Meal planning for dummies
By mom4life | Category: Fit 4 Life, Healthy Living, Recipes & Kitchen Tips | Posted Monday, January 23, 2012
Making my way though One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler has been a fun challenge. This week I was determined to get back into the habit of meal planning (item #5). For me, meal planning has been an on and off again routine. Whenever I am in the routine I LOVE it.
Knowing what I am going to make ahead of time:
-Helps me to stratagize what we eat to make sure we are getting a good balance of nutrition.
-Allows me to plan a good mix of new recipes that I want to try with some old reliable favorites.
-Presents the opportunity to be more prepared to bless others in need with a meal.
-Avoids last minute 5:00 dinner stress or unnecessary eating out spending.
-Enables me to buy only what is needed and thus less food is wasted.
What typically goes wrong, and how I am trying to avoid it:
However, after a few weeks of regular planning, an inevitable a holiday or break in routine will bring an end to the plans and I somehow get sucked back into the “I don’t know what we are having for dinner” stress. I am not naive enough to think this won’t happen again. But I can try to anticipate the hangups that have caused problems in the past and seek to avoid them.
- After reading Tsh’s suggestion to plan two weeks ahead at a time I feel that is a good fit for me. In the past I have only planned one week in advance and I feel that left too much opportunity to drop the ball between weeks. Planning at least two weeks out keeps me feeling more prepared and gives me a little more time to get the next two weeks done. Plus, as long as I am taking the time to plan one week, doing two doesn’t really take much more time.
- I have at times gotten too excited to try new recipes and packed my schedule full of “newbies.” Making new recipes inevitably takes more time and has a higher “risk” factor involved (who will like it?). To combat this, I am now asking the older two kids and my husband to each pick one homemade meal per week (i.e. if they want Mac & Cheese it is my rule that it will be a homemade version). They choose what it is and I get to choose what night to make it. This helps guarantee that everyone has at least one meal they can look forward to and only leaves me with a few nights to plan out myself. This week Hunter’ picked homemade pizza. I enjoyed making the dough ahead of time and then allowing everyone to roll out their own pizza to bring over to the “topping bar” where they could choose their choice of sauce (we had spaghetti and Alfredo sauces–both bases to other recipes in the week) and toppings. It was a hit and Hunter already plans to use it as his “pick” again soon.
Suggestions:
- Plan to double your recipes as often as you can and either freeze the extra or have fun blessing others with a meal.
- Try to be strategic about the meals you plan in the same week. Doing so allows you to prepare less to be used for more and is also helpful for saving money. For example, as I mentioned above, last week we had our family’s favorite Alfredo recipe the night after we had homemade pizzas (allowing us to use the sauce for two meals). I also used a large jar of Spaghetti sauce for my Baked Spaghetti, Chili and for our homemade pizza recipes. My Costco rotisserie chicken was used for our lime tacos, white chili, pizza topping and to make several jars of Chicken broth. If you find a great weekly combination of meals I encourage you to save it and reuse it. Once you get a few great weeks you can rely on them as handy “stand by” weeks for times that you don’t feel like coming up with something new.
- If you don’t already have a system in place for meal planning, I suggest considering a free service such as ZipList or Cozi or a paid and slightly more robust service such as Plan to Eat. A while back I made a review video for Plan to Eat that you might enjoy. In addition, if you sign up with Plan to Eat, please “friend me” (my user account is “mom4life”) which will allow both of us to automatically see each other’s recipe box (and save those we like to our own).
What do you do for meal planning?
Do you have a system that is working well for you or no system at all? I would love to hear your thoughts or see a link to some of your favorite recipes!
10 days of fruits and vegtables
By mom4life | Category: Fit 4 Life, Healthy Living | Posted Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Welcome to the New Year mamas! Did you make any goals for 2012?
I am writing this post on the evening of January 1 from bed as I munch on a few pieces of Christmas chocolate. The rest of our super excessive amount of chocolate dipped Oreo balls, dipped Ritz crackers with peanut butter filling, molasses crinkle cookies, Ghirardelli chocolate squares, yada, yada, yada has just been sent to the freezer where it will require more advanced planning to enjoy. I am ready to cleanse out my system. The sugar has been threatening to have it’s way with my immune system and I will not go down without a fight!
Juice it up!
A while back a friend of mine told me about a documentary she watched called “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.”
Juicing at home: our family’s story
By mom4life | Category: Fit 4 Life, Healthy Living, Recipes & Kitchen Tips, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Monday, June 13, 2011
A few months ago, our family was hit with sickness. Everyone except Trent had a runny nose, which then led to ear infections. And although Trent was spared ear pain, he had his own share of problems because he was fighting pneumonia. We were a pretty sad bunch. While vegetating on the couch one afternoon during this time of sickness, we saw an infomercial for a juicer.
We didn’t have to be convinced that the benefits to juicing are extensive, but I will highlight some of the major benefits here: (more…)
Putting together a homeopathic first aid kit
By mom4life | Category: Fit 4 Life, Healthy Living, The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I recently crossed something off of my to-do list. It had been taking up residence on that list for more than 3 years—it was time.
The goal: to purchase items for a homeopathic first aid kit
The challenge: not knowing what items should go in said kit
A special giveaway: A month supply of Dr. Sears Family Essentials drinks, snacks & supplements
By mom4life | Category: Fit 4 Life, Healthy Living, Mom 4 Life News & Giveaways | Posted Monday, March 14, 2011
As I mentioned in my previous post about making homemade Elderberry Syrup, I am very interested in learning more about natural ways to help keep our family healthy. Like anything else, this is often best for me to take baby steps forward so that I don’t become overwhelmed or discouraged. It was fun to read comments on our facebook page from many of you who currently use elderberries and from those of you who were also excited to start. Since they grow in the wild where we live in Northern Idaho, I will now be interested in finding some of the free variety come summer!
Many of you likely fall into one of the following four categories when it comes to the subject of health and nutrition:
1) You already are very knowledgeable in the area of health and nutrition as well as alternative forms of medicine.
2) You have a growing interest in this area and have started taking some baby steps to learn more.
3) You have an interest, but thinking of “one more thing to do/learn” makes your head want to explode.
4) You have no interest.
I am in group #2. For those of you in group #1, I hope that you won’t mind as I stumble along in sharing what I learn as I go and perhaps you would even be willing to share some of your wisdom along the way. For those of you in group #4, I am probably lost your interest already, sorry. Maybe there are some other future topics we can connect on instead 
. For those of you in group #3 (as well as for those in group #1 and #2) I wanted to let you know about a group of products that I recently became aware of from Dr. Sears. These products are doctor-forumlated all-natural, drinks, snacks and supplements designed to provide the essential daily nutrients. I have not yet tried their products but I soon will as they are sending me a sample of their varied product line (you too can have a chance to try some samples, keep reading to find out how). They are sending me the following:
- POPUMZ™: 100 percent all-natural popped whole grain crisps that are packed with protein to help build strong muscles, fiber for healthy digestion and Omega-3 DHA – an essential component for the growth and development of young minds and bodies
- Cool Fuel: a delicious, fortified and ready-to-drink shake that delivers the nutrition kids need to perform their best – in and out of the classroom. Made from 100 percent all-natural ingredients, the gluten- and lactose-free shakes contain no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners and 60 percent less sugar than competitive brands
- Dr. Sears Family Essentials Supplement Fruit Chews: 100 percent all-natural and fruit-based, and provide kids with optimal levels of Omega-3 DHA and essential daily nutrients to nourish their minds and bodies
What I am excited about is that their products are free of artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. I have become very aware of the negative effects that these ingredients can have on my kids and I strive to steer clear of them whenever possible. Finding companies that share that goal really is nice to see (as it is so very rare).
The fun news is that I am not the only one that is going to get to try these products out. One of you is going to win a months supply of samples including the Dr. Sears Family Essentials drinks, snacks and supplements.
To enter to win: simply “share your thoughts” below telling me what group (of the 4 mentioned above) that you are in, why you would put yourself in that group and which of the Dr. Sears products mentioned above that you are most interested to try. I will look forward to finding out more about where we are all at in the process. One comment will be picked at random and contacted for the shipping address to send your month supply of samples. Please leave your comment by Thursday March 17th. The winner will be contacted Friday the 18th and also announced in the Weekly Giveaway post that same Friday. Good luck! Please note that for this particular giveaway, the shipping address to the winner needs to be a US address, thanks ! Congrats to Kendra who was our random winner!
