This week was a strong reminder to why I menu plan. Last weekend was a busy weekend, so I never really got the opportunity to sit down and plan out our menu for the week and get the grocery shopping done. Big mistake. All week, starting around 4:00 I start to get this feeling of dread that starts in my stomach and ends up as a whopper of a headache. Why you ask, because I have no clue as to what I am going to make for dinner that night. I have no meat defrosted, no veggies to work with, nothing. That is no to say there is nothing in the house, there is plenty of food in the house, it is just either all frozen or in its raw form,(flour, sugar, etc..) I don’t typically keep prepared food in the house anymore. The kids can’t eat it and it is silly to spend the extra money on something that only Jason and I are going to eat, especially if I still have to cook something for the kids. So here I am at 5:00 on Thursday night sitting with the kids while they eat, what are the eating you ask, chicken nuggets, mini egg rolls, and french fries. Such a healthy meal, and very simmilar to what they have had for dinner every night this week. We ate together as a family one night this week, not because Jason had to work late, or I had bible study. No because I had no clue what to make for dinner so I just threw some chicken nuggets at the kids and Jason and I got something later when we were hungry.

This is how we ate a lot when Lizzie was an infant, mostly because I was too overwhelmed with being a mother of a active toddler and a demanding infant. However the last few months I have gotten a lot better. I now cook almost every night, and it is usually a reasonably healthy meal. This is because I menu plan. In the morning I know what I am going to be making for dinner that night, so I can take the meat out of the freezer. At the beginning of the week I know what groceries I need so that when I go to make dinner I have everything that I need. As a result most nights we eat dinner together as a family, and even if the kids don’t eat what I have given them, at least I know that I offered them something healthy. I figure eventually they will eat what I cook.

I already have my menu for next week planned and my grocery list made up, so that on Saturday I can go to the market and come Monday I will be ready to actually cook this week.