Meal Planning?

Another thing I see on LOTS of homeschool blogs are meal plans...... Apparently I missed that mothering memo that says I need to have a week or even a month of meals planned in order to ensure success.

Did I mention yet that I am disorganized? Oh, I did. Good. I don't know what I'm going to be in the mood to eat at the end of the week! I'm not positive I know what I'm going to want to eat tomorrow! I stumbled upon tonight's dinner on pinterest yesterday. It sounded good and I have enough of the ingredients (as well as enough ingredients to toss in to replace those I don't have). So on the menu it goes.

No, I don't go to the grocery store daily. Well... most of the time. There have been a few weeks that I go almost daily...... but that's usually because I suddenly have a hankering for a particular food and I'm pregnant.... so..... good excuse in my opinion. Also I may be missing one particular ingredient for something awesome I found and we all know what happens when you send your partner to get that one particular something at the store.... but we're not far enough into this blog to start nagging on spouses :) Love you honey!

I've tried one and two week plans before and most of the food goes bad. Why? Chris doesn't get home till late, the girls aren't interested in eating what I was going to make for us so I go with a staple instead. I choose to spend time with them instead of making a meal for myself. My parents invite us over to swim and we eat while we're there. I feel too awful to cook and Chris has a phobia of cookbooks - pizza hut.

So what do I feed my family? Well, I replenish the staples: produce, baked, and canned that go into almost all recipes. Potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, lettuce, squash and cucumber. Oranges, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, and blueberries. I might add something and if I don't find a use for it, out to the chickens it goes. Canned green beans, corn, chili, refried beans, broth (though technically not canned it's in a box), pineapple (anyone else always think of the pineapple song from cabaret when they see that word?), condensed milk, evaporated milk, beans (red, black, eyed), and tomatoes in every form. I also restock our crackers, noodles, and bread, but now that I am feeling better and the weather will be getting cooler I hope to get back to baking more of that at home. I LOVE to bake. Oh and cheese, I'm rarely cheese poor. Cheddar, pepper jack, mozzarella, parmesan, cream, sour, and butter.... yes, butter counts as a cheese. Any dairy product you can spread on a piece of bread and eat counts as a cheese.... right?

As for meat, I usually stock up on nearly out of date stuff (read: cheap!) from the butcher to stick in the freezer, but lately with my cravings, freezer space is sparse. So I pick up 1-2 lbs of chicken, 2-3 lbs of beef, and whatever else tickles my fancy while I'm there. I used to pick up a pound of fish too, but, expecting, I am restricted my fish intake. I get excited when they have cheap steaks about to go out of date, makes meal planning for that evening very easy! I probably wouldn't buy discounted stuff at a market, but I know this butcher does not nitrogen pack or add anything unnatural to their meat. I know that as long as is smells good, it is. For my locals if you haven't tried Cossey's Meats you should. Very nice people. We do pick up a couple pounds of bacon and a pound of breakfast sausage most weeks too, but I like the big brands on those two things. Creature of habit I guess.

Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of junk food come through this house too. It's something that I have to gauge whether or not it's worth the fight to me at the time (also.... whether or not I'm hungry for it too :p ). This summer has had all kinds of chips, crackers, dips, candies, tons of JUNK FOOD in this house. Now that I am beginning to feel better I'm starting to weed it out. Shh... don't tell my husband I don't plan to restock the frozen chicken nuggets and strips :)

It does bother Chris that I don't meal plan, so maybe I'll give it a try again. Hmm... maybe if I can get him to commit to cooking it if I don't feel like it? I like that compromise. I'll let you know how that pans out.

 

The goal eventually, of course, is to not have to buy most of this stuff. For example: I don't have to buy eggs anymore. These were our first two eggs we got from this flock in July... well technically second and third.... I ran over the first with the lawnmower.... the joy of free ranging :)

I did start a garden this year... or I started a bunch of seeds..... then I found out I was pregnant and they never made it into the ground. With this heat they probably wouldn't have made it anyway, so I guess that is a silver lining. I lost some effort, but at least I didn't nurse them along for months to have the heat kill them! Hopefully next year I will have enough energy to get the garden up and running.