we add pesto & parmesan cheese.  (I was gone, Mark did dinner.)
Tuesday | Chicken fried rice, sliced apples and almond butter, greek salad (peppers, sundried tomatoes, cucumbers, some greek yogurt, lemon juice, and feta cheese)
Wednesday | Butternut Squash & White Bean soup, cornbread
Thursday | Shipwreck Casserole
Friday | Italian Chicken Soup (Pioneer Woman), a side that I will come up with when inspiration hits
Saturday | Breakfast (my list says: waffles? sausage? omelettes? yogurt biscuits?)
Sunday | Pot roast with carrots and potatoes

My goal is to start posting either our meal plan or a recipe once a week.  I really enjoy seeing other peoples' meal plans or links to recipes, as it helps me get fresh ideas.

I hope you all have a great day!

6 comments:

  1. This makes me smile! :)

    We are a month or so into our "Wednesday = meal-planning and financial team-work" nights and I cannot even tell you what a HUGE difference this had made for me! I love doing the grocery shopping on Thursdays with the boys now BECAUSE I HAVE AN ORGANIZED/PURPOSEFUL LIST AND A PLAN!!! :) I feel a zillion time better throughout the day when I already know what I am making for dinner that night! LOVE IT!! why in the world did i ever stop planning my menu for the week???!!!??? My meals aren't quite as creative (and probably not always as healthy)....but that is what I will toward next. baby steps, right? :)

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  2. That squash soup looks amazing! (And I'm quite in favor of meal plan and recipe postings.)

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  3. Hi Stacey,
    I've been into crockpot cooking because it's Autumn. This might give you some ideas too and a lot of the recipes use frozen meat!! Hooray, no extra prep of defrosting :-)

    http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2007/12/alphabetical-listing-of-recipes.html

    -Lucy

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  4. Michelle~
    YOU ROCK. Good job!

    Jodi~
    Mmm! It was good. We topped it with parmesan cheese and bacon and it was delish!

    Lucy~
    I've been on that blog several times-- whenever I'm looking for a new crock pot recipe! Isn't that amazing she has *that many* crock pot recipes?! Love it!

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  5. I am very blessed by all the delicious meals you have been making. You are such a great cook -- (even when you throw something together)!

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  6. i totally agree! i love having meal planning done ... it is so satisfying, to know that meals are planned for the week, that i will be preparing good, nourishing food for my family. i can totally relate to having seasons where planning didn't happen ... and typically during the summer i fall off the map. for some reason, i am just not as inspired and struggle to think of good meal ideas. bring on the fall! :)

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