One of the most challenging parts of my day-to-day is figuring out what to eat. This is further complicated by having to figure out what to feed the other people in the household. I know fast food every day is not good for anyone and home cooking is the best. I mean who doesn’t love a home cooked meal. You know what’s in it, it’s hopefully made with love, and it doesn’t give the “Blah” feeling afterwards. Home cooked is the goal….but a small thing called reality creeps in.After sitting through a morning and afternoon commute, working a high impact (**Read: STRESSFUL**) workday, attempting not to wear the exhaustion on my face as I corral my children from child care..**loud sigh** I. Do. Not. Feel. Like. Cooking.
That fast food restaurant looks like a kind Chicken or Benevolent Girl with pigtails or Golden Arms inviting me in. All of them are saying,
“There, there, we know you have had a long day and you want to feed these people, we understand. Let us take care of you…see, we have already cooked and included a toy to keep them occupied”.
And I’m thinking, mid desperate tear,
“Thank you kind Chicken, Pigtail girl, and Gold arms, you all are the only ones who understand”
**sigh of validation**
Well, after I pull myself together I start thinking. My Fast food support group is not terrible if I make the right choices with them and I know they will be there if I need them. This makes me feel more empowered and I start thinking about why they are so convenient. Yup, you guessed it, because they are prepared ahead of time and have their meals planned out, stocked up with the groceries they need, then heat the meals up when I arrive. Hey! I think I can do that too, at home! I too can become an expert at meal planning!
So, with this new found empowerment, I scoured the internet to find a calendar with simple quick meals for families. Needless to say, I did not find any to fit my family’s needs (ie., yummy, not terribly unhealthy, quick, and can possibly be made ahead of time). What do I do when I can’t find what I need, you ask? I make it myself.
The plan is to find recipes with as few ingredients as possible. I already have a few go-tos but the list needs to be longer, like 15 – 30 days longer. I’ll share the recipes and videos of the cooking process so we can learn together. I’m getting hungry already! Let the food search begin!
What are some quick and easy recipes you love?
How do you decide what’s for dinner every night?