I am still menu planning–it is a habit now and I think I would have a full-blown panic attack if I had to go a whole week without a plan or even worse go to the grocery store without a shopping list based on that plan! I have had to make some major changes over the summer in order to keep us on track and make the menu plans work for us instead of us working for them!
Change Number One
My daughter has started planning her own lunches and snacks. (I read about this on a blog that I can no longer find!) And when I started her doing this I told her that she had to plan the same lunch for the week PLUS pack it ahead of time. In the morning all she had to do was pack everything into her lunch box. I honestly had no idea how this would change our mornings for the better! On top of that, she is also budgeting and buying her own lunch and snack fixings. This means she looks forward to the grocery shopping and helps because she’s part of the process now. I thought she would be too young for this, but she isn’t. She hasn’t gone over budget and has actually saved up money for special treats that she wanted. It’s been amazing.
Change Number Two
Once I saw how well eating the same lunch was working for her I decided to do the same thing for me and my husband. Sometimes there’s leftovers from dinner, but if the fridge gets packed with leftovers I take the time to freeze the extra for another meal. This is working out equally well for us too. I thought I would get bored eating the same thing for lunch everyday, but I am not. Doing everything at once on one day makes it completely worth it.
Change Number Three
I started planning even more simple meals for dinner. If its something more complicated I want to eat, I just save it for a weekend or a day off. My husband especially appreciates this because he has to fix dinner two nights a week. If he has to do more than make a sandwich or warm something up it really stresses him out. Life is just so busy with work and school that I don’t want to spend precious downtime in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up! Simple is better and everyone seems to be enjoying the change.
So what about you? Is something nagging you that needs to change? I encourage you to sit down and plan some changes! It makes a world of difference when you can go with the flow instead of trying to fight it all the time!