Thoughts on Food Planning.....

Almost every morning, I have strategic planning session in my head about how my day is going to roll out ......

How am I (or we) going to get the kids to and from school, through homework, to softball or to and from the mall to get 'those jeans I have to have? How am I going to get a meal for us in between one baseball game and a softball game and still have time to finish the laundry that's been in the washer for 3 days that I KNOW has to be rewashed now? Oh yes, and how to handle the inevitable "mom, my project is due tomorrow and I need to go to Staples" - that's always fun. The answer is pretty simple most of the time.....I plan for it.

  • Crock Pot cooking has become a 'friend' to me - it's not just something that my mom used to use to make stew. Simply throwing some chicken in the crock pot in with some salsa last week before I left for work yielded a fantastic dinner for me when I got home (Delish!)
  • Cooking bulk things and using them over and over again has become a norm for me.
  • Doing prep work on a Sunday for the week makes things a little easier come Wednesday night when I rush home to make a 5:30 WW meeting and have to get something on the table for the hungry mouths to feast upon.....
  • Taking a few minutes while throwing lunches together in the morning to maybe get some things together for the evening (I got the salmon together for tonight's dinner while I was packing lunch)
.....it's all in the planning.

Some of my friends/coworkers/even my husband tease me about being prepped and ready for the week - but for me it's worth the extra hour on a Sunday night to get things ready than it will feel when I don't have a plan and now have to create something out of nothing on a night that I don't have that kind of time...or buy something on the fly, which could be more costly.

Really though.....who has the kind of time? I know I am not the world's only busy mom/family.

My advice to anyone that's never really embraced this kind of planning....try it. Once you have experienced the benefit of a little pre-planning work.....you'll get it.

Comments

  1. MichelleApril 21, 2010 at 4:56 PM

    Heather -- great planning. One thing I like to do is baked some sweet potatoes on Sunday, cool, peel, and mash them and then stick them in tupperware for whatever night(s) starch. Healthy, delicious, and ready when you are. Keep it up! Love the blog

    ReplyDelete

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