Meal Planning 101

When it comes to planning meals do you feel like Betty Crocker or Amelia Bedelia? Honey, the Amelia Bedelia corner is right over here, I am FAR from Betty Crocker!!!


One of the things I struggle with in a VERY real way is meal planning!! I can cook and make delicious food and I can bake and I can make candy (I have a side business selling homemade marshmallows for crying out loud!) but if I have to actually sit down and plan what meals we are going to eat I become panicked and sweaty and start looking for a way out!!

IF I actually make a meal plan I NORMALLY stick to it and will do okay for a few weeks but then something happens and I quit meal planning. Oh sure I SAY It's just for that week but we all know the truth - it will be 4 months later and i'll be sitting there on top of Mount Unprepared (it's in the country Not-organized-at-all-ia)



I tried to do things like Crystal over at money saving mom. (She plans breakfasts, lunches, snacks, dinners, EVERYTHING!) I have discovered that I don't have ....SQUIRREL.......





... the attention span :D

(If you don't get the Squirrel reference - go to your nearest Redbox and rent UP by Pixar with a free code from the left sidebar of my blog :) You'll get it then!)

So I've done some thinking about why I think I have a hard time meal planning....


I get overwhelmed
I'm stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut!!
I can't focus
I'm stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut, stuck in a rut!!

I am bad at organization
I'm stuck in a rut...er okay ;) you get that picture.
I don't have a lot of time
I have two small children.


What are your reasons meal planning doesn't work? You can share them here or just think about them on your own....



So taking all of that into consideration I can look at that list as a lot of excuses OR I can look at that list as a lot of reasons WHY I SHOULD plan my meals better. Right? Let's look at a few...


I am overwhelmed when I have to whirl about at 3:55 every day to try to figure out what i'm going to cook.


I am stuck in a rut nutritionally and i'm being a bad mother by not providing the awesome array of foods that my children should be privledge to!

I might not be able to focus due to lack of a vitamin because i haven't eaten a variety of food!

I should PRACTICE organization to get better at it instead of never learning!

I'm short on time...Well then i SURELY should plan - right?

I have two small children who i'm sure would appreciate a calmer mother at meal time.



As I said...I'd love to say that when I plan meals that I plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks etc. Oh heavens no, my friends!! I ONLY plan dinner because breakfast is always on the fly - i ALWAYS have breakfast food in the house (25 boxes of cereal and still going strong ya'll) I could have an entire elementary school over for snacks and have some left over....and lunch is left overs so.....dinner is all that needs planning!!


Breakfast is pretty standard around here, we have either:
eggs , toast, fruit and yogurt (once a week maybe bacon)
dry cereal and fruit with milk in our sippy cups...(you don't use sippy cups? I do...i'm super messy ;) )
Pancakes and fruit and milk
french toast, fruit and milk (french toast for the kids is eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, whole wheat whole grain bread.... no syrup. then they get a fruit cup with it. They eat it all ;)
etc.

So I am going to start a mini-series about meal planning. I hope you will stick around if you have the same problem I do - I think I have this problem licked and I am super excited to share what I thought of with you!

Suuuuuuure I could stick this all in one post...but then YOU would be the one who is overwhelmed! I promise! :)

So do you struggle with planning meals or are you an ace at it? If you struggle can you share with me WHY you struggle? If you are Aces can you tell us HOW??? :)