Oh, the dread of dinner time when you have no clue what you are going to cook. The clock ticks, the pantry and refrigerator divulge no ideas, your kids are trying to snack on anything they see, you know your hubby will soon be home from work and hungry. Hungry as a bear; growling like a bear.
Your pulse quickens in fear and you break out in a cold sweat.
What will you make for dinner?????
Contrast this to you humming a catchy tune that is stuck in your head as you stir a pan of browning burger on one burner while a can of refried beans heats on another. Lettuce is torn and washed, drip drying in a colander in the sink. Cheese is shredded, tomatoes chopped, taco shells rest in orderly lines on a cookie sheet while the oven heats. Dinner time is fifteen minutes away, the kids stay out of the kitchen and out from under your feet because they know they can wait just a tad longer to put something in their growling bellies. Your hubby should be pulling into the drive in about ten minutes, and you are calm and happy, looking forward to his return from the work day.
Is it the super fancy gourmet meal (NOT!) of tacos that has life so much more bearable in the second scenario than in the first? NO! It's the fact that you are prepared for dinner, you have a plan, and you are carrying it out in a timely fashion.
Planning ahead makes all the difference. Think about it. When you have no idea what to make for dinner, what is your greatest urge? To buckle down, get creative with the ingredients you can find, and get cooking? No! It's to throw in the towel, call the pizza man, or jump in the car and drive to the nearest burger joint. And how much will that dinner of delivery pizza or burgers and fries cost your family? $20? More than $20? When was the last time you made a home cooked meal that cost a hard earned $20? It was probably something extravagant like porterhouse steaks for fourth of July, or large enough to feed a crowd, like Thanksgiving dinner. Sure wasn't pizza or burgers.
Take thirty minutes, look at what you have on hand, and make up a menu for the next seven days. I'm sure you can find thirty minutes. That's the length of the average television show. Surely you watch TV at least a few hours a week. Take half of one of those hours and spend it prepping for a week's worth of meals. You've got the time. You can even do it in bits and pieces on commercial breaks if you just can't bring yourself to give up a TV show. Do it.
If it's easier to get into this planning ahead habit by just focusing on dinners, do that. If you want to go all out and plan breakfasts and lunches too, go ahead. But do it. Plan. Then on those hectic, busy days, you can look at the menu and go on autopilot rather than stressing over what to feed your family.
Here are some sample menus from this little place here to give you some inspiration:
Monday: venison steak with baked sweet potatoes
Tuesday: chili
Wednesday: baked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn
Thursday: goulash
Friday: pizza (homemade, not ordered!)
Saturday: pasties
Sunday: meatloaf
Monday: B-fried eggs and toast, L-meatloaf sandwiches, D-stew
Tuesday: B-pancakes, L-leftover stew, D-spaghetti and garlic bread
Wednesday: B-oatmeal, L-pb&j or leftover spaghetti, D-tuna casserole
Thursday: B-scrambled eggs, L-tuna sandwiches or leftover casserole, D-pea soup
Friday: B-french toast, L-leftover soup or pb&j, D-stroganoff
Saturday: B-waffles, L-tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, D-pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy
Sunday: B-muffins, L-pot roast sandwiches, D-chicken soup
Note how leftovers are a prominent lunch time feature. Easy to pack in lunches, or easy to reheat if you are home during lunch time. No new expenditure for lunch fare, the expense was incurred when that entree appeared as dinner the first time around.
To not get stuck in a rut of eating the same old thing week after week, make a list of everything--yes everything!--your family likes to eat. When making up your menus, look on the list for meals that you have the main ingredients for, and plug those into the schedule. There's no need to eat goulash six times a month. Unless your family really loves goulash.
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