Meal Planning

Do you plan your families' meals ahead of time?  I do my best to, especially during the school year.  I work full time as a Speech-Language Pathologist and my husband is also a teacher.  With him and 3 children, I can't afford to not have an answer to that dreaded question, "Mom, what's for dinner?" at 4 pm.  In fact, I read a study that over 80% of parents, actually do not know the answer to that question at 4 pm each night!

I refuse to be a part of that statistic!

I started meal planning probably about 5 years ago when I started doing Weight Watchers.  I knew I wanted extra "points" at the end of the week to enjoy my fav foods, so I would plan my dinner points in anticipation of the weekend.  The added benefit to it, though, I found, was that our grocery shopping could be done completely in advance, so there were no last minute runs to the store, and I also was less stressed in the afternoon.

I also found that if I stick to a simple schedule of different types of meals, the planning is much easier!  Below is a general schedule I try to follow...

Now, I am realistic, and there are days/weeks where this schedule doesn't fit - Nights where there are Scouts, I am doing a Tastefully Simple party, or there other appointments.  But the beauty of this structure is that it is predictable and it narrows my choices immediately.

Do you meal plan?  Do you have a specific structure?  I would love to hear about it!  If you would like to see my weekly meal plans, check out my facebook business page!

#mealplanning #mealplanner