Dinner Planning - Week One

I've never been so organized in my life and feel super proud and accomplished after last week. Dinner time is important for us; it's the one hour during the day that we all spend time together, talk, laugh, and eat. We all enjoy cooking and eating, but usually have about 45 minutes from the time one of us gets home until dinner needs to be on the table. If that doesn't happen, Noah gets cranky, starts whining, demands nothing but a bagel for dinner, and can't be reasoned with. Which means that this one peaceful family hour of the day won't be quite so peaceful anymore; and that just stresses everyone out and impacts the rest of the evening. So - quick dinner options are a must. 

The problem was that we had never really been organized at all, often not planning past Tuesday, and then scrambling on a Wednesday what to do or trying to get everything we would possibly need on a weekend only to end up with way too much food. This would then turn into not so yummy meals, wasting food, or quick runs to the grocery store on the way home which delayed everything (consequence: see above). 

And then I got inspired by a conversation on a Facebook parenting group where other moms were looking to put together a solid list of 15-20 dinner options that they could rotate through. This would mean fewer headaches when deciding what to eat, getting more into a routine, and making weekly meal planning easier. I liked everyone's ideas so I worked on my own list. 

Some of them are just family favorites, others are super quick and easy to make, others are great because you can prepare a big batch on a Sunday and eat slightly different versions for a few days. And then I like flexible options. For example, a pasta veggie casserole or a sausage veggie bake can be switched up every time depending on what is currently in season. 

Last weekend, we already had more potatoes and carrots at home than we could possibly eat during the week so I made sure to include at least one meal that would include those. On Sunday, I also made a big batch of meatballs to freeze, so meatballs would have to be on the menu as well. We usually end up with a lot of leftovers so I only planned for Monday - Thursday. I am happy to announce that my plan worked! I made a very organized trip to the grocery store, wrote the weekly menu down on our calendar, and then we prepared dinner accordingly. We switched some meals around for logistic reasons, but ended up eating what we had planned for. When we had leftovers I took them to work the following day, so we quickly knew we'd have to come up with something else for Friday, but I still had a pasta/artichoke/spinach/cheese casserole and my meatballs in the freezer, so we knew we'd have good quick options. A plan is good, but flexibility is better. 

So - here's what it all looked like!