Meal prep

So I'm still really enjoying my meal planning strategy.  I think it's saving me time and money, and I don't really have the thought of "what's for dinner" anymore, but some recipes just are so time consuming and I feel like I'm not getting as much quality time with my husband and daughter on weeknights....

What I need is to figure out meal prep.  I do groceries on Saturday, so I need to find a slot of time on Sunday to meal prep what I can.  I'm thinking I'll plan what I can meal prep this week for next week during a lunch hour.

One lunch-hour = shopping list
Another lunch-hour = meal prep list

Does anyone have any good meal prep strategies?

My thoughts are that I could

• Prep any vegetables by chopping them ahead of time and placing them in tupperware marked with the meal they are for.
• Pre-cook any pasta I'll need
• Pre-cook meat if it won't ruin the meal
• Gather all dry-ingredients in a tupperware (assuming they are added at the same time in a recipe) and mark them with the meal they are for.

Like with everything, I just need to make time for it.  Hopefully I can do it for a few weeks, and if I can see how helpful it is, it will help motivate me to do it every weekend.

December 2017 Meal Plan

Here's the meal plan I had for December.  As with November, things didn't really all go as planned.  Some meals I made in a different week than planned, others I didn't make at all.


I still want to share it in its original format with the recipes I planned to use.  I'll comment whether I've made it or not.

December 2017 Meal Plan



Meals (with links to recipes if available)

Sheet Pan Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken

• This was delicious.  I'll definitely be making it again.  Not a lot of clean-up either since it's all on the same sheet pan.
• Bonus, if I can meal prep by chopping veggies on the weekend, this would be an easy weeknight dinner.

Crockpot Pepper Steak

• My husband enjoyed this more than I did.  I have another recipe that I love but that my husband finds too salty.  Maybe I can find a happy medium in blending the two.
• This was a little time consuming because the meat had to be sliced into strips, which thankfully my husband helped me with - saved a lot of time.  Again, if meal prep was done on a different day, could be a nice weeknight dinner that you put in the slow-cooker that morning.

Greek chicken gyros with Tzaziki

• Didn't get to making this.

Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo

• I'm not a big Fettuccine Alfredo girl, but this was pretty tasty and easy.  However, for a small family, I'd suggest cutting the recipe in half.

Grilled Steak with Baby Arugula and Parmesan Salad

• Didn't get to making this.  I'm not getting to a lot of my steak dinners... I've planned them for Fridays, but we often end up with plans on Fridays or we're too tired...

Parm & herb chicken tenders

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Crock-pot Nacho Chicken

• It was super easy, 3 ingredients.. but it was a little bland, wasn't my favorite.

Beef and Broccoli Bowl

• I ended up making these in January.  They were really good.  
• The meal prep took me a long time, so I wasn't a fan of it as a weeknight meal, but if I can figure out meal prep on the weekend... ta-da!

Chili Mac Casserole

• This was relatively easy to make on a weeknight.  I didn't use beans (I don't like them) and I used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes. I'd make it again, it was tasty and simple.

Best Ever Meatloaf

• This meal keeps getting pushed out of my meal plan even if I'm looking forward to trying it... It got pushed in January too :(

Spicy chicken sweet potato meal prep magic

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon

• This also got pushed, looking forward to trying it.

Penne a la vodka

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Pizza

• I think we ordered Dominos.  It was only ok.  I need to go back to making my own :)

Sloppie Joes in Peppers

• See November 2017 Meal Plan

Lemon Pepper Chicken

• I made this in January.  The flavor was really nice and subtle, but still present.  The quality of the chicken I got was sub-par, so I'll need to get better chicken for this recipe next time.

One-Pan Broccoli-Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese

• Here's another recipe I keep pushing off and that I'm really looking forward to trying... I'm hoping that Sami might eat some broccoli this way?  Here's to hoping

Flank steak with watermelon salad

• As I stated earlier, I seem to keep pushing my Friday steak recipes due to other plans... I will try it one day!!!

I'd love to hear your feedback on these if you end up trying them.  I'm hoping that I do better in January than I've done in December and January.  Granted December was so incredibly busy, and I was sick for part of December & January... but enough excuses right?? If I can just figure out when to get some meal prep done - and plan it... I think this will go a lot smoother.

My pantry is usable again!

I love my pantry.  When we bought the house, it was such a bonus to have this area - 5 shelves and floor space.

However, it quickly became not so enjoyable.  It got too full too often.  I often had to move stuff to get to other stuff, meaning some stuff got forgotten (don't worry, mostly canned goods).

With my new meal plan strategy, I constantly inventory my pantry and make sure I'm not buying stuff I don't need.  It's made a big difference in not making a bigger mess in my pantry.

For Christmas, I asked for some OXO Containers.  We had bought a couple in the fall, and really liked them, and I figured it could help keep my pantry in much better order.  Additionally, during one of my (weekly) Target trips, I found these cute plastic weaved "baskets" which I thought could be so helpful with storing like products (like pouches for Sami, fruit cup snacks, etc.).  So I bought some of those.  The larger ones I used on the floor (makes sweeping so much more enjoyable) and on the top shelf where I keep party supplies some kitchen gadgets and my overstock of Ziplock bags and such.  I'll have to take more pictures, because I bought a few more pasta containers to get rid of the boxes that are right up front, as well as a few more baskets for the top of the pantry (not shown here).

What a difference it makes.  I can easily navigate the pantry, and Sami has a new favorite hiding spot now that she can walk in and close the door... She doesn't stay hidden long, and announces where she's hiding as soon as you finish counting to 10, but hey, she has fun, and she's absolutely adorable doing it.  I'll have to take a picture of that - and half her toys that end up in there :).

As a bonus, I had the day off yesterday and daycare was open... I decluttered all my dresser drawers minus one.  I also decluttered the stocking stuffers (2016 and 2017) that were in bags in the closet, and went through the rest of my paperwork and filed some away, threw out what I knew I didn't need, and everything else is in a box ready for another day off.  I know it's a project I'll need a few hours for and I don't think I can do it without creating a bigger mess if I don't do it in one fell swoop... so I'm looking at my calendar to plan a day off to do that unless I can find a way to not make a bigger mess and take little stabs at it.

New year off to a good start!  How have the first 2 weeks of the year treated you?

Those days when you can't be super mom

I've read many articles that talk about how Moms can't get sick or how they are always in Super Mom mode.

I'll be real - that's not me.  I cannot always be super mom.  When I've been up for 4 nights straight for 1-2 hours, I am not Super Mom.  When I have not one or two cold/flu symptoms, but rather four-five symptoms, I am not Super Mom.  When I'm having significant stomach issues related to Crohn's, I am not Super Mom.

Last weekend was one of those weekends where I was not Super Mom.  I've been battling cold & flu symptoms for what seems like at least four months.  Never quite getting rid of a cold only to get another.  I spent the week dealing with a sore throat and severe sinus congestion.  Come Saturday, I was also dealing with a low grade fever, body aches, chills, a cough that wouldn't go away and lack of energy and appetite.

I managed to watch my little girl, but it was mostly from the couch, and we probably had the tv on too much. I did not do the groceries.  I did not clean the pantry like I wanted.  I did not make lunch or dinner (except lunch for Sami).  Hubby and Sami ended up going out to our friends for dinner, which I bowed out of, because I didn't want to make more people sick.

The next day, I managed to do the groceries, but it wiped me out.  And I made lunch and dinner for Sami but again, not for hubby and I.  It was mostly the same all week.  I went to work, and got Sami's things ready for daycare and dinner, but I did not follow my meal plan - heck I didn't make dinner all week, I basically just took care of Sami after work, cleaned the kitchen and then went to bed.

All this to say, if you feel like you need to be Super Mom all the time, don't feel guilty if you have an off day, or an off week.  We're also human, and our families will survive those days when we just can't be super mom.