Be Prepared

Low carb, no carb, vegetarian, paleo, clean, standard American no matter which diet you and your family choose to follow success all depends on being prepared.  So my first post will focus on enhancing mind and body.  Enhancing body by having healthy food options on and and easily accessable to all emembers of the household.  Enhancing mind comes from knowing that you are prepared to serve your family meals and have all the ingredients on hand (no more last minute runs to the store).  Peace of mind also comes when you can avoid the meal time drama of the baby is screaming because he's hungry, the toddler is throwing a temper tantrum because he's hungry and the kindergartner is crying because her brothers are both so loud.  Oh wait maybe that only happens at my house   

Here is how I handle this situation feel free to take away what you like and ignore what you don't. A lot of this came to me while participating in Chalene Johnson's 30 Day Push training.  The first thing she teaches is to set priorities.  One of my priorities is my family and our health, however, I don't want meal/food prep to take over my life.  So although I've always been a menu planner I decided to simplify.  I scrapped the elaborate excel spreadsheet for a more easy to use menu planner board.  Its a magnetic board (pictured below)  I cut 3x5 cards into 4ths.  I put self adhesive magnets on the back.  On the front I wrote our families favorite meals.  I have a set of cards for breakfast, one for lunches and dinners and one for snacks. I also have cards marked OUT, for those times we will be eating away from home.

Step 1) I set a day that I will shop.  For me its typically on Saturday. Then I get out family calendar and determine which meals we will be eating at home and which ones will be eaten out.

Step 2) Then I fill in the rest of the meals & snacks for the week. I also take into consideration any appointments we have that will take me out of the home close to meal times, thus impacting my meal prep time.

Step 3) Then I sit down with my local grocery circular, my coupons and determine if I want to change any of the meals because there is a great special or I have a great coupon.

Step 4)I write out my grocery list.

Step 5) I go to the store. I only purchase what is on the list.

Step 6) While putting groceries away I prep all my fruits and veggies by washing and rinsing and placing in keep fresh bags or containers. I also use Ziploc snack bags and pre package smaller portions for snacks for the kids and I. 

Step 7)  Each morning I check the menu board to see what meals we are having that day and the next to see what may need to come out of the freezer to thaw.  Any veggies that need to be cut up for dinner get cut up then.  I try to multi-task as much as possible.  For example,  while making breakfast I'll get the next days lunches ready.  I also like to make dinners that reheat easily for lunches.  

This system works for us and you may find by tweaking my methods a sytem that works for you.  Some like to prepare an entire weeks worth of food on one afternoon.  That doesn't work well for us for several reasons.  the main one being that I am kind of a picky eater.  Not in that I won't try new things or don't eat a wide variety of food but I do like my food to have a certain texture and flavor which you sometimes lose when reheating.  Not to say we never eat leftovers in our house I just only can eat certain foods as leftovers. Chicken is one I can make ahead and reheat so I often cook batches of chicken breast for dinner and make a few extra to cut up later in the week for salads or to make chicken sandwiches.  I however,do not like cold hard boiled eggs.  I do like egg salad or deviled eggs so I will make hard boiled eggs for a snack and cook a few extra to make into egg salad for lunch later in the week. 

So in short you have to determine where your weakness lies.  For me it is in the planning.  If I don't have a plan I'll buy stuff at the store but not always have anything to make meals. If you find you run short on time or energy on certain days then prep those meals in advance.  If I know that one day this week I'm going to be out running errands most of the day and that I have spaghetti and meatballs on the menu, I've learned that I need to make those meatballs in advance because I won't want to once I get home from running around all day. So today while making lunch I'll also cook up meatballs. To keep in the fridge for tomorrows dinner.  I can then cook the spaghetti  and sauce fresh tomorrow so the meal will taste fresh but also be put together quickly.