We’re back with another version of #notafoodblogger real life inspiration to help you get back into the dinnertime groove as the new school year starts.
Some of us are meal prep disciples. Some of us fly by the seat of our pants. Some of us love the crockpot, while others rely on Costco’s rotisserie chicken weekly.
Read on for how five of us with very different routines, rhythms and families get dinner on the table, we hope perhaps it’ll give you some inspiration that helps the dinner rush get a little easier at your house.
Disclaimer: we call this series “#notafoodblogger” because 1. we are definitely not and 2. We’re struggling to figure out the best hacks to always feed our kids, too.
XO,
East Valley Moms
Megan: Mom of 2, dinner roulette meal planning
My husband and I had to establish a dinnertime plan after we spent a few solid months really struggling to get healthy meals with variety on the table every night.
The hardest part of meal planning for us was deciding what to have. Decision Fatigue is 100000% real and I had no brain cells left to think about dinner. My husband took on the task for a while, but he got stuck in a “chicken burrito bowl and chicken wings and French fries” death spiral that drove me BONKERS! So we decided to let fate meal plan for us.
We wrote over 30 of our favorite meals on little pieces of paper and put them all in a jar. Every Sunday, we simply draw out however many night’s worth of meals we need for the week.
I do a grocery pick up on Sunday or Monday and we have what we need for the week. Most of our meal ideas use the crockpot so I can throw them in in the morning, or it’s something that can be made in 30 minutes or less when we get home.
- Crockpot Pot Roast with veggies and salad
- Mini Tortellini/Ravioli and Sausage tomato soup with zucchini and squash (the literal EASIEST meal, SO YUMMY, and makes tons of leftovers!)
- Gyro Pitas with salad
- Baked Potato bar
- Burgers with veggies
- Sheet pan sausage and veggies
- I meal plan/order groceries the Friday of the week before – I look at the week ahead and consider: who is eating, how much time do we have, what do we already have, what do we need, then I meal prep on Sundays for about two hours
- I write the menu on a chalkboard in the kitchen so everyone knows what we are having and when – this also serves as my reminder if I need to marinade something the night prior, thaw out a protein, prep a slow cooker meal etc.
- I love the cookbooks Cook Once Eat All Week and Dinner Fix which leverage bulk cooking/meal prep to make weeknight meals that much easier
- We have go to “quick meals” that I often have ingredients on hand for to supplement the menu without much thinking – breakfast dinner (Kodiak pancakes, breakfast sausage, eggs and berries), sheet pan dinner (a protein, some veggies, a starch), and the tried and true bag salad and rotisserie chicken are staples in our house
- We usually have one crockpot meal a week that I can set and forget in the morning or in between calls for work – I save this for the nights where activities keep us out later and I know dinner will come after a lot of running around
Amy: Mom of 1, crockpot queen
I’ve been an obsessive crockpot cook since college, so that’s usually what my go-to is for dinner prep (here’s seven favorite dump ‘n’ go crockpot recipes).
Over the summer I tried Citrus Pear freezer meal prep classes and I’m a customer for life. In the two hour class (hosted inside local grocery stores), I left with 20 freezer meals ready to thaw and dump into the crockpot (or instant pot).
The meals come out to under $2.50/serving and each one serves 3-4 adults, so we get at least two meals (a dinner and lunch usually) out of them. Right now they’re offering $10 off classes with code “arizona10.”
Tiffany: Mom of 5, 5 p.m. dinner rush
I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’m a fly by the seat of my pants type gal.
If I’m firing on all cylinders I will take out a protein to thaw in the morning and then figure out what I want to do with it around 5 p.m. Then I may or may not have to take a quick run to the grocery store less than five minutes from my house to get any remaining ingredients.
My go to meals are classic family favorites: spaghetti, taco night, chicken pot pie, or good old chicken strips and fries. I try to keep all the ingredients for these kid favorite meals in the house, but I’ve been known to just do boxed macaroni cheese with broccoli in a pinch because they love it and it’s easy.
