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This week, we are talking about some simple ways to make meal planning easier. Do you plan your meals or fly by the seat of your pants? Do you dread hearing the words “What’s for dinner?” at the end of a long and tiring day? This is why you need a plan!
Some of the benefits of meal planning include reducing stress, saving on your grocery budget, making conscious choices about your family’s nutritional choices, and having more regular family dinnertimes.
My tips for meal planning are:
1) Commit.
You need to commit to the idea of planning meals ahead of time in order to make it a reality. Planning ahead takes effort in the moment that pays off in the long term. It’s worth doing, and you need to make yourself take that first step!
2) Start Small.
It can be overwhelming to try to plan an entire week’s worth of dinners, so start smaller than that. Just plan 3-4 meals, or even 2-3 plus one night of leftovers. Once you find success in the small steps, you will be ready to take on more if you want.
3) Get inspired (and make a list!).
Ask your family what they like to eat most, browse your favorite cookbooks or go online and find new recipes you would like to try. Once you are inspired, save the recipes using whatever method works best for you, and then make your list. I like to use Google docs for my lists, but you should explore your options and do what you like best.
4) Just Do It.
Once you’ve committed and you have a plan, you need to follow through with making your planned meals a reality. Take small steps and build on your success. Remind yourself of your long term goals and make the effort right now in ways that will pay off in the end.
This week’s Girlfriends interview is with Rachel Balducci from Testosterhome.net. She and I have a great chat about motherly milestones, insecurity in friendships, and she shares a hilarious story from the set of The Gist on CatholicTV.
The Girlfriends Shout out this week goes to Melanie Klein and her friend Meghan. Meghan helped Melanie get the help she needed for her postpartum depression a year ago. Melanie is grateful for her support and so happy to be doing so well today. Way to go, Girlfriends!
This Girlfriends Challenge this week is to just plan 3 meals for the coming week. Get inspired, make your list, and JUST DO IT! You can do it! We got this. 🙂
Thanks SO MUCH to listeners Franciscanmom104, Homegirl3000, nneinas, Deadelass, and Gaemarie for reviewing Girlfriends on iTunes this week. I would love it if you would consider doing the same, rating and/or reviewing Girlfriends in iTunes to help me get the word out about this new podcast.
And thanks, as always for listening. I’m so glad you’re here! Know your worth, find your joy!
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This was another good Girlfriends Tuesday episode today. Your ideas and support along with humor are very helpful in my state of life now. I am a Mom of 6 kids one of whom is adopted from Russia. I have 2 kids at home and 2 kids in college and the other 2 are married. My husband helps with the meals and cooks on the weekend so I can work as a Nurse. My cooking and meal playing has gone by the wayside as we are always in the car with pickups at 2 different schools and different sports activities. We usually pick up already assembled meals at the grocery store to save time. We do try to have a meal together at least a couple of times during the week.You have inspired me to prepare and plan more meals. My son age 16 and daughter age 9 I am sure would love to help in plannning this.
Loved this episode! I do have an idea to humbly share about meal planning. I’m a mom of 4 young boys (all under 6) with a husband who is pre-diabetic. I decided early on that I was not interested in making more than one meal for the family. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has these kinds of medical issues. May I recommend this book: Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking, by Lara Rondinelli. I bought this book when my husband was first diagnosed. The book is divided into months, and then weekly menus with five meals each week. There is always an entree and often a side dish. The best part is that the first page of each week has a GROCERY LIST. I usually just copy the meals into the planner and copy the list onto my iPod. There are weeks we don’t use all the recipes (I have marked which we liked and didn’t like), and we always make pizza on Friday and finger food on Saturdays. I use the leftovers as my husband’s lunch the next day. I was quite surprised at how many of the meals at least two of the boys enjoyed. Plus I feel like they get at least 5 healthy meals with little effort on my part. The groceries are usually in season, which saves some money. I know “healthy” foods can cost more but it is something important to us to keep Husband around a while! If you need an easy way to get into meal planning healthy food (even if you’re not feeding a diabetic)you may want to try this book. Here’s the amazon.com link: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1580401600?keywords=Healthy%20Calendar%20Diabetic%20Cooking&qid=1454516989&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2
There may be an updated printing. Hope this may help someone! God Bless.
Thank you for sharing your perspective, Pam! It sure can be hard to have at-home, homemade meals when your family is on-the-go. There are so many pay-offs, though, that it is worth trying. I’m so glad you will make an effort. Starting small is key! Let me know how it goes!
Oops, that was me above. Guess I wasn’t logged in!
Thanks for sharing that great idea, Dena! That book sounds like a God-send.
Hi Danielle!
Thank you so much for your podcasts! I really enjoy listening to you and have gained a lot from your wisdom and experience! I especially like your meal planning talk and how you mentioned to commit to it. Your words have really inspired me and helped me in this area. On a similar note, I struggle with a daily routine. I want so much to commit to one but find it hard to nail something down, anything. I think you even mentioned routines briefly in another podcast. But I was wondering if you could expand on this. I have read “Managers of their homes” by Steven Maxwell and have made a detailed schedule, but somehow cannot follow through as things throw us off (tantrums, visitors, outings, etc.) I’m greatly in need of your wonderful advice! Thanks so much for everything you do for us moms!
-Emily