Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to rethink and revitalize your meal planning.
Level of Commitment: Baby Steps
Don’t worry: just because I used the terms “alternative” and “weird” in the title doesn’t mean we’re all going goth.
These apple squares don’t have all that much to do with menu planning, except that I want to put them in my calendar this month!
Personally, I’m hit and miss on actual meal planning these days. (My baby turns 2 months old this week and I live with my in-laws, in case you need a background for “these days.”) When I buy some good Farmer’s Market produce that inspires seasonal meals or start getting some connected meal planning going, I have no problem churning out a week to 10 days’ worth of meals on the calendar.
The problem comes when I get to the end of that nicely planned time. I usually pull a Homer Simpson: “Doh! What’s for dinner?” Then I scramble around and punt, tempted by $5 pizzas for a few days until I get inspired again. This is not a good example.
If you have a weird stage of life coming up (having a baby, moving, hectic evening sports schedules) or for those hectic days (when kids are going to religious ed and soccer and you have book club all in the same night), here are 3 nuggets of meal planning wisdom for the busy seasons.
This post is sponsored by Plan to Eat.
Make Someone Else do the Work for You
No, this is not a euphemism for “eat out,” although that’s tempting, I know.
The work of meal planning can be farmed out to your secretary, in a sense.
If you use a meal planning service like Plan to Eat, it’s kind of like having a friend who reminds you what worked last time you were in a rut. You can save and reuse meal plans (helpful for the brain-fog-sleep-deprived days…or months), and the program even creates a grocery list for you from your chosen recipes so you can ensure you have all the ingredients on hand without too much thinking. This is important for us mamas with new babies whose brains are being nursed out of them daily. 
Plan to Eat also allows you to tag recipes with any category you like, which will help with step number two. (Check out the 30-day free preview if you want to test drive the system.)
Make an Easy Meals List
If you do the thinking before your busy season, you’ll thank yourself later.
For those days when you have to punt and can’t soak grains, thaw meat or make anything in advance, having a list on hand of “meals that take little planning and move fast” is a lifesaver.
I recommend tagging recipes three ways:
- No prep means you don’t have to soak, thaw, or prep anything more than two hours in advance, good for when you’re not prepared or need to be flexible and change up the plan.
- Fast meals are the ones you can get on the table in 30 minutes or less, but you might have to have something thawed or whatever from the day before. Good for when you know you’ll be walking in the door at 5:30 with hungry kids.
- Prep ahead are for those meals like casseroles, soups and slow cooker meals that you can make almost completely the night before and have ready or almost ready when you walk in the door.
When “Uh oh, what’s for dinner?” hits at 4:00 p.m., you can find a recipe tagged with both of the first two labels and no one will starve!
For those who don’t want to put it all on the computer, a pen and paper actually make pretty nice lists, too. Some of mine include egg omelets, salmon patties, pan-fried fish with spicy fish seasoning and American-fried potatoes, and cold beans on a salad.
Be Creative with Your Meal Prep Times
This has been a revelation to me in this new season of life, with a child in elementary school, a preschooler busy at home and a brand new baby:
I can’t count on the “power hour” starting after 4:00 to do all my dinner prep. At that time, I’ve got a 6-year-old who needs some attention, a 3-year-old who might be crabby if she didn’t nap, and a newborn who doesn’t know what “schedule” means. Heck, he doesn’t know what “night” and “day” mean yet, unfortunately.
I have to make dinner (and all the other make-from-scratch foods we eat) when I have two hands. For me, this means I might do some prep in the morning when Jonathan is napping. I often have a cooking goal that Leah and I can work on together, and I know we’ll get to it sometime during one morning or the next. We make things like:
- homemade salad dressings
- homemade crackers
- new but easy desserts for the upcoming desserts book
- mayonnaise, which later goes into homemade ranch dressing
- granola bars (pictured above)
- grain-free granola or soaked granola from Healthy Snacks to Go
- power bars from Healthy Snacks to Go (like Larabars)
- cutting veggies for a crudite platter for dinner
The trick is to make sure it’s something that won’t stress me out to make slowly, with a child helper, AND to be flexible enough that if it doesn’t get done, dinner does not self-destruct.
I can get a bit more done, sometimes, when Leah is in rest-time or nap-time, depending on her mood. I usually like to have a “kid-less” goal here:
- new desserts recipes that are trickier and I don’t want help
- things at the stove like homemade yogurt or homemade cream of chicken soup
- chopping vegetables or even browning meat for dinner
Here’s the interesting part – I have to figure out what can be stopped and started at random in case of “baby wake up” syndrome.
You know, when baby wakes up and needs to nurse NOW.
Sometimes you can wear the baby in a Moby Wrap or sling, but if they’ve just awakened…you know what they want! By the way, I’ll be giving away this Moby Wrap from Lullaby Organics in a few months…
I often leave vegetables half-chopped on the cutting board, meat browned in the pot and waiting half an hour for the rest, and even soups half made on the stove. They survive. Most things can be turned off even when you have to run to pick up a school-aged child from school, then resumed when you get back.
In a weird stage of life when you need some alternative cooking strategies, think your recipe through and make sure it doesn’t have any parts that need to happen “right now” and can’t be put on pause. It’s “DVR cooking” where you can pause real life!
For those who aren’t glued to their rocking chair with a little nursling from 8 p.m. to midnight every evening, you might be able to rely on the wondrous time after the children go to bed. You’ll want to think about meals that have prep to do 24 hours in advance, or even early in the morning.
Think: When do I have a minute to help dinner happen?
You don’t have to make dinner right before dinnertime.
You just have to plan it in.
Ultimately…Just Plan It!
Every home chef’s life and schedule is a bit different, so what works for me may not work for you. The bottom line is, I promise, if you plan your meals they will end up being healthier, less expensive, and less stressful than if you don’t.
You can use a computer system, a calendar, a white board, a notepad, or sticks in the dirt – but you have to plan.
Resources:
- If you need some inspiration, Stephanie at Keeper of the Home is running a meal planning revitalization challenge this month – check out her Plan It! Don’t Panic series entry for today where many bloggers linked up menu plans.
- The Family Menu Planning eBook by Elizabeth Hawbaker has a coupon code this week for half off: BABYSTEPS
- {Real Fast Food} by Trina Holden is a one-stop shop for real food recipes, frugal tips, and meal planning advice.
What’s your best advice for meal planning during the busy seasons?
Winner of My Little Green Shop Lunch Giveaway
Out of over 900 entries for the “I don’t want to throw stuff away anymore” food on the go giveaway from My Little Green Shop, congrats are in order for:
Z. Bucket
You can still use the code KS15 for 15% off any order, all the way through December 31, 2011 (think Christmas lists, oh yeah!).
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Disclosure: Plan to Eat is an October sponsor, and this is a paid post. I am an affiliate of {Real Fast Food} and the Family Planning Menu ebook, which means I’ll earn commission if you purchase them. See my full disclosure statement here.
Linked in to Pennywise Platter Thursday and Frugal Friday.
){kind=link}
I love your three categories of easy meals. “No prep,” “fast,” and “prep ahead” are genius. I wanted to do something like that, but I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working. Thanks!
[Reply to this comment]
Hard to get past the apple squares, they look appealing.
[Reply to this comment]
My very best tip is to have “convenience” items on hand. They can be things that you’ve made yourself and frozen, or items you’ve bought that you consider acceptable. I had a ton of frozen fruit and store-bought yogurt and kefir around for smoothies. I made tons of pitas and tortillas and kept them in the fridge or freezer. I had jars of home-canned tomato sauce (but i would have bought some in glass if I’d had to) and lots of cheese. I also had cans of tuna and salmon.
If I couldn’t think of anything, I could make pita pizzas or quesadillas with smoothies or just fruit in 10 minutes. Or a can of tuna with cheese cubes and veggie sticks. This guaranteed I could at least get the kids fed easily enough, and figure out what the adults could eat later.
I use the weekends to soak and bake large batches of stuff to make lunches easier the following week! I also have implemented a “morning chores” time when I know that Jacob will be happy (he started a routine on his own almost from birth so that’s really nice, and he does sleep pretty well at night), so I can have all the kids in the kitchen with me while I do dishes, get stuff out to thaw or soak, make breakfast, etc. I do more at nap time (now!) if needed too.
If all else fails? Use the TV to distract the children temporarily so I can finish what must be done.
[Reply to this comment]
I use similar categories for my own meal planning. Having a list in my binder of ready-to-go meals that requires no prep or planning ahead is a huge blessing on the nights when I can’t even think about what is for dinner! Of course, making sure all of those ingredients are always in the house is a smart idea too.
[Reply to this comment]
Thank you so much for posting this! It was much needed! I have a 3 year old who doesn’t nap and an 8 month old who nurses like a newborn at night… aka I’m glued to my rocking chair from 8pm-midnight too! I’ve gotten better at making a weekly menu but I can use any help I can get!
[Reply to this comment]
Fun Momma Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Love hearing about other moms glued to the chair, nursing, at this time of night!
[Reply to this comment]
this is great! i love the bit about learning how to start and stop again. i totally know what you mean. I think i’ve just figured this out though and my daughter is almost 18 months old.
[Reply to this comment]
Definitely learned (and still learning!) this over the past 5 months since having my son. I had to get it out of my mind that dinner cannot get started on until 4 pm.
[Reply to this comment]
Thanks. This is definitely helpful. We’ve been living in one of “those” phases since DD#2 was born 5 months ago with a rare birth defect. So with a special needs infant and a high need 2yo, it is very hard to get dinner made. Need to get a list together of easy meals so no thinking is required. Anyone know of an ipad app for meal planning?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Megan,
I don’t have any i-anything, but I know Plan to Eat does mobile apps (they look amazing for grocery shopping): http://plantoeat.com/mobile_ready Does that work on an ipad too?
God bless you and your family!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Looking forward to having time to read the whole post
Just had to comment quickly – baby will stay happier for far longer snuggled in facing you in the moby than facing out. And with a little practice, you can even nurse baby while wrapped up, finishing a few tasks at the same time. Happy International Babywearing Week!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Becky,
Is it babywearing week? How cool! I’m posting video of John and I with the Moby this week, including nursing. I nursed in a ring sling today while finishing lunch prep, in fact.
RE: facing in vs. out…hmmm…sometimes John doesn’t like going into it facing in, and he’s pretty happy there all the time, until he wants to nurse. He drifts off so easily when we’re on walks and he’s in there like in the photo.
Thanks!
Katie
PS – I have a post drafted of “7 Insane Places I’ve Nursed a Baby” – sling/wrap necessary!
[Reply to this comment]
My second baby is due in five weeks, and we’re having an awful time getting my iron over 10, so I’m EXHAUSTED! I love the point about just working on things a little at a time. I’ve found that crock-pot meals that only take five hours to cook are ideal for me. I can do prep throughout the morning and get it cooking at lunchtime. Perfect!
For those of you who are expecting a baby soon, do what you can to make things now and freeze them. Tired as I am, I’ve already got one meal in the freezer and I’m planning to do tons more dinners and breads. Planning ahead to have easy, healthy meals will really help once the baby is here. Not only will we have less work to do, but I will be getting the nutrition I need to recover.
[Reply to this comment]
I am due in January with my fourth. I was just talking to my husband about what I am willing to compromise on and what I am not in terms of convenience and nutrition, Have you frozen your granola bars successfully? Did you make lactation cookies ahead of time and do those freeze?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Holli,
I’ve never made my own lactation cookies, but the MilkEez from this week’s giveaway freeze fine. I’ve frozen other granola bar recipes in the past (works great), but I also found an old granola bar (months!) in a diaper bag once and it was still good, soooo…
You can freeze nearly anything if you do it right, especially baked goods.
Good luck and congrats!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Thank you for this post — lots of wisdom crammed into a good read!
My best piece of advice seems almost counter intuitive (atleast it was to me!): Use leftovers strategically
I used to cramp up if I made “too much” of something because I felt it put the pressure onto use whatever it was before it went bad. Now, I strategically make “too much” of something at least 1-3 times a week, and it allows for a TON of flex in my meal plan. Not only that, but it’s also reduced the total amount of time I spend in the kitchen — which means more time for the other 50 things that need to be done at any given moment
Thanks again!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Rosie,
Katie
Good call on the leftovers! I “cramp up” if we don’t have at least 3 choices of leftovers for lunches in the fridge!
[Reply to this comment]
You don’t need a meal planning service for menu inspiration (although that can be helpful). I have a blank calendar template on the computer and I fill in my meals as I go. After doing this for a year, I now have a full year of meal plans that I can refer back to!
I used a table in my word processing program and made my calendar 5 weeks long, 7 columns across. Across the top are the days and the category for the main dish – beef, vegetarian, fish, chicken, beef, leftovers, chicken. (I’m working on more meatless meals!) Some months I typed in only the main dish, other months I got ambitious and filled in the sides also. Sometimes I planned out a whole month at a time (often using a new cookbook that I wanted to test recipes in), and sometimes I did it a week at a time. I tried to record the page number of each recipe, especially if it was one out of a new cookbook.
It’s not perfect. There are a couple months missing. Some of the months are only half filled in. Still, it’s better than nothing; it was free; and it’s filled with meals that our family likes. I even found some old favorites that we had forgotten about. If it took any extra time to type on the computer instead of writing on a list, that time has been well-rewarded by being able to go back and see what we at last October instead of having to create it from scratch!
[Reply to this comment]
Thank you for reminding me to get my act together before our #3 comes! I’d love to hear what other quick meals you have in mind.
What type of fish do you use for your pan fried version? Love that spicy seasoning!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Wendy,
We’ve used tilapia in the past, but then I learned that it’s low in omega 3s and high in omega 6s, sigh. It’s also fabulous on salmon (any fish, really).
Here are some of the other posts I wrote about quick meals during my pregnancy:
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/05/24/kitchen-tip-tuesday-being-prepared-for-quick-meals/
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/07/19/eat-well-spend-less-the-gift-of-a-meal/
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/07/20/what-to-eat-when-youre-too-busy-to-think/
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/07/27/too-busy-for-real-food-convenience-foods-that-arent-a-compromise/
Hope those help and don’t overwhelm!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Great advice, Katie! I am anticipating the need to rethink our meals when (any day now…) my partner gets a new job outside the home. For the past year and a half, he’s been working from home and then unemployed, so I’ve been planning the menu (because with his personality, “planning” all too often turns into “never actually doing anything,” yet he reliably follows instructions! Also because I do most of the grocery shopping) and he and the kid have been cooking dinner while I’m on my way home from work. It’s been working out well for us, but of course I feel a bit spoiled now! In the old days when we took turns cooking after we all got home at night, we were on a much more flexible schedule so it didn’t matter if we sat down to dinner at 8pm. Now, our son has to be at school at 8am, so getting him to bed on time is crucial. I expect that our next era of cooking will require a lot of late-night/weekend advance prep.
One thing I have learned from making a plan for someone else to follow is to be very specific about odds and ends to be incorporated into a meal. For example, tonight we’re having “Bean Burritos w/thawed beans, roasted green pepper, tomato + more beans from big can; freeze extra.” We’ve been buying giant cans of beans, freezing some of each can in 1-cup bags, and thawing them for later use. The peppers were part of my weekend veggie-roasting binge. The tomato was fresh last Wednesday and needs to get used. If I don’t list these specifics, Daniel may open small cans of beans and cook them with salsa, leaving the other foods still needing to be used. With the specifics, we avoid “Why didn’t you use up this one?! Aargh!” moments even better than if I were doing the cooking myself. I get out things to thaw when I write the plan, so we make better use of our frozen stash.
[Reply to this comment]
When you are getting ready for baby, try doubling or even tripling meals that you are already planning. It’s no big deal to make 3 lasagnas or enchiladas, assembly-line style. Enormous pots of soup freeze really well. (If it has pasta in it, pull out your freezer portions before you add the pasta for tonight’s soup. Add pasta when you reheat the soup to avoid mushy pasta.) I also like to freeze crock meals in a ziploc bag. I run it under warm water to release the meal from the baggie, then dump it, frozen solid, into the crock.
My go-to easy crock recipe is meat with a marinade on it. Sometimes I use bottled, some times I make my own. At some point in the day, I make a side dish and/or a salad, steam a bag of frozen veggies, or throw the frozen veggies in the crock to cook for the last hour or so.
[Reply to this comment]
Great ideas, Sarah! I’m planning to double or even triple a few meals a week until the baby comes. We got a big deep freezer a few months ago and it needs filling!!
[Reply to this comment]
Thanks for this. We just moved and I’m wiped out by the pregnancy so we’ve been eating more convenience foods than I would wish for my baby
I came up with a plan for this week but now I’m too tired to follow it! It wasn’t well thought out with that in mind I guess!
I was wondering what the nifty tool you have is for chopping onions? How does it work?
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Frances,
Mine is Pampered Chef brand, a food chopper, but there are other brands too. I think Oxy Good Grips makes the other one I have that I dedicate for chopping nuts.
Awesome, awesome tool.
You put the food underneath and bash it like crazy on top. Scares small children, but I love it!
Best of luck on getting your energy back – “low energy” meals would be a good tag for recipes, don’t you think?
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
What a womderfully timely post for this first time mama of a 3 month old (sitting in the rocking chakr as we speak) whose husband just switched to night shift last week. Oh, and today was my first day back to work. While I don’t work long hours, i’ll be getting back home with less than a half hour before hubby has to leave for work. I’m learning through all of this that meal prep (and planning for that matter) has to happen much earlier in the day…really, what i need more than anything right now though, is an app for meal planning motivation…have always struggled with planning my meals very far in advance but then again I’be always had more time than organizational skills until recently!
[Reply to this comment]
love this post! I don’t have a nursling any more (a little sad about that!), but I still cook the way you described. I learned how to do it with a toddler and baby.
My biggest tip is to keep a supper notebook. I write down what we ate. I mark meals I made on Sunday (mostly make ahead, ready to go when we walk in the door) and meals that I carried out to other people. It’s a great resource for ideas when I draw a blank at meal planning time. I blogged about it here: http://thriftathome.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-supper-notebook.html
[Reply to this comment]
I almost always have dinner done and ready to cook (or cooking in the slow cooker) before noon. I’m too tired by the time the afternoon hits to want to do it! So for spaghetti, I’ll cook the pasta and put it in a bowl and toss it in the fridge until dinner when I just run it under hot water. I slice and dice all veggies. The sauce I’ll just let cook all day in the slow cooker. It makes dinner so much easier when it’s done early!
[Reply to this comment]
Meal Planning for Busy People | Kitchen Stewardship | A Baby Steps … | 60 Minute Meals // Oct 12, 2011 at 8:38 am
[...] more here: Meal Planning for Busy People | Kitchen Stewardship | A Baby Steps … This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged alternative, cookies, homemade, [...]
My youngest is 3, however, I have very little time at the end of the day to do dinner prep since I have the rest of the 5 kids home from school.
I keep the weeknight meals pretty simple. I always have a leftover night, and include leftovers in other meals. Spaghetti and meatballs are always on Wednesday nights. I simply reheat sauce and meatballs that my dh made weeks ago.
My other tip is starting dinner at the beginning of the day. After dropping 3 kids off at school, I’ll come home and spend at least 30 minutes in the kitchen getting dinner started and making other food. I find that if I do my kitchen tasks at the beginning of the day, I feel less pressured about cleaning up before going back out for school pickup.
[Reply to this comment]
Oh, this is good stuff I have learned since having baby #2. I really, really don’t like fixing dinner at the 4:00 hour. My little ones (3 and 1) are cranky, husband coming home hungry, everyone is in our (small!) kitchen wanting my attention or a snack, and on more than one occasion my little one has left me with my hands in something and pulled my pants down to the floor. *sigh* I have taken to using naptime/quiet time to prep dinner, and although that means I don’t get to nap/exercise/read a book/just sit and enjoy a bit of personal space, I’d rather give that up then try to cook dinner right before dinner. It’s a short season, right? This hour will get better….right?!
[Reply to this comment]
My husband works wierd hours and we have two teens with activities. We homeschool also so sometimes lunch is the better meal for us all to sit down together. I make a hot meal with sides and salad for lunch that we all sit down to, then we either take a bag lunch for dinner or eat that type of quick but nourishing snacky lunch type dinner at home. It saves me a lot of guilt (and the take out food troubles) to free myself from the constraints of a “cooked” meal for dinner on some nights.
[Reply to this comment]
The only thing you might have missed is double-cooking! While you’re baking the casserole, toss in a few sweet potatoes or a winter squash for soup etc the next night. Similarly, make an extra pot of soup or beans to toss into jars in the freezer for the next night if you know you’ll be around cooking one. This is what saves me during busy times– doing most of my cooking on two nights a week, but multiple dishes so there’s a little variety.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 14th, 2011 at 2:10 am
Good call!
[Reply to this comment]
Meal Planning When I’m Not the Cook « The Earthling's Handbook // Oct 14, 2011 at 1:51 pm
[...] working pretty well for us! A recent Kitchen Stewardship article on Meal Planning for Busy People has some great tips for working around multiple children including a newborn, and the comments are [...]