Meal Planning

This is my Life: Meal Planning 

 

I don't have an exact guide that I follow for my weeks of planning meals.  Let's face it, with more than one child's mouth to feed, it's very difficult to make a dinner that EVERYONE loves equally :) Winter is much harder to plan meals!  Summer, we grill ALOT!

You know your children would prefer to eat this every meal:

Over this:

One night at dinner, we had the Italian Shells from Hamburger Helper. (yes, I know).  Very easy meal to make, YUMMY, so bad for you, and Connor looks to me and says "This is the best meal, Mama, thank you".  A boxed meal gets more praise than Mama's home cooked meal.  Sounds about right ;) haha
So, here's what I stick to and some easy ideas for Mom's in a fast paced world.

Lunch:  I stick to the very basics
                            Peanut butter sandwiches with some fruit on the side or veggie straws . I utilize the fruit cups, mandarin oranges, pineapples, peaches, etc. The Veggie straws you can find in the organic chip section.
                            Grilled cheese with the same type of sides
                            Rolled up lunch meat with a piece of cheese and a side
                            Chicken Nuggets with a side
                            Crescent rolls rolled with cheese and baked, the kids love these two with a side. 

Awww and dinner: These are just some ideas that I have found that work for my picky muffins.  I utilize the CROCK POT alot.  Having three kids of my own and caring for other children during they day leaves me limited to extra time to prepare dinner for my family.  So, once the kids go down for naps, I'll throw a quick meal in and it will be ready for dinner!  Here's an example and maybe some good ideas for a week.

Monday:
BBQ chicken with pineapple in the crock pot.  #1 draft pick right here. 
  Throw the chicken in the crock pot, I use either thighs or drum sticks.  Cover with your choice of BBQ sauce and dumped drained pineapple bits on top of the chicken.  Cook for 5ish hours on High.  This is a winner with my boys.  They LOVE BBQ chicken.  This takes all of 5 minutes to prepare.   For a side, I buy the steamer vegetables, or salad as well as stuffing or rolls for another side.

Tuesday:  Tuesdays Anthony has school so I have to make sure whatever I chose to make WILL be cooked and ready for him before he leaves for class.

Either Chinese pie or Chicken Pot pie is always a good choice, but a little more involved.  If you have about a half hour to prepare a meal, then these are wonderful choices because then you just have to bake for about 45 minutes once prepared.  If not, egg fried Rice mixed with vegetables and chicken is a wonderful choice dinner too. Easy, maybe take 5 minutes.

Wednesdays:  We have Small Group, so I try to do a dinner with the least amount of dishes possible.  Often times, we make Wednesdays Pizza night.


Thursdays:  A nice Pineapple (yes we love pineapples) Ham Steak dinner.  I buy the ham steaks that sometimes come pre-marinated. Or it's easy to buy ham steak and drizzle the pineapples on top and bake for about 20 minutes.  For a side, we'll have steamer green beans sprinkled with garlic salt and mashed potatoes.  Mashed sweet pots are delicious too!

Friday: Chicken, Corn, black bean and cheese quesadillas.  We use the griddle to make these and they are yummy.  For the kids, well Jamison, he likes just cheese.  For Anthony and I, we load them up. These are quick and easy clean up! 

This a a rough look at what our meals look like for a working week.  Obviously things come up and we may have a day where we do Breakfast for dinner, which is always comforting and easy.  :)  But, if it helps you to have a calendar, I hope these meals help! 

Then Enjoy:

Eating dinner around the table as a family :)  There are so many benefits for our children just by simply sitting at the dinner table together as a family.  It gives us a chance to pray together before our meal, talk about our days, etc.  There are nutritional benefits of course, but they go farther to emotional! Which is huge!!  You'll teach manners, and respect :)  A chance to provide chores for your children to help, dinner time is a great chance. Setting the table or clearing the table!  
So, my encouragement for this week if you can is eat dinner around the table with your family every night.  Throwing a fun picnic in as well, the kids always love (if the meal allows haha).