Recipe for Successful Meal Planning:
- Pinch of organization and planning
- Dash of patience
- Heap of freezer space
- Combine all ingredients together for a happy family, stress-free Mom and enjoyable family dinners.
Easier said than done, right? If meal planning has proven to be a pesky chore in your household, start fresh with a new approach. Put in some time and organization to take control of your family’s meals. Eliminating the stress around mealtime will allow you to connect with your loved ones after a busy day.
The Crockpot Is Your Friend
It’s tried and true and has stood the test of time. Deana Curtin, a local working mother, says, “I want to hug my new best friend (Crockpot) when I walk in the door to the aroma of a ready-to-serve warm meal for my family.”
Check out these websites for quick and easy Crockpot recipes:
Bonus: Invest in some Crockpot liners and save yourself the scrubbing and scouring of your Crockpot post-meal.
Meal Swap
Start simple when venturing into meal swapping.
Step 1: Get together two or three friends who are interested.
Step 2: Have a pre-meal making meeting. Each person should bring two or three potential recipes and share the food needs of their families (allergies, preferences, etc.). Decide on the recipes you’ll be making and the completion date for exchange.
Step 3: Prepare duplicates of your chosen recipe based on the size of your group. Label with cooking instructions and package/freeze.
Step 4: Meet up again to distribute and collect meals.
Meal Swapping Musts:
Recipes should yield 6 servings.
The recipes you choose should be able to be cooked or reheated by one of these methods – grilled, broiled, stove top, crock pot, microwave or conventional oven.
Package food in freezable containers. Label all packages with the month/year, ingredients included and instructions for heating.
Meals should take no more than 2-3 hours to prepare. The goal is to be as stress-free as possible.
Bonus: Make an extra meal to have on hand for giving (new baby, death, new house, etc.).
A Day for a Month
The leg work for this strategy includes picking out the meals, creating a detailed grocery list, cross-checking your fridge and pantry before shopping and, finally, making the trip to the store for the big haul. Complete these steps on a different day than you actually assemble the meals. Once you have everything you need at home, send the kids to Grandma’s house, crank up the I-Pod and start assembling. When meals are assembled and frozen, you’re off the hook at dinnertime for a month!
Bonus: Add a dessert to the menu to look forward to!
Dream Dinners
Owner of Dream Dinners in Overland Park, Jana Day says the goal of her company is to “help Moms get kids around the dinner table.” Whether the challenge is time, desire or ideas, Dream Dinners wants to provide a solution to dinnertime. With the cost per serving ranging from $4.75 to $5.50, plus the time saved in shopping and prep-work, Dream Dinners is, well, a dream!
Start by checking out their website (www.DreamDinners.com). It lists their monthly delicious and nutritious entrée choices. You will be asked to select a session time/date, entrée choices and payment. Then it’s simply a matter of showing up, rotating around to your entrée choice stations and preparing them. They have all the ingredients chopped, cubed, sliced and diced for you, as well as storage bags and heating instructions for you to take home.
Bonus: For an extra cost, they will prepare your selected meals for you!!
Amanda Doll treasures her Crockpot and freezer more than diamonds and pearls at this stage in her life. She has risen to the challenge of meal planning for her 6’5’’ husband and two growing boys in Lenexa.