Happy New Year!

With the New Year comes New goals and resolutions.

For one mom in Tennessee her goal for 2016 is to makeover her meal planning strategy!

Cassie explains, “I HATE cooking. I want to like it, but I really really hate it. I know it’s affecting the physical and mental health of me and my family.”   

Cassie came to us asking if we would take her on as a New Years project. Meal planning help for the cooking impaired. We immediately said, “Yes!” We were excited to help and eager to get started. We decided to call this project, “Meal Planning Makeover for the overwhelmed mom”.

We called Cassie the next day to do a phone interview.

Here is a little of our conversation:

What makes meal planning so overwhelming?

 “Making the choice of what to do and choosing how to do it is overwhelming. For example, vegetables. I want to have a full meal for my kids, but I don’t even know good ways to prepare vegetables. So we just go without or eat them plain. If I have more creative ways to incorporate them into the meal planning then it would help me to dive in and include it. I need IDEAS of what to do!” 

 

What does your week normally look like? Do you have time to cook? Meal plan? Grocery shop?

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays Cassie works and gets home at 5 or 5:30. Often their kids’ bedtime routine starts at 7:00, so dinner time needs to be done by 6:30 in order to give them time as a family before bedtime.

On Wednesdays Cassie doesn’t work, but they have to fly out of the door right after dinner to go to church. Dinner needs to be fast and ready earlier on Wednesday nights so they have time to eat and run.

Cassie says that most weekends they do have time to go grocery shopping but the meal planning doesn’t happen in advance.

 

At the end of this project what would you like to be able to do on your own?

“I want to look at it (meal planning/cooking) differently.

I want to enjoy planning out what the family will eat and enjoy the time it takes to prepare it.

It is stressful for me to make dinner and I don’t want dinnertime to be a thing to figure out everyday.

It will help to be prepared, but I have to know how to be prepared.”

 

Meet Cassie,  our First Meal Planning Makeover:

Since Cassie is my sister-in-law, we decided that when we got together for the holidays we would sit down and work out a month’s worth of meals together. We decided to try out the “meal planning system that works” that was posted a few days ago. It really was great to sit down together, chat, brainstorm, eat snacks and end up with a whole month of meals planned!

Here is what we did:

Step 1: Make a List of Family Dinnertime Favorites

At first Cassie started with about 6 dinnertime favorites. Then I would say what about ______? That would spark even more recipe ideas! Sometimes it really does help to brainstorm with others. (How much fun would it be to have a girls night with snacks, sharing fun cute pens and helping each other plan their meals for the month!?) Try to come up with about 25-30 meal ideas so that you can rotate them monthly!  If you want to make a list of Family Dinnertime Favorites to help you meal plan, but aren’t sure how to find ideas, check out our top 7 ways to expand your recipe stash.

Step 2: Categorize your Family Dinnertime Favorites List  

Next I told Cassie to categorize her list. Here are the categories she came up with: Beef, Chicken, Fish, Crockpot and Other. Isn’t it more fun with pretty pens and isn’t her handwriting amazing?!

 

Step 3: Write on your post-it flags

I bought these flags (Post-it Arrow Flags with On-the-Go Dispenser, Assorted Primary Colors, 1/2-Inch Wide, 100/Dispenser, 1-Dispenser/Pack) at Wal-Mart and brought them for Cassie to use.  They work like a charm! Cassie chose to use a different color flag for each category. This will help her when it comes to placing the meals on her calendar as she will be able to see quickly and easily if she has a variety of healthy meals offered for the week. If you do buy post it flags that are made of velum you will need to use a permanent sharpie fine point marker so that it doesn’t smudge.

  

Step 4- Planner Time!

Last I had Cassie get out her planner for the year. Does anyone else love planner shopping as much as I do?! I am seriously in love with new office supplies! Cassie picked out a planner (Sugar Paper 2016 Planner 5×8, Weekly/Monthly – Kraft Gold Dots) that is 5×8. The post it flags had to be cut to fit in the boxes, but it worked! I had Cassie look through her weeks, putting key events down- even days she works so that she can think about how much time she will have to make a meal that night. Then she went through her post it flags and started plugging them in day by day!

On Sunday their family does the same fun meal every week, so Cassie just made the same post it flag 4 times. She put the crock pot meals on Wednesdays because she will be home to start them and it is quick clean up on the nights they leave for church!

 

Cassie decided that she was going to leave one night a week without a meal planned to leave open for leftovers. She also selectively picked pizza for every other Tuesday night because their local Papa Murpheys as a pizza special on Tuesdays. Love these little tidbits that she was able to figure out along the way!

Now as far as a grocery list goes, Cassie and her husband use the Out of Milk App. This app is nice because you can share your grocery list with others and save them!

We didn’t get a chance to talk about sides, but I will be sharing this with Cassie. When I did my meal planning for the month I made a list of all the yummy sides we enjoy as a family. You may decide that you want to write these down on your calendar and plan them for each meal. I prefer to keep several side options on hand (grain/carb & veggies) so that we can pick whatever we feel like that night!

I can’t wait to hear how this month goes for Cassie!

Are you in need of a Meal Planning Makeover as well?

Comment and let us know what overwhelms you the most about meal planning. We would love to help!

You may just be our next Meal Planning Mom Makeover!