#MealPlanMonday: March 10-16 & setting expectations

How does Monday come around so quickly every week??



I worked late a couple of nights last week so I ended up not making two of the meals I had planned on.  I didn't make the mac & cheese or the meatloaf.  We still had leftovers from late last week, we went out Friday night for dinner, and I think there was a night where both hubby and I had big lunches and just didn't have dinner.

That being said, I hadn't meal prepped the meatloaf since I found out early in the week that I'd have to work late.  When I end up having to change things up at the last minute, I try to nix whatever will cause the least amount of waste.  In this case, the only thing that might go to waste is the broccoli for the mac & cheese.. and that's if I don't get around to making it early this week because it still looked great this weekend.

On the menu this week:

Sheet pan lemon parm garlic chicken & veggies
Slow cooker Italian meatball soup
Ravioli with parma rosa sauce
30 minute shepherd's pie

I made the sheet pan dinner last night.  I unfortunately didn't get to do my meal prep because Sami decided to take a really short nap and then wanted to go to the park.  I didn't want to deny that to her on such a beautiful day - we went to the park.  I meal prepped once we got home, but all I had time to meal prep was the sheet pan dinner.  I changed up the veggies to roast so it may have added to the prep time.  I still think most recipes lie about how much time it takes to prep - unless you are a sous-chef or something!

I'm hoping to finalize the meal prep tonight or tomorrow since I took the day off.

We haven't made much progress with getting Sami to try new foods, much at least dinner isn't a constant fight and she eats something.  She refused chicken last night, hopefully this doesn't turn into a trend.  I want to say she tried one bite of steak last week - fajita steak drenched in bbq suace... did her usual gagging reflect that she does when she doesn't want something - to which we have to calmly tell her to chew.  When we went out on Friday, all she talked about was mac & cheese, and then didn't want to eat it.  With a lot of trying on our part, she did have about 5 bites, but I think the white color of the cheese was off-putting to her.  She was probably expecting orange mac & cheese. Oh how the tiniest of details can make a difference..

I wanted to touch on setting expectations.  Meal planning has made me set new expectations on myself and has been an absolute motivator when it comes to making dinner.  I used to have the hardest time deciding what to make, which was demoralizing.  It was such a waste of time and energy.  I'd spend the whole ride home thinking about what I felt like eating.  About what my family might like eating.  About what I had on hand.  And most of the time, by the time I was in the kitchen - I still had no idea what I'd end up making.

This new expectation has helped tremendously with grocery shopping.  I used to go down each aisle and grab whatever I thought I needed based on what was on sale.  I never had a list.  I'm now always armed with a list and a purpose!  Do I drift off the list to buy treats here and there, or restock something I know we're short on if the sale price is appealing?  Absolutely.  I however feel like I've reduced spoilage - mostly in the produce category.  I'd buy different vegetables in the hopes of making something that week and then I'd forget what I was going to make, wouldn't want to make it, or forgot a key ingredient for that recipe - and I wasn't about to make a trip to the grocery store just for that once I was home.

I feel like I was letting down my family with my previous dinner making strategies.  My husband and I divide and conquer the household tasks.  I like cooking so that's one of the household duties I selected.  I feel like I'm finally pulling my weight in this area.  I feel so much less pressure even if it's all in my head.  I'm certain that with time, I'll find more ways to improve my meal planning strategies.  My hope is that so far, this is beneficial to someone out there.  It's made such an improvement in my life - I just want to share it!

Lastly, meal planning supports my need to be intentional about what we are eating.  When I was just winging it, the meals weren't as balanced as I would have liked, or envisioned they would be.  When I sit down to make my monthly week plan, I'm able to see if there's a night that's short of veggies, and I'll make sure I load up a different night and make sure it yields good left-overs.  I usually buy lean cuts of meat.  I also have to be sure my diet has a lot of variety so that I don't overload myself on any one thing and cause a Crohn's flare up.  That's one pattern I've seen, if I have too much of something, my body will actually start rejecting it for a non-specific period of time.  Intentionality makes all the difference!