Recently I’ve noticed that as with most things, every family seems to have a different style when it comes to dinner – meal preparation and grocery shopping in particular. Growing up, my dad went shopping for dinner supplies and whatever else we needed just about daily. Zach’s family seemed to shop far less frequently. Really, it seems to be whatever works for your family.
Yesterday I read a fascinating article about a woman in Texas who has planned out an entire year’s worth of meals. Wow. I admire that woman’s planning and forethought. I can usually plan out about a week, but I have a hard time going further than that. We’ve got several “family favorite” recipes, but I also like to throw something new into the mix occasionally.
If you’ve ever talked to me about food, I’ve probably told you that I am in love with bettycrocker.com. I like being able to store recipes in an online recipe box. I like the variety of recipes available to me, and that I can search by things like beef or chicken, or by things like slow cooker or event type. If I could convince Zach to use it, I would love the shopping list feature too. I’ve tried other sites like allrecipes.com, but I keep coming back to the familiarity and comfort of betty crocker.
So, what are we eating this week? Well, Monday night is usually grocery shopping night for us (it’s much less busy than the weekends, and we’re often too busy to do shopping on the weekends anyway). This means that my goal on Mondays is always to find something quick and easy because I know we won’t have much time to cook. Last night we tried out a new “30 minute meal”. Mac ‘n Cheese Shells with Sausage. However, we did substitute several things – rotini instead of shells (they didn’t have small shells at the store Zach shopped at), Monterey Jack cheese instead of American, and breakfast sausage (cooked before added) instead of smoked sausage. However, the result was still quite tasty. Both boys ate a good amount of it, and Zach gave it a thumbs up as well!
Tonight Zach won’t be home (his weekly night out) so I try to opt for relatively quick and easy (i.e., boiling a pot of water and stirring something in with one hand while jiggling a cranky 1-year-old with the other and dragging a weepy 3-year-old on my leg). So tonight we’ll have Broccoli and tortellini Alfredo. This is already a favorite with the younger set. Parker LOVES broccoli (yeah, I know, he’s a little weird) 
and Xander things anything pasta based is just about the best meal in the world. I’ll be altering it slightly since I have a bag of egg noodles I’d like to use up, and that saved us buying tortellini this week. We’ll see how it goes…
Tomorrow night we’ll have some Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy. We’ll probably have mashed potatoes on the side, and I like to make them like this lately (though I usually skip the bacon bits and green onions). Xander is a big fan of cooked carrots, so I’ll probably heat up some frozen ones to go along with this meal.
Thursday night, we’re going to enjoy some tasty Smothered Chops with Bacon Bits. I’ve got some extra broccoli to pair with this, and maybe some rice – we’ll see…
Friday night is our no cook or low cook night. We often opt for a frozen pizza (which we usually doctor up with fresh veggies/cheese, and/or bacon and sometimes a side salad).
Since our weekend are usually crazy, busy and sometimes nowhere near our house, I don’t usually extend our dinner menus into the weekend. Sometimes we’ll pick up extra supplies later in the week if we know we’ll be home, or we go with kid favorites – pb&j, grilled cheese, mac ‘n cheese, spaghetti, etc.
A few disclaimers: I am by no stretch of the imagination a “good” cook. I opt for quick and easy 9 times out of 10. I judge a recipe on the directions – if I can’t understand it, or it calls for something I don’t own (a dutch oven for example) then I skip it. I don’t spend time learning new cooking tips or techniques.
Zach does the grocery shopping. He is excellent at finding deals, and is familiar enough now with my list-making and planning that he’ll substitute or alter sometimes depending on cost and what we’re making that week. This week’s bill was $70 (we of course didn’t buy every ingredient for every recipe – we’ve got basic cooking supplies) but that also included other things (a jug of water, cereal bars, conditioner, etc.) We typically spend somewhere between $70 and $100 to feed our small family of 4 each week. We don’t use coupons (unless they happen to be on the package) but we always shop for good deals. Most of the time we find superstores like Wal-Mart to be more expensive than the local grocery store.
Zach enjoys cooking – he likes to learn new tips and techniques. Where I am all about exact measurements and following a recipe, Zach enjoys pulling together a few ingredients and a basic idea and making his own creations (which almost always comes out delicious). Dinnertime cooking usually ends up in my lap, but not because Zach doesn’t want to, it just usually ends up that way – he’d be perfectly happy switching roles and doing the cooking while I entertained the children and sometimes he does (especially if we’re having a Mexican themed meal).
I’m sure it’s no surprise that every week is hit and miss with our kids. Some days they love what we cook, and if we cook the exact same thing next week, they won’t touch it. Xander more so than Parker is picky about food. We don’t make a separate meal for anyone. We don’t make them stay at the table until they’ve eaten everything (especially Parker because he starts to throw food when he’s done, and I hate having to clean all that up). What we make for dinner is what is available to eat, and if they don’t want to eat it (they have to at least try it), then they don’t have to eat, but they won’t get anything else to eat either. We very rarely eat dessert or treats in our house. I’m not saying our methods are right or wrong, but this is what is working for our family right now. This means that there are some nights when Xander goes to bed with very little to eat. But, he doesn’t complain about being hungry, and he almost always eats a good breakfast and lunch.
If you haven’t noticed, I am a type-A personality who likes to have things in my life planned out. I am uncomfortable not knowing what I will need to do when I get home from work. Where a loose schedule works great for some families, it stresses me out too much. So what do you do – do you plan out meals? How far in advance – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly?? I’m always looking for ideas and suggestions to streamline the process, which means I’m very interested in how your family tackles these daily routines
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So, I was prepared for the invasion of locusts disguised as my children when they become teenagers. I know that my cupboards will be bare and I’ll spend hundreds of dollars in food each week only to see it devoured in days. I was not however prepared for this to happen when they are 2 and 4. The most common refrain I hear in my house these days is ‘I’m hungry’. I hear it every afternoon without fail when I pick the boys up from day care. I give them a snack when we get home, and then they have dinner, and often another snack after dinner.
Thanksgiving is always a fun time of year for us . We spend the extra long weekend visiting with both sides of the family. We usually end up spending a night or two at my in-law’s house, and with the 10 of us it’s usually a pretty enjoyable time. Lots of food (love the turkey leftovers by the way), laughter and plenty of people besides Zach and myself to keep Xander entertained.
About a two weeks ago Xander decided that he did not need anything besides chocolate milk in order to function. We continue offering 3 meals a day and snacks, and we’ve limited him to one sippy cup of chocolate milk in the mornings when he gets up, and one when he gets home from day care, and he continues to refuse food. I admire his restraint – it would be one heck of a diet plan for an adult. And I think so far we’ve handled the hunger strike pretty well – we offer the food, but don’t force it, and if he wants to get down from the table and play, that’s fine, but we won’t get down and play with him until we’re done eating (this often frustrates him, and sometimes results in tears, but we’ve remained consistent in telling him no).