I wanted to start with our menu planning and grocery shopping because it's probably the toughest request, and the rest will seem really easy. Ha!
Meal planning is ever evolving for me. Sometimes I have several meals that I rotate out(usually in the fall with chili, lasagna, etc.). Sometimes I have certain things on certain days(like spaghetti Friday or Taco Tuesday). Then sometimes, it's just make what is easy so you can survive this stage of life.
Honestly, I've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other with being health conscious. When we were first married I bought those terrible pre-cooked chicken breasts, can soup, capn crunch, and ramen noodles. That was meal planning for me. I DID NOT cook! Any cooking we did came from Manly, who, lets just face it, was no Emeril either. We ate TERRIBLE food and were very unhealthy. Then, during our stay in NW AR I went to a Bible study on being makers of the home. It TOTALLY changed my life forever. I not only taught myself to cook after that, but I got us back in shape, got us eating healthier, and put together my daily plan, which, for the most part, I've stuck with all these years later.
In recent years I made most all of our things from scratch. That's such a wonderful thing to do! If you have time to do that and enjoy it, then DO IT! If you are like me, and you were KILLING yourself to try to get everything made, DON'T SWEAT IT! These littles aren't going to fall over dead because you gave them store bought bread with their pb&j. They're more likely to fall over dead because mommy is too tired to watch them and they run out in the street. Just my opinion... We eat healthily, but I don't go overboard. I make some things that I enjoy from scratch, but don't worry if I have to buy whole grain bread at the store instead of making it at home. Yes, I know it loses nutrients, but I was losing my MIND trying to keep up with people who had half as many children as we do or children who were much older to help. Read this: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU and let others thing what they will. It's no skin off your back!
I have gone from scanning cookbooks to scanning the internet for ideas and recipes. My favorites are cooks.com, allrecipes.com, and The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. I love allrecipes.com because not only do they have great recipes, but they show when ingredients are on sale at our local stores! Love that. When I'm planning a menu(which I do two weeks at a time.) I always first look at our local store ads and current Kroger coupons. I don't clip coupons because I don't have time, but I do load my Kroger card with the online coupons from their website. Once I know what is on sale I will build a menu from that. I always do breakfast, 2 snacks, lunch, and dinner.
The kids almost always have the same lunches each week. This is mostly because Olivia makes lunch for them, and these are the meals she likes to make, and also meals that everyone for the most part, enjoys. I switch them up sometimes, but for the most part it stays the same. Snacks always change up. I get almost all of my snack ideas from superhealthykids.com. I HIGHLY recommend looking in depth at their site. They have all sorts of fun ideas for snacks and lunches. I'm not crazy about some of their ideas for dinner, but everything else is fun and mostly really easy. Lots of smoothie recipes too.
As I'm making my menu I'm also making my grocery list.
Again, sorry for my short hand. Obviously it doesn't matter, I'm sure you get the point, but I'll just put "salsa" on my list and know that really means I need to get the things to make salsa. I also mark items I have coupons for. At this point in my planning I've already done a pantry/deep freeze/fridge search to make sure what all we have and need as far as staples like salt, butter, bread.
We go to the store as a family most of the time, which is probably harder, but I like it that way and feel like it teaches the kids not only that we don't always get what we want, but also a real sense of being a good steward of our money. They help us find the best deals on an item, and they LOVE being part of finding items and putting them in the cart. Since we go as a family I have recently started making two lists. A Momma list and a Daddy list. I usually take the outside of the store for things like fresh produce and dairy. Manly gets the things on the inside of the store. We each take three kids, and we're off! Sometimes we let the kids have their own small carts, and other times we just have them walk beside us.
For breakfast we rotate between eggs, toast, and fruit, parfaits, oatmeal, and the occasional cheerios with bananas. On Saturday's we always have something fun like strawberry pancakes or monkey bread. On Sunday's we ALWAYS have cinnamon rolls. It's a tradition we started several years back, and now all the kids expect it. I rotate between a few of the same meals for lunch, or have leftovers. When I'm making a menu I always try to think about what we'll be doing on that evening. For instance, if I know I'll need to be at church for praise team practice by 5:30, I will put something simple on that night or put something that can be cooked in the crock pot. Making a menu is only HALF of it! You have to actually stick to it! Once you have the menu made you can always change it up and mix up when you make things, but be sure your switch works, and you aren't making a switch you can't stick with.
Once I finish the menu I put it in a page protector so that it stays safe from splashes and water, and I can make notes with a dry erase marker if needed.
I used to put it on the side of the fridge, but now that KK can read I put it up on top of the microwave so she can't see it because that girl is NUTS about food and she was obsessing about what we would have for each meal. This way Manly and I can see it, but she forgets about it most of the time and doesn't bug me about meals.
Know that once I've made my menu and grocery list I never buy anything that isn't on it UNLESS there just happens to be a CRAZY sale once I get there. For instance once while I was shopping they had the overstock bread on sale for 75% off and I stocked up and just put it in the deep freeze. I always buy larger packs of meat and separate it out into meal sized portions. Once I've done that I'll either prepare it or freeze it. I generally buy whatever fresh produce is on sale that week, so if apples are on sale I'll buy a lot of them. If peaches are on sale I get a ton of those instead. This not only changes up what produce you eat, but also saves a TON of money. Buying only off the grocery list will also save you a bundle. It may be hard to start with, but you'll find it getting easier and easier. We do a two week menu because that's how often Manly gets paid, but you could do a 1 week schedule, 10 day, or what we used to do 30 day. That was a BEAST, but I saved so much money!!
So, here are my random thoughts that I've not already said:
Mostly, I say do what works! Stick to it! Involve the family(ask them what they like that you cook)! Try to have something that each person will eat in your meals. If you have picky eaters that won't eat a lot of what everyone else likes have at least one side that the picky eater likes. You'll be surprised how much other food they might "accidentally" eat. Never make more than one meal for your family. I promise those littles won't go hungry. When they really get hungry they'll eat SOMETHING. Have FUN!
I'm so glad you did this. I'm a good list maker and meal planner but am stuck in a rut for breakfast and lunch ideas. We eat so much cheese in various forms for lunch it's ridiculous.
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