Today we’re sharing how one Gilbert mom’s meal prep hacks as a working mom with three kids.
For our family, planning your meals out for the week to help you save on the last minute, “what’s for dinner mom/hon?” question. Here’s a few things I keep in mind when trying to plan my family’s meal for the week.
Mom hack: If you’re in a hectic phase of life, try Citrus Pear meal prep classes! In two hours at a local Basha’s store, you’ll leave with 10-40 meals that are dump and go that you can cook in crockpots, instant pot, etc.
XO,
East Valley Moms
Meal prep hack #1: Shop your own pantry first
Make a list, I actually find it easier to write it on a dry erase board for bigger visual.
Catagorize your list…Protein, veggies, starch, etc
Meal planning tip #2: Shop the sales
Cooking what’s on sale helps keep you on budget and you are most likely to be eating what’s in season.
Meal prep hack #3 Start with 10 go-to meals in your rotation
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every week; start curating 10 meals that your family enjoys and rotate through them for two weeks. As you get more confident in these, slowly add to the rotation.
Once you get comfortable with these, you won’t need a recipe to follow and they’ll be easier to prep.
Meal planning tip #4: Get your family involved
Crowd source your 10 meals! Ask your family what their favorites are that you make, and add those into your rotation.
Since my kids are older (10,8,5) they get to pick one dish/recipe a week, that way they don’t feel like we don’t care about their likes and it gets them involve in the kitchen.
Meal prep hack #5: Shop and Prep your food in one day/night.
Take your list and shop, ALONE! Shopping alone keeps me on track and there is no kids yelling “I want this and that!”
I love our local FRY’s store because they have a kids corner where I can take my two younger kids to, drop them off and mommy can shop in peace.
When you get home and you don’t have the time to prep the meals, take the time to write your menu down somewhere where everyone can see it, that way everyone knows what to expect to eat and you will be more likely to stick to the planned meal.
Meal planning tip #6: You don’t have to cook all the meals every day
I usually just plan for one meal a day and that’s usually dinner (maybe it’s breakfast for you or lunch) because that’s when we can eat together. The rest of the meals we usually eat leftovers or something easy like a sandwich, cereal or ramen noodles. The weekends tend to be an exception though because my hubby is off and I usually plan lunch and dinner but that’s just me.
Meal prep hack #7: Be flexible
Sometimes I switch days around because one meal is easier to cook or I need to make a crock pot meal instead of a baked meal. Relax just shift it around and since you already have all the ingredients you’re good. Oh, and guess what? last minute decision to eat out tonight? It’s okay just move the missed meal to start your next weeks meal plan.