Isn’t it funny that one meal seems to take up 9/10ths of our brain daily? Dinner or meal planning is one of our most requested topics. We’ll answer these questions and more:
· What are easy meals?
· How do I plan for meals?
· How much should the children be helping?
Dinner is the big kahuna in terms of time, expense, and general stress but this will help:
8 Rules to Cook By to organize and streamline for healthy economical meals.
- Meal Prep Plan: Having a set plan is a lifesaver. Mary Ellen prepares once-a-month, Ginny once a week. You decide which is best for your style.
- Know what you are going to make by 10:00 a.m. so you can work on it in free moments during the day. Even better, if you know before school starts, make a slow cooker meal!
- Double batch - When you make a meal, double the recipe and freeze one meal.
- Make a Sunday sauce, turkey, or roast, and use it all week in different meals. Chicken can be enchiladas or quesadillas, beef can be shepherd's pie, sauce can be pizza or meatball heroes. A ham on Sunday becomes a ham, potato, and cheese casserole on Tuesday, and pea soup on Thursday.
- Go to the library or online and look up some simple recipes—one-pan recipes, 30-minute recipes, and 5-ingredient recipes.
- Allow for the occasional pizza/take-out night.
- Put older children in charge of one meal a month. Teach them a specialty. Even younger kids can put together a salad or cut up veggies and dip. A big bonus is that kids are more likely to eat healthy foods if they or a sibling prepares them.
- Spend one day a month prepping meals. I do this after one of my daughters has a baby. Stock the fridge with frozen homemade meals. It's even better if you can make this a family project.
Please share how you get dinner on the table and your favorite recipe on our Facebook page.
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