Meal planning simplified

When it comes to cooking dinner, do you like to plan your meals ahead of time or fly by the seat of your pants?  No shock here, but I like to plan my meals.  Prior to having kids, it was no big deal to run to the store a couple of times a week and just grab what I needed.  Now, however, I can think of a lot of things I would rather do then drag two kids through the grocery store multiple times in a week, so it's more important than ever to plan our meals in advance.

One of my little "helpers" in the kitchen

I used to plan my meals out a week at a time.  This worked okay for a while, but I noticed that each week I dreaded coming up with 7 meals for the following week.  Some weeks I was overly ambitious and wanted to try a new recipe every night, but with dinner falling right in the middle of the witching hour (parents... you know this time well!), I was usually ready to throw in the towel and order takeout for the rest of the week by Wednesday!  Our grocery bill was also getting a little out of control.

I knew there had to be a better way to plan our dinners and save some money in the process.  So, I fell into the Pinterest rabbit hole for a few days and it was there that I found the idea for monthly meal planning.  I loved the idea of only having to sit down ONCE each month to plan our meals.  For a few months this worked really well.  Then the pandemic hit.  We weren't grocery shopping as much and ingredients weren't readily available, and truly once we threw an out of state move into the mix, my motivation to meal plan went out the window for a while!

At the beginning of the year I knew that for both my sanity and our budget, I needed to start planning our dinners again, but looking at an entire blank month felt daunting.  That's when I had the idea to give myself some parameters for our meals.  I figured if I could chose a "theme" for each night, it might make it easier to quickly think of meals.  I had seen ideas for themed nights before but some of them were too limiting for our taste, so I came up with some of our own.  For the past few months, I have been planning our meals using the following template:

Sunday: Family dinner (comfort food in the fall and winter, grilling in the spring and fall)
Monday: Meatless
Tuesday: Tacos (any Mexican food, really!)
Wednesday: Soup, salad, and/or sandwiches
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner

I don't plan for Fridays and Saturdays a month in advance since we usually don't make plans until the last minute.  Usually one night we order pizza or eat out, and the other night we make something easy or eat with family and friends.  Weekends are also when we give our kids more of the typical "kid food" like Easy Mac or chicken nuggets... momma needs a break sometimes!

On our busiest weeks, I keep the meals simple; pasta on Monday, burrito bowls on Tuesday with chicken and peppers from the crockpot, grilled cheese and tomato soup or a bagged Caesar salad with some grilled chicken on Wednesday, and eggs with toast and fruit on Thursdays.  When I'm feeling more creative I will make a couple of new recipes throughout the week.

If you'd like to give monthly meal planning or themed nights a try, here are my tips:

Look at your schedule:

Do you work late on Tuesdays?  Taking kids to soccer practice on Thursday nights?  Those probably aren't the best nights to try a fancy new recipe or make a dish that takes an hour to cook.  Look over your schedule to decide what days you have more time to spend on dinner and what nights need to be simple and quick.  I know that by Thursday I'm starting to feel burnt out and ready for the weekend, so breakfast for dinner is an easy pick.  Sometimes we end up with leftovers to eat on Thursday, so it's no big deal to use those ingredients for breakfast on the weekend if we don't use them during the week.  Be realistic about your time constraints and your season of life.  Which brings me to my next tip...

Use shortcuts from the grocery store:

I love making my own sauces, dressings, breads, etc., but sometimes I just don't have the time or energy!  There's no shame in relying on bagged salads, precut veggies, and rotisserie chickens to save time cooking.  Yes, homemade is usually cheaper and healthier, but sometimes you just need to be able to get dinner on the table without too much hassle.  Grocery pick ups and deliveries like Instacart and Shipt are also a lifesaver!  Walmart even offers free pickup where we live, so I have gotten in the habit of placing a pickup order every Friday.

Keep a list of family favorites:

You can probably think of several meals your family loves, but then you sit down to meal plan and draw a blank!  I keep a running list on my phone of our favorite meals and recipes we want to try.  Remember to note where you found the recipes too so you can easily access them.

Stock your pantry with the basics:

There are some ingredients that we tend to use often, like onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, black beans and chicken broth, so I try to keep these on hand at all times.  

Batch cook:

During the spring and summer months, my husband does a lot of grilling.  If he's making steaks for dinner one night, I'll usually have him throw on meats or veggies for another night to save time during the week.  Doubling a recipe and putting half in the freezer for later is another great option that doesn't require much extra work.

Shop seasonally:

Shopping for produce that is in season helps save money, and it tastes better too!  In the spring and summer we eat a lot of tomatoes, zucchinis and peppers.  In the fall and winter I love making hearty chilis and soups.

Be flexible:

Even with the best plan, life happens.  We don't always stick to the meals I have written on our monthly calendar and that's okay!  When I have meals planned ahead of time though, I find it easier to get back on track.

I hope you have found this helpful.  What tips do you have for planning meals?  I'll be packing lunches for my kids next year so I'd love to hear what works for your families!

Embracing the seasons

Growing up in Florida, I always longed to live somewhere that changed with the seasons.  I remember looking through my mom's Better Homes and Gardens magazines and dreaming of watching the leaves change or waking up to a white Christmas.  Florida even had me fooled into thinking that winter was my favorite season (because winter in Florida is equivalent to spring and fall in other areas of the country!).

Now that I live somewhere with distinct (albeit mild) seasons, there are certain things that capture my attention each year, and even more so now during the Covid 19 pandemic where we are primarily at home.  Winter seems to drag on forever once Christmas is over.  February may very well be the shortest month of the year but the days feel longer than all the others.  Spring creeps in slowly but makes a bold entrance.  One day everything is brown and barren, and the next day you notice a few small leaves on the tree in your front yard that seem to have appeared overnight. Have those always been there?  A week later and the azaleas are in full bloom.  Was that bush there last year?  After a series of warm days and some inevitable rain, everything is alive again.  (We already have birds building their nests in our ferns out front this year.)  You try to ignore the pollen all over your car and pray that the mild weather sticks around for awhile so that you can spend every second possible outside.  Summer rolls in with more sunshine and heat.  It's all fun and games in June and July but by August you wonder if you will ever get a break from the scorching temperatures and, in my case, constant sunburns.  Is it fall yet?! Pumpkin spice lattes are out at Starbucks... it has to be soon! Another month (or 3) and you finally walk outside to feel that first crisp morning.  Even the smell is different.  You emerge from your air conditioned cocoon and can stand outside without instantly sweating once more.  The hustle and bustle of the holidays is approaching and now there are only 18 hours in a day, it seems.  These days can't possibly be the same length as the ones in February!  

Motherhood, I'm learning, is full of seasons too.  One day you're groggy eyed, holding that 6 week old bundle of joy wondering if you will ever sleep more than 2 consecutive hours again.  Then, finally, you can leave the house without having to pack 10 bottles but now you're potty training that strong willed two year old and swearing out loud that if he pees on the carpet one more time you are replacing it using money from his college fund.  Somewhere along the way you gain some confidence and think, "I could do this again!" and you bring home a sweet sibling. Any semblance of structure you created goes out the window, along with several of those "my child will never..." declarations you made before having kids of your own.

There are days when I just can't wait for both or our kids to be able to make themselves a sandwich on their own.  I dream of the day when I can send them upstairs to get ready for bed and not end up half soaked in the shower myself.  I imagine having an actual , uninterrupted conversation with Hunter while they entertain themselves.  And for the love of all that is holy, will they ever not take 20 minutes to get their shoes on when we are in a hurry to leave?!

But then I look back at their squishy newborn pictures.  How have they grown so much already?  I can't possibly have a son who will be five in a few short months; I just brought him home from the hospital!  I pull an old onesie from Nora's dresser and realize that it's too small for her and there are no more onesies left- she wears toddler sizes now.  Why didn't Sawyer tell me years ago that was the last night I was going to rock him to sleep, watching his tiny fingers grab on to my shirt.  Surely I would have savored that moment more.  I hear them in the playroom and realize that they're actually playing together; they've created their own little pretend world and I didn't even have to coordinate it.

As moms, we know that our babies won't be babies for long, but it's hard to imagine springtime when you're trying to survive the winter.  There are many days I wonder why their little personalities challenge me so much.  Maybe I'm not cut out for this gig.  Can I really survive another tantrum?  On these days, in these moments, I am trying to remind myself that this is a season.  One day they will want to play with a friend instead of making felt sandwiches for me in their playroom.  They won't need my help tying their shoes or buckling them into the car.  Eventually my sliding doors won't be covered in greasy little handprints and I'll get to take a shower without someone barging into the bathroom.  I won't find a stray car or crayon under the coffee table, and I'm going to miss it.  As exhausting and overwhelming as this season feels sometimes, I will miss it.  So while I dream of the future, I am going to try and take the time to appreciate this precious season that I am in right now- the chaos, the messes, the noise... all of it.  Before I know it, it will be summer and I'll be wondering how spring passed so quickly right before my eyes.

Catching up

I didn't mean to neglect this space the second I became pregnant in 2018, but alas, life happens.  We were blessed with a successful first round of IVF and welcomed our sweet Nora Jane to the crew on June 5, 2019.  It somehow feels like years ago and just yesterday at the same time!

Apart from the obvious change of growing from a family of 3 to a family of 4 (plus Colt, of course!), we decided that life wasn't crazy enough for us and decided to move to Wilmington, NC at the beginning of a global pandemic.  Life has changed more than a little around here!  It was hard leaving Lexington, SC; we loved our neighborhood and the community of friends we had there, but it's such a blessing to be near family again.  Living near the beach doesn't hurt either!

I'm hoping to post regularly here each week.  I've missed this creative outlet and if I'm being honest, I've let my own fears get in the way of getting back to it.  'What if my life sounds boring? Why would someone want to hear about the life of a stay at home mom?  I don't have a fancy camera to post Instagram worthy photos!"  And maybe all of those things are true.  But maybe this unglamorous, non photo shopped, non sponsored life will resonate with someone in some small way.  

Right now my life mainly consists of raising little ones and attempting to manage the house, so I plan on posting things related to that- crafts, recipes, organization tips, recaps of our adventures, etc.  I hope you will stop by again!  And if you see any typos, just know there's probably a kid or two climbing on me or asking for their 753rd snack of the day as I try to type!