Having to feed you and your family member’s three meals a day isn’t always an easy task. There’s a lot to think about and do to ensure everyone is satisfied and well-fed.
If you work or have a busy schedule, then meal planning becomes even more of a burden. The last task you want to think about when you get home at the end of a long day is what to put on the table for your loved ones to eat. Therefore, be proactive and plan so that you can make meal planning as effortless as possible for yourself.
Research Easy Recipes in Advance
The key here is to research and find easy meal ideas from trusted sources such as looking into some of the recipes from themediterraneandish.com. The more work you do upfront and ideas you have collected, the better so that you can begin to plan out your week of meals. Narrow it down by thinking about what types of foods you and your family like to eat and which recipes are the least complicated and involved. Save which recipes you enjoy so that you can remake them at a later date and add them to your rotation.
Grocery Shop & Cook on the Weekend
There’s a lot of time on the weekends to take advantage of if you plan your days right. Therefore, consider using Saturday and Sunday to grocery shop and cook for the week. There are certain meals that freeze well and that you can pull out in the future when you’re short on time. Make meal planning easier on yourself by not leaving all of the heavy lifting to the days during the week when your schedule is more chaotic.
Ask the Kids to Pitch in
You don’t have to do all the meal planning yourself and should ask for help from your loved ones. For example, ask the kids and your spouse what meals and types of foods they enjoy eating to help you gather some additional dinner ideas to make. You can also engage them more by assigning out duties and tasks such as setting the table or helping you cook so that everyone is pitching in and helping with getting food on the table each night.
Schedule A Lazy Night
You can also make meal planning easier on yourself by scheduling on a lazy night. Pick a day of the week when you know you’re going to be swamped and eat leftovers or get takeout food. You can’t be afraid to admit when you’re low on energy and need a simple solution that won’t cause you any additional headaches. You may also want to gather up your family members and pick one night to go out to eat and use it as a chance to have fun and visit with each other over dinner.
Conclusion
These are a few ways that you can make meal planning easier on yourself and avoid feeling stressed out about it. You’ll find that the task of getting everyone fed isn’t so bad when you have a plan in place for how to approach the situation. Be happy to know that you can now look forward to and enjoy mealtime instead of dreading it.
