Have a plan...
In our house if we have a schedule we are much more likely to stick to it. Otherwise, it is about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I am sitting at my desk running through my checklist for the evening - and I realize I never took anything out for dinner. This little hiccup leads to either pizza or Chinese... which while the kids don't complain, I do! I selfishly love our family meal time. I love having all three kids in the kitchen "helping" me prepare dinner (the eldest at 10 I can honestly say now is a true help), and my husband walking in saying "Smells good in here!" I am hoping that by the time my kids move out while they probably won't have mastered every meal - they will have mastered a handful of their favorites. These lessons are important to me - so I plan!
It started out with me planning a week at a time. It worked ok... our life gets busy! Sometimes our weekend is chuck full which leaves little time for me to lay out our meals. So for me having to make time once a month is a lot easier then once a week! Do we stick to the calendar 100% of the time? Really - who do you think I am super women? Hell no I am human. We have nights where meals, as delicious as they look on Pinterest, for some reason are not when I follow the recipe. We go out for birthdays, anniversaries, good grades, and date nights. Celebrating life is just as important as the family time I get in preparing and eating the meals.
Mix it Up...
Life is short - don't eat the same dinner over and over week after week! There are so many websites to find a variety of dinner ideas, UTILIZE them!!! I can hear some of you now - "My kids will only eat (insert blah food here)." We have a you get what you get and you don't throw a fit rule in my house. Is it easy - Oh Hell No! That being said, because my kiddos know I can eat this or go hungry, sometimes trying that new food doesn't sound so bad.... and let's be honest - store bought chicken nuggets are disgusting!
So think outside the box - try it for a month! ENJOY!!
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