The Meal Plan will help you through the week

Every week I try to plan out 7-8 days of meals to cover the next week. I have a list of meals that my family will eat that I keep in my datebook and I spend the week using the list and my moods (haha) to plan our meals.

When planning, I set a plan for the main dishes and sides for dinner.  I've occasionally planned out lunches too or weekend breakfasts, but my main goal is to get dinners planned out and prepped as much as possible on the weekends.

To that end, I will plan a weekend meal (like homemade spaghetti or a big turkey or ham) that I can use for a second quick meal during the week. I also try to pre-prep a meal or two, such as baked ziti or a ingredients for my crockpot. If I can prep a meal or two on the weekends, my weekdays are less crazy.  I also try to make my most labor intensive dish on Monday.  My inclination is to do an easy meal on Monday and my harder dish on Thursday or Friday. But I've found that if I wait until later in the week, I will be even more tired and more likely to do take-out or something quick.

I also plan at least one or two quick and easy meals to coincide with the kids (or my) activities.  Football nights, gymnastics, swimming lessons, baseball, PTA meetings... you get the idea.  Trying to prepare a meal in the midst of that is just an exercise in futility. McDonalds often ends up the problem solver.  To fix that problem, I try to do quick crockpot meals or something easy like chicken nuggets on those nights. I'm more likely to stick to the plan if it's already planned or done.

The crockpot is your friend. As you navigate this site, you will find many more crockpot recipes than normal recipes.  That's because I LOVE my crockpot. Truly.  The crockpot gets dinner on the table at a reasonable time 2 or 3 nights a week in my house. I've done small turkey breasts in the crockpot which smell like Thanksgiving when you walk in.  I've done many roasts and even a whole chicken in the crockpot. So many "long" and "difficult" meals are made more simple with a slow cooker.  Also if you like rice, I strongly suggest investing in a rice cooker. Best, easiest way to make rice and requires no standing at the stove stirring or watching, with the bonus of easy clean-up!  Another time saving tip that helps me out is pre slicing green pepper, onion, red pepper, celery and even carrots and keeping in ziploc bags in the freezer for quick access on busy nights.

Here's a sample of my meal plan for this week:
Sunday (Today): Crockpot chicken and dumplings, fruit salad
Monday: Slow Cooker Pork Chops (from All Recipes), Rice, Broccoli
Tuesday:  Chicken Cacciatore in the Crockpot, Spaghetti, Salad
Wednesday: Purdue breaded chicken, egg noodles, veggie
Thursday: pre-made Baked Ziti, Salad
Friday:  Pizza
Saturday:  Flank Steak with Chimichurri, Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Tortellini?