How I Meal Plan

Here in our house we tend to be creatures of habit. Unfortunately, that gets boring very quickly! So I tend to look out for new recipes to try, usually about one a week. If everyone likes it, it makes it to the "Our Favorite Meals" list. (I use this printable from Lulebellelaine to record these, found here. This makes deciding on meals, a whole lot easier, especially since it lists which ingredients I need in order to cook that meal.

(Don't mind all the splotches on our meal list. Those were from before I got wise and put them in sheet protectors.)

My usual OCD self takes things one step further by having a small desktop basket of color coded craft sticks with meals written on them. This makes deciding what kind of meal to make on a certain day a little bit easier. For example, if I know that we will be out late on Wednesday night, I know I need to grab a green stick (Easy 10 minute or less meal) or a blue stick (crockpot meal) for that day so we don't resort to eating out. Now technically, it would be just as easy to make a list of each of these meals on a printable like this, but I like colored things and I like handing the kids a few sticks and letting them pick one instead of letting them touch my list of meals with their grubby little fingers. 

Now, I also do make sure that most weeks, each kiddo gets to be in charge of one meal. The bigs are able to handle a meal from start to finish, but the littles get to have me as their "helper" for their meal night. This process starts the week before and includes them checking what we have planned on the calendar for that day, deciding on an appropriate meal, making a list of what we would need to purchase for that meal after taking note of what we already have, and adding it to the grocery list. Then for their day, they are responsible for making sure whatever they need is thawed out the night before and then throwing everything in the crockpot in the morning on low or being in the kitchen at a decent time and making sure dinner is on the table by dinner time. No, this has not always been gourmet meals, but it has usually been edible and it teaches them valuable life skills that ensures they won't be in their dorm rooms or first apartments eating nothing but macaroni and cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, and ramen. And it saves me from cooking at least 2 nights a week. Plus its ends up being good one-on-one bonding time with each of the littles which sometimes can be in short supply when you are one of many. 

We also sometimes make crockpot freezer meals ahead of time, but I have found that for us, it's just as easy to throw all of the ingredients in the morning of, then to have a day long cooking marathon. But that being said, I do freeze certain things pre-prepped to be meal ready. For example, our freezer contains meal portioned, precooked freezer bags of cooked ground meat, cooked beans, cooked diced or shredded chicken, some pre seasoned with just basic seasonings and some pre seasoned with Mexican or Italian seasonings. I also tend to prep certain veggies that are starting to get wilty in the fridge before they go bad like blanching and freezing cut carrots or broccoli. We use fajita vegetables a LOT because they are a staple ingredient in most East African meals, so I frequently sautée tons of bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes when I'm  making some for just one meal and freeze the extra in meal portioned bags. Also I usually chop or blend any herbs I buy after using them for one meal (like basil or cilantro) and freeze them in ice cubes trays so the rest don't get wilty in the fridge. Then once frozen I pop them out into a zip lock bag so I can use just a cube or two in crockpot meals, soups, casseroles,  etc.  Another thing I do is cut green onions into meal ready pieces and pop them into an empty Mason jar or water bottle in the freezer and just shake a few out to top tacos or baked potatoes or whatever I need them for. 

When it comes to the actual meal plan though, I tend not to pick a certain meal for a certain day unless one of the bigs specifically asked for a certain day to cook because they are really busy that week or in the case of the "I know we will be out late on a certain day" scenario. Instead we pick 6 dinners (1 night is left over night) and put them on the list. I use Mommy Goes Green's printable here for just this reason. Then on that day or the night before, I pick a meal to cook. I don't like to be tied down. ;) I also go through and make sure there are a few breakfast, lunch, and snack options and then put them on this list so the kids don't tell me that they are starving and ask what's for breakfast. Instead they check the list and pick an option.

Now a good meal planning tutorial would also tell you that it is crucial to keep a pantry, refrigerator, and freezer inventory, but I seem to be unable to keep up with this, so instead I just keep all of my food items organized very well so you can see what we have easily when you look. I bought little containers and baskets from Dollar Tree and labeled them for the fridge 

and freezer 

and instead of using a regular shelf or cabinet for pantry items, I use basket shelves 

so that all of my pasta sauce is together, all of my dried pinto beans are together, all of my backup condiments are together, and so on and so forth. 

Hope this helps! Feel free to comment or message me with any questions.