Meal Planning

What's for dinner? Is that one of the most popular questions in your home too? Growing up my Mama cooked homemade dinners every night of the week and sometimes for lunch on Sunday as well. At the time I was unaware of what an accomplishment this was, but now I admire it so much. 

I inherited that same love for cooking from her, but it is tough to get a delicious dinner on the table every night. Before baby I had my evening after work to take my time and cook a full course meal with no interruptions, but now it's a bit trickier. I have found over time that no matter what I fail without a meal plan. I have been doing our grocery shopping and pickup through Harris Teeter online for years, and at times I would meal plan for up to two weeks in advance and order all of my ingredients in one purchase. 

More recently, I signed up to pay by the year instead of weekly and that allows me to place as many orders as I want or need to. Online grocery shopping can definitely be overwhelming the first time, but once you get the hang of it I have found that it saves us quite a bit of money and guilt from impulse buying in the store. As a new mom, the ability to just pull up and not have to disturb baby is worth its weight in gold! 

Before placing my grocery order and planning for the week I usually check out the weather forecast. If it's going to be chilly or wet I try to include ingredients for soup or a pot roast, and once it gets warmer and the days begin to get longer, we love to grill out as much as possible. Josh works late a couple of nights a week, and gets home well past dinner time so I also keep that in mind when planning for our week. I also try to make the most of each meal by doubling sauce recipes to freeze for later, or cooking an extra portion to have for lunch the next day. It's amazing how delicious spaghetti is later in the week over freshly cooked noodles, toasted bread and a crisp salad, especially when I made the sauce on Tuesday but doubled my batch. 

Here is a look at a typical supper schedule in our home: 

Monday-Breakfast for dinner (Josh late) 
Tuesday-Spaghetti, salad & bread 
Wednesday-Taco Soup & cornbread (Josh late) 
Thursday-Grilled pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, roasted okra, stewed apples 
Friday-Out to dinner 
Saturday-Spaghetti sauce from freezer, fresh noodles, salad and bread 
Sunday- Tuna steaks, steamed white rice, broccoli 

One of the toughest parts of meal planning to me is not getting caught in a rut and coming up with new ideas. I would love to hear how you feed your family! What's your favorite weeknight meal?