Meals

Ever since Elliott was born, I've been in a rut with meal preparations. B.E. (Before Elliott) we used to have a veggie and some kind of protein every night. We often selected something pre-marinated from the grocery counter and our veggies came from our CSA or the store. We usually roasted our vegetables (my favorite!) and had a pretty good variety all around.

But once Elliott was here, it got a bit trickier. Our regular routine of going to the grocery store or co-op after going to the park on Sunday, soon got mixed up with nap schedules and the necessity/ease of feeding Elliott at home.

Our regular dinner time also went out the window, with Elliott's bedtime routine taking precedence. Pretty soon I was fixing two meals a night, with Elliott eating separately from us. We weren't even starting our dinner until after 7:30 and quite often eating at 9:00. And I should edit the above 'we' to 'I' since Brad was usually in class in the evenings or completing homework after spending the day taking care of Elliott. This made for a very tired mama...who wasn't able to relax until bedtime and was slowly losing herself (it was a rare day I had any time leftover to spend on things -god forbid- I liked to do).

Fast forward to the end of last year/beginning of this year and we were in a massive rut. I had no idea what to do to get out of it. All I knew was that I had no idea what to fix for dinners anymore. A lot of pressure was taken off because my mom was coming down twice a week by that time and usually made us some kind of dinner the nights she was here - a lifesaver! But pretty soon I was having trouble figuring out food for the rest of the nights. Food was completely uninspiring. I'd go to the store and nothing looked good. I didn't know what to buy. Then I hit rock bottom...and I stopped buying dinner groceries all together. I knew this wasn't a sustainable plan, but I didn't know what to do.

Then I happened to stumble upon a link buried in the side bar of a mommy-blog forwarded to me because of some kind of cute toddler-related project. The words "Make 5 dinners in 1 hour" literally popped out of the page! I followed the link to a blog that sells a subscription to weekly meal plans. The 'hook' being that you prep the week's meals at one time and in one hour. For each week you get a menu, grocery list, prep-night instructions and meal-night instructions. Then with minimal cooking/heating/final prep work, you can have a home-cooked meal on the table in no time each night of the week. She offered up a freebie week to try it out before you purchased the subscription (which is beyond cheap if you ask me at $15 for three months of menus!).

This was exactly what we needed. Someone was not only giving me quick weeknight meal suggestions, but they were telling me what to buy! All I had to do was go to the grocery store. Each meal feeds 4-5, so with that quantity of food we had plenty of food for lunches and the two nights of the week you get 'off' from the 5-day weeknight plan. This also afforded us the opportunity to eat all together in true family-meal style, something I was itching to put into our routine.

The first 2-3 weeks I followed the menu exactly as she presented it. But pretty soon, I was getting my kitchen bearings again and started to make adjustments to our tastes and needs. First thing I changed up what the quantity of meat called for. Most of the menus are very meat heavy. But it was super easy to just 1/2 the meat and still have plenty for our meals. I also thing a seasoned vegetarian, who is already used to making substitutions, could adapt most of the meals to their taste as well. I've also changed out the recommended frozen 'steamer' veggies for fresh veggies, which are easy enough to chop up on prep-night or even on meal-night.

I also started looking ahead and sometimes even skipping a meal on prep-night. There are usually one or two meals that are so easy to make, I don't feel prepping them ahead of time is necessary. (One that comes to mind was tostada night which I believed called for you to open a can of beans and place them in a zip-lock bag. Well, I can open a can of beans on meal-night and save the plastic bag! The rest of the ingredients you just pulled from the fridge, so no need to prep in my opinion!) The program also relies heavily on the use of large zip lock storage bags. So if this doesn't jive with you, this can easily be changed up to use glass bowls for marinating.

At this point, after using this service for more than three months, prep-night on Sundays is down to usually about 30 minutes. And when I get home from work, I still have time to play with Elliott before starting dinner. Family dinners are usually on the table between 5:30 and 6:00 and most nights the kitchen is clean before Elliott's bath time. This means that once Elliott goes to bed at 7:30, mama is DONE. I have time (and energy!) to sew or blog and most importantly, I get some 'me time' each night without feeling like I am nothing more than a work-machine.

Now, I know this program won't work for everyone and certainly isn't 'necessary' for everyone, but it has been a lifesaver for us. I'm feeling more confident about food and meals and planning. This service has also been giving me some great ideas for quick and easy weeknight meals, so I know there will be a point when it is no longer needed. But for now, I'm loving that I don't have to think about food, but still end up with 5 homemade meals a week that we can enjoy together as a family.