It's Menu Plan Monday and boy did I miss it last week! We had a crazy schedule with lacrosse starting, a senior parent meeting, back to school night at middle school, and the first football game of the season. I never made a plan or even went to the store because we were gone so much, and I thought we'd just "wing it." Basically, I gave up.
Spoiler alert: no menu plan leads to domestic chaos.
Since I didn't go to the store, we ran out of milk, bread, eggs, cereal, lunch meat, and anything else that could be made into a quick and easy meal. This resulted in eating out too much, eating junk too much, and general malaise. The dishwasher wasn't run regularly, so by Thursday we were out of coffee cups and out of energy (also: dog food). Add that to the 95+ degree heat this week, and you have a recipe for a stressed out, sweaty lunch hour and grouchy kids.
I'm not telling you all this to complain; I'm telling you this because this is how our life used to be A LOT and making a menu plan for even a few months makes you forget how chaotic it was. Just make the dang menu plan! (I'm talking to myself here. You can do what you want.)
This week is another jam packed week, but I'm trying to temper it by making a plan and having dinner together on the nights we are able. How do you cope with those weeks when it seems like everyone is running in a different direction?
- Sunday - Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach, mixed green salad
- Monday - Sweet and Fiery Pork, grilled asparagus, brown rice
- Tuesday - One more back to school night - YOYO
- Wednesday - Crock Pot Korean Ribs, oven roasted green beans, brown rice
- Thursday - College reception
- Friday - Leftover Buffet
- Saturday -Birthday party
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I don't make menus. I know tonight we're having hotdogs and hamburgers. There will be enough left for tomorrow. Or we might have spaghetti (frozen sauce in freezer), veg soup (in freezer) or BBQ (also in freezer). We generally eat what's on sale at the grocery store. I keep sandwich stuff around, and usually have extra bread in the freezer. There are only 3 of us here now, so some nights are make your own dinner (pizza and frozen fish in freezer). I keep bags of salad and fresh fruit in the refrigerator. Frozen vegetables in freezer. Grilled cheese sandwiches, eggs or waffles are also options.
ReplyDeleteI made a plan for this week as I want to get in the habit of it for when I go back to work. For weeks that are crazy, I try to make food ahead that can be partially cooked or popped in the oven for a little while we relax when we get home, then is ready and we can all eat. If we can't all sit down, I try and sit down with the Y.M. or with the DH- some semblance of family. I want to work on finding some good Crockpot recipes. We have a tried a bunch, which are all ok, but nothing we adore. I have to be careful, because of my special diet. Too many processed ingredients (which speeds up prep, sadly) and there is inevitably something that will make me sick. My mom helps out, too. She'll make us a lasagna or an Impossible Broccoli pie that we can bake and eat later in the week. Fried rice works with leftovers, but seems new. Reheated leftovers don't go over well in our house.
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