Mom! What's For Dinner??
Moms, I hate that question! Why in the world does everyone in the family look to me the mom to decide? It is so annoying. But BOAW is all about helping a mom out, so today I’m going to give you guys some help. Years ago, I asked my husband, Greg, to come up with a list of meals he likes, and from that list he or the children decide on meals for the week. Here's what he came up with:
You are welcome to print off and use our list or just use this idea to create your own list of meals your family will eat. If you can come up with 5-10 meal ideas and put them on a rotation throughout your month (remembering that some nights each week you'll might eat out, pick up a pizza or have leftovers) then you really can make dinner all year long! I know I would rather serve the same thing several times a month than doing the alternative - which is stress out trying to make something new or fancy that no one ends up eating. Don’t over-think this moms! You don’t need to create Pinterest-worthy entrees every night, no one has time for that.
Now that you have a few ideas, my advice is to get prepared. Make a list of the ingredients you need and head to the grocery store for a weeks’ worth of dinner supplies. Use this free printable to help keep you organized. Don’t forget to grab staples for breakfast, lunch and snacks while you’re there! (Geez this mom thing is a lot of work…) If your kids are at the stage where they are picky eaters, just try to have ONE THING on their plate they will probably eat. You do not need to be making two separate dinners, that is too much work for you mom and I promise you, your kids will not starve themselves.
Now you are all set! You just have to make the meals. :) When my kids were young I would save some screen time for when I knew I was going to prepare dinner so they were entertained and not under my feet. If you have younger kids and are home during the day, you could try to prepare dinner during nap time or at least get some of the prep work done before the "witching hour". I know when I worked and had young kids at home I tried to use the weekend to do all my meal planning and prep work - when I remembered! ;)
Hope this helps moms – and if you have any tricks or tips to get dinner on the table every night, share them in the comments! We can all use a little help in this area.