Meal Planning

I hate meal planning, but I think that's because I hate cooking. However, I've given up tot he fact that I cannot work full time and not meal plan. I have to. Or, we'd be eating cold cereal every single night for dinner. And while, I might live on that, the girls cannot.

I also think it's harder to plan for dinner when DJ may or may not be home. I have to figure out what left overs he'd like to eat, if I will have left overs, and even if he'll be home in time to eat dinner. Although, with football season, he's usually not home until 7, and the girls and I eat no later than 6.

So, for the last two weeks, I wrote out a meal plan, and even cooked and froze dishes to re-heat later in the week.

On Monday nights, G has gymnastics, so we don't get home until 6. Starting this coming week, we'll have a Bible study at the football office at 6:30, so we'll leave straight from gymnastics to football. Two other nights a week, I provide speech services for two of my early intervention kids, so typically, the girls and I won't get home until 5 or a little after.

See, I just had to break down and meal plan.

Here was my menu for last week and what I cooked ahead:

Monday: Homemade pizza
Tuesday: I used my crockpot to make an Italian chicken, and it was amazing!!! I just threw in my chicken breasts frozen, added carrots that I had peeled, washed, and cut on Sunday, and whole red potatoes. Sprinkle Italian Seasoning, and add 1 bottle of Italian dressing.
Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie- I was able to boil the chicken, add cream of chicken soup, and frozen vegetables, topped with a pie crust. I then refroze this. My only problem was that I forgot to stick it in the fridge in the morning, so it was frozen solid and took an hour to cook when I got home. MC was not happy!
Thursday: We had left overs.
Friday: Baked Ziti (I boiled noodles, added 1/2 can spaghetti sauce, 1/2 can alfredo sauce, and topped with cheese) This was easy to make and freeze for the girls' babysitter.
Saturday: The girls had a frozen pizza because there was a babysitter.
Sunday: Mac & Cheese with frozen peas and cut up hot-dogs.

Here's my meal plan for this week:
Monday- We'll be eating at the football office due to our Bible Study.
Tuesday- Meat loaf and a veggie. I pre-made the meatloaf and stuck it in the fridge. I'll pop it in the oven when I get home.
Wednesday: Mexican Pizza. I pre-made the taco meat, and i'll layer the meat on top of a tortilla, along with enchilada sauce, tomatoes, corn, beans, and cheese.
Thursday: Chicken Fajita's- i'll make these in the crock pot
Friday: It'll just be the girls and I for dinner, so we'll either have breakfast for dinner, leftovers, or sandwiches.
Saturday: Lemon Pepper Tilapia

So, four of these meals were either made ahead or partially prepped in order for me to prepare dinner when we got home each night. Most nights, I was able to get dinner on the table within 30 minutes.

I just hope that I can continue this trend, and that I won't have to feed the girls chicken nuggets and corn dogs every night! Although, they're in the freezer if we need them!!!

What's your favorite make ahead meal?