Preparing Meals (ahead of time)

So I have two children, a 22-month old and a 3-month old (who still breastfeeds) and typically getting cereal poured for breakfast, hot dogs heated for lunch and some semblance of a well-balanced meal on the table for dinner was a stretch before, so I honestly had NO IDEA how I was going to pull off cooking “from scratch” for EVERY meal, EVERY day... but I was committed, so I needed to figure out a way.

One Word: PLAN!

1. Plan your Menu

I planned out a menu (every meal for every day of the coming week)… on an Excel sheet (because that’s just me – I am OVERLY organized, at times to a fault, but I think this time around it will end up working to my benefit). (As I get more used to cooking and preparing meals this way I likely won’t need quite the structured planning that I require now, but for now my Excel Menu Planning Sheet is my best friend).

2. Plan your Grocery List

Take it from me, you won’t get it all at one store. I used my menu planning sheet to compile two separate grocery lists for each store I wanted to go to. (To make it even easier – you can categorize your list by aisle/sections or you can use a handy Mobile App that does that for you!)

3. Plan to Prepare-Ahead

If you don’t have kids or a job outside the home, you may not need to do this step – but for anyone who will won’t be able to be in the kitchen to prepare each meal at the specific time said meal needs to be eaten, then this step WILL benefit you… greatly.

Today, while the kids were napping I used my 2 hours to

A) dice veggies and bag them together based on upcoming meals (for example, I have all the veggies cut and in one bag that I can just dump into the slow cooker with my meat to make my Whole30 Chili on Sunday or I have all my butter lettuce & cabbage chopped and ready to just pull out of a bag for salads)

B) I pre-made my Breakfast Mix (Eggs, spinach, collard greens and turkey sausage crumble) – just heat up in the morning and your good to go (even easier then cereal!)

C) I prepared other items like meatballs, meatloaf, and I grilled some chicken so I can easily pull it out and heat it up or put it on a salad.

D) I made the sauces from the recipes in the back of the “It Starts with Food” book (Olive Oil Mayo, Avocado Dressing, Ranch Dressing and Classy Vinegarette)

So now, although I will still have more work than usual, I won’t be OVERWHELMED. And I have prepared enough to get me to Sunday when I will take advantage of my hubby being home and do more prep for the beginning of next week.

Hopefully all of this preparation will pay-off! I’ll let you know for sure what paid off and what didn’t need to necessarily be done ahead of time and what, if anything, I should have prepared ahead that I didn’t! Stay tuned, this thing is about to get all kinds of FUN!