There’s one thing that has been constant in my life since I moved out of my parent’s house and in with my husband. It’s that every night I struggle with what I’m going to make for dinner. Yes, this one simple task has been a real struggle in my life for the past almost 4 years.
Every night was the same ordeal. I’d get home from work, I was hungry, wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, then get frustrated because now its late and I don’t want to start making dinner, and would then resort to a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Ok, not every single night was like this, and not all ended up with me and a bowl of cereal, but I was constantly last minute trying to figure out what to make.
This was (believe it or not) creating a lot of unnecessary tension between my husband and I. If I didn’t make dinner, then he didn’t have dinner. Either that or he made it, and he worked longer hours than I did. Or he also ended up with a bowl of cereal, which he most definitely didn’t want. Making dinner shouldn’t be this big of a deal, but at our house it was.
Whenever I went grocery shopping, I just grabbed all sorts of stuff. During the week I would wing it and just use whatever was there to make a dish. This would also result in food going bad and being thrown out. I always felt so guilty about it. Which essentially also means money going down the drain.
Since I was always prepping dinner last minute, we pretty much ate the same things everyday. Either it was rice, beans, salad with chicken, shrimp, or steak. Or I made pasta with chicken, shrimp… or you guessed it, steak! We also did take out. There wasn’t a lot of variety. Although they’re dishes that are fast and easy to make (or buy), eating the same thing over and over again can get annoying.
Now that I’m home and have 2 kids, I most definitely don’t have time to think over what I want to make for dinner last minute. And the last thing I need is more frustration at the end of the day on whether I should make rice and beans for the 3rd time that week. So I decided I needed to be a little more efficient. I needed to know what I was going to cook at least the day before so that I don’t go crazy. Something needed to change.
Making the decision to start Weekly Meal Plans has been one of the best decisions I’ve made recently. I’ll tell you why.
KNOWING WHAT I’M MAKING
The number one reason for planning in advance is so that I already know what I’m going to make. That’s the main reason I wanted to do this in the first place. When I plan my week, I try to make a menu with things that I’m in the mood of eating, or I’ve been wanting to make. This will make me more excited about cooking, which then means it’s more likely I’ll cook!
I also ask for my husband’s input. Maybe he’s in the mood of eating something… He almost always is! This gives me the opportunity to serve my husband something he’d like also.
VARIETY
This one is a big one for my husband and I. More so me. I hate eating the same thing over and over again. Now I have a ton of variety in my week and I love it. One week I made a Brazilian dish, Tacos, Southwest Salad, and a Chili Soup type of thing. It was great!
This has been good for my 16 month old also. I’m getting to expose her to different things and see what she enjoys, what she doesn’t. It’s been a learning and exciting experience for all of us at the house.
SAVING MONEY
Because I’m planning in advance, I know what my grocery list is going to look like. I write my menu down (I just put it in my notes on my phone since I use my phone for everything), then I look through the house for what I already have, and then make a grocery list of the things I need. Now when I go to the grocery store I only purchase what I need and the quantity I need.
This way I’m not throwing food out that’s going bad cuz it sat in my fridge waiting to be used and never did. I’m also not over stocking on things that aren’t necessary.
TRYING NEW THINGS
I made a list of all the dishes I know how to make. I realized that I don’t actually know how to make that many. 😅 So I started looking around for some new recipes, and now I’ve been more willing to try new ones. I found a few on Pinterest (of course). I downloaded the Tasty app and I found some great ideas on there. And I added a lot of Brazilian dishes to my list as well. Some of them I’ve made before, and others that I’ve wanted to try.
One issue I find I have when wanting to make a new dish is that I don’t have all the ingredients. Since I don’t have everything, I’ll give up on making it and most likely forget about it. Now that I’m planning in advanced, when I go shopping I make sure to grab what I need. Then when it’s time to make dinner and I want to try out the new dish, I have everything! Who would have thought, huh?
SAVES TIME + EFFORT
The best part of all of this is how much time and effort I’m saving. I didn’t think I was wasting a lot of time before, but I guess I was. Once I started planning and then actually cooking during the week, I was able to see how much time I was wasting before and how stressful cooking was for me.
You’d think that cooking dinner at the end of the day would be an easy thing, but now that everything is pre-planned, pre-prepped (is that a thing?) and pre-organized, I just go into my fridge or pantry, grab what I need and quickly make dinner.
I’ll also plan around the amount of time my dish takes. If I know it’s going to take me 30 minutes to get dinner ready, I’ll know to start by a certain time. Some dishes take 20 minutes. Either way, I can plan accordingly and I’ll have dinner ready by the time I want it just because I was prepared.
Overall, this process for me has been incredible. It’s made my life way easier. And for some people, maybe planning a week in advanced is too much. Even knowing the day before could make a huge difference. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
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