Food prep, healthy eating, grocery shopping--all have started to just SUCK lately. Like, they're not going well in terms of efficiency/productivity/enjoyment, and also they're taking up to much time and energy and not producing delicious results
So! I am going to post about our weekly menu for some outside accountability and to help this huge part of our life taste and work better.
- I want to eliminate (cut down on) food waste and hassle, so I am trying to create a new rhythm.
- I am going to shop all week on my fave grocery apps and fill carts as we start to run out of things.
- I am going to crowdsource food ideas from the fam Thursday and Friday
- I am going to finish my grocery shopping by bedtime on Friday for a Saturday pick up (if possible-- this coming weekend is a smorgasbord of kid activities, so we shall see).
- I am going to "shop" the cabinets, fridge, and upstairs freezer (not going to disturb WHATEVER is nestled under the protective ice layer downstairs) BEFORE menu planning
- I am going to make what sounds good and uses fresh stuff regardless of activities. I have been getting too precious with our schedule trying to make sure we will be home to eat and WE ARE NEVER HOME TO EAT as a whole group, so it doesn't freaking matter
Menu for the week
Saturday:
Buffalo chicken wraps (made with frozen crispy chicken strips but otherwise this recipe, bascially)
Fries
Veggies and ranch/blue cheese
Sunday:
Ham
Garlic knots
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
Monday:
Leftovers
Tuesday:
Baked french toast (with choc chip brioche!)
Eggs
Bacon
Berries
Wednesday:
Fish tacos
chips and salsa
Thursday:
Broccoli bites in the air fryer
air fried mozzarella sticks
Friday
Take and bake pizza and caesar salad (will buy day of)
In the spirit of terrible food choices, behold the picnic I packed for a trip to the park on Friday.
I kinda feel like we (mostly women, especially women who are mothers) can't do it all. For starters, a banana is great and it's not like Lunchables are horrible. They're food! Food is not a moral entity in our lives.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you wanted to prepare and pack and elaborate and health-filled lunch for the park...YOU'D NEVER MAKE IT TO THE PARK.
I get caught in this loop of thinking I have to do all the things...simultaneously. And I just can't. Now maybe you can because I pretty much think you're Wonder Woman in disguise because you do more in a day than I want to contemplate doing in a month but, still...it's just not possible to do all the good things and you are doing so many GREAT things.
I feel you though. I'm over food right now. March mostly sucked - awesome family trip aside - and so my plans for meals this week involve the freezer, the toaster, and not much else. I'm so excited. I love toast and it's perfectly fine to have toast several times for supper. And I don't even have to prep fruit to go with it. Seriously. The world won't spontaneously combust if I JUST SERVE TOAST and skip chopping up an apple. Right?!
If you don't hear from me in a week it's because we've spontaneously combusted :)
Sounds good! I mean, I have no idea how you keep them all fed AT ALL, so feeding them anything is ALL GOOD.
ReplyDeleteThe pic that looks like Minnie is in a front-load washer *chef's kiss*
This is Lisa! If Paul would eat lunchables, I would be tempted to send one with him when he goes to the program that provides care on non school days all of next week (it’s spring break here). It’s hard to come up with ideas of what to eat and I am feeding a small fraction of the # of people you feed each week. I made 3 meals at most each week since we can live off leftovers and odds and ends on the other days. My mom made a meal every night that consisted of a starch, protein, and veggie. I don’t know how she did it. Plus much of the time we didn’t have a grocery store in my tiny home town. She was clearly a wizard.
ReplyDeleteI am a meal planner because I could never wait until 5 pm to think of something for dinner. Just the thought makes me anxious. I am in awe that you keep all your people fed, so this is really amazing to me!
ReplyDeleteI rely on my crockpots (I have a whole fleet of them) for the days when I'm too busy - or everyone else is too busy to be around for dinner. I love to plug it in in the morning and walk away. I admit though, there are only so many different ways to create a meal with a crockpot. I try to make up for it by making a meal that isn't all mushed together in one pot on other days. Also, I whip up enormous meals often and then I re-plug in the crockpot and voila. Dinner. Good luck with your new plan. I have so many fridges and I get so upset when I forget something and it spoils. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteWe do all our shopping on one day in the week and we meal plan before that trip. But it's sooooo much easier for us because there are only two of us. Our fridge is filled to the brim after that shopping trip - I have no idea how it would work to try to fill a fridge to feed seven people!! Do you have multiple fridges? I need to know logistics. It just seems too hard for me to fathom.
ReplyDeleteI have this twisted relationship with food waste. I don't want a plant or animal to have died for nothing, so I don't want to waste food. (also money, but the dying in vain thing hits harder). But then something sits in the fridge too long and I need to LET IT GO.
ReplyDeleteWe had a birthday party on Saturday for my daughter, and I currently have 3 kinds of leftover, cooked sausage in the fridge. (plant based, lamb, and chicken basil). My plan is to make some chickpea/garlic/spinach soup tonight, and throw some sausage in there. The rest of it is going in the freezer, and you can bet it will show up on the menu again soon. In other words, I fully support you in your quest to not waste. ALSO, I bought guacamole and chips at Costco and now have a TON left, and I wish I could send it to you and your family of 7, because there is no way we are going to eat it. As is, I think I'm going to give it away on the Buy Nothing group. I don't think there's anything I can do about the leftover ice cream. The only person that will eat it is me, and that is not good, so I am going to have to throw it out. Sigh. Maybe not the lemon/marionberry....I'll eat that one.
My life has gotten easier lately...My daughter cooks one night a week, we go out one night, and my husband cooks two nights, so I only have to think of 3 dinners. YAY! Still a struggle sometimes.
I definitely struggle with this! Due to allergies, we're on a vegan, no soy, no sesame, no peanuts diet and it's really hard to come up with stuff that two toddlers and two adults will enjoy. I've taken to cooking ~3x/week and then we just microwave stuff for dinner because there's no time when we get back from daycare. Also sometimes we just eat almond butter from the jar...
ReplyDelete