Failing to plan, is planning to fail. 
I’m sure you’ve heard that before. Every time I hear it (or read it), I’m reminded of how much truth there is to it, especially as it relates to eating healthy.
Choosing healthy foods all the time can be such a challenge for so many of us. Throw in the fact that so many of us are busy working moms, trying to juggle our work responsibilities with those of the household and the family…. and the practicality of cooking a healthy dinner….. and sitting down as a family to eat it….. all this often gets thrown out the window.
It’s no surprise that the fast food drive thru have become our society’s go to “family” dinner provider. I admit, that I am guilty of doing this on occasion. Because the truth is, that sometimes, there really is no other option if our end goal is to get the family fed before 10 pm at night. I sometimes (ok, often) find myself rushing home from work, only to rush to pick up Child A, then drive Child A to their Sport/Activity then circle back to pick up Child B and Child B’s friend to go to their Sport/Activity, then rush back to pick up Child A and friend, drive the friend home, bring Child A with me to pick up Child B…. I think you get the picture. In fact, I’m sure that for many of you this scenario is played out in your own life.
Eating healthy food to help take care of our mind and body is a very high priority, not just for me, but my whole family. I’m lucky in that regard. My family questions me when I start feeding them poorly. So how do I address our need (and desire) to eat food that nourishes our body, and not just provide calories? It’s never easy but it definitely takes planning and more importantly, it takes practice to plan! Over the years I’ve had periods when I’ve been really good at planning, then life gets a little hectic and I stop planning. Then I realize that this failure to plan isn’t working for us and I get back into planning again.
I’ve talked about automating my meals before and I do this not only for myself by also my family. We all eat pretty much the same breakfast and I make everyone’s lunch and snacks most days of the week. This formula has worked to make sure that all of us are nourishing our bodies for at least 75% of our daily intake. This allows dinner time to be either another healthy, homemade meal or if the day requires, a dinner from the take out menu. Luckily these types of dinners don’t happen too often.
So how do I incorporate planning?
Every Saturday I sit down and look at my schedule for the week- where do I need to be when and for whom? Based on this, I plan our dinner menu, planning for a crockpot or an easy pasta & salad on exceptionally busy days when I don’t have time to cook, but when we will all be sitting down together to eat. I also try to make “big” meals on the weekends so that there are leftovers to eat during the week. Since I really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, the weekends are also a time that I can enjoy the process of cooking.
Here is an example of this week’s menu and the activities going on that evening:
Saturday: Trying and exploring Indian cooking with Aloo Gobi Mutter (cauliflower, potatoes and peas), served over basamati rice.
Sunday: Trying to make a quinoa moussaka with a bechamel sauce.
Monday: Busy night, hosting a book club at my house, so I need to spend time preparing the house, not dinner. Dinner: Pasta w/ jar sauce and salad
Tuesday: Chaotic night, shuttling kids to activities, personal training clients and evening church activity. Dinner: leftovers or peanut butter and jelly
Wednesday: Quieter evening with only doing personal training for a client. Dinner: Vegetable quesadillas
Thursday: Busy night shuttling kids everywhere. Dinner: Leftovers
Friday: I’m tired from the week and don’t feel like cooking usually. Dinner: Leftovers or a simple vegetable soup made with frozen vegetables.
It’s so easy to get lazy and not plan out our family dinners, but it never works out well. I’ve discovered that planning ahead is the key to feeding my family healthy meals. It doesn’t always work out perfectly, but it definitely helps.