This question is for all of you "organized" moms or dads...?

Question

My New Year's resolution is to get more organized. I am off of work until January 4th and have been cleaning out drawers, closets, etc. Now I am trying to make easy to make (but healthy) menus. I work full time & have 2 kids, and usually have the same meals each week. Point me in the direction to plan, cook , and get it together when it comes to meals each week. Do you plan weekly meals? The kids get happy meals and pizza at least 2-3 times a week, and I want to stop this during the week, but just can't get it together! Thanks for the suggestions!

Answer 1

When we make a grocery list, we pick out the meals we will be eating until the next trip to the grocery store. They don't have to be assigned to a particular day, but at least have 5 or 6 (or however many) meals picked out and then you can decide what day you're having them.

We usually decide everything upon what kind of meat is in the meal . A couple meals might have chicken, a couple might be beef/hamburger, some might be fish or pork.

You want to spread them out so that you aren't having 2 "chicken meals" in a row or something like that. As for side dishes, you can mix it up anyway you want. Rice side dishes, noodles, veggies, etc. and you can mix and match each week.

What you should do, is to find a bunch of recipes that you know your family would enjoy. This way, you aren't eating the same meals each week. Keep them all organized on the computer or in a recipe box and maybe even have each member of the family pick a recipe each week so everyone is happy :-)

Answer 2

I generally plan our meals weekly. First, I subscribe to the little Betty Crocker Cookbooks that you see in the checkout line at the grocery. Subscribing to them saves about half the cost and they are great for simple, family friendly meals and often have menu suggestions.
Second, I use the weekly grocery ads and I regularly clip coupons.
I sit down over the weekend with a stack of the cookbooks, the grocery ad & coupons, and my calendar.

I look through the grocery ad and make a list of things they have on sale that we might need/like. (Often I'll also have a coupon, so I can increase my savings). Then I go through the calendar day by day and pick something out of the cookbooks that works well with our schedule. I write down what we will have on the calendar and make my grocery list at the same time.

By doing it this way, I can take the best advantage of sales/coupons and schedule meals I know we'll have the time to make.

Answer 3

I'm a stay-at-home mom and still have a hard time staying organized and eating healthy all the time... I will pray for you and give you credit for trying. But I do have a few suggestions...
-USE A SLOW COOKER!
-Plan meals for as many days as you shop for
-Look up easy, healthy recipes to make a dinner plan and write the ingredients down on your shopping list if you dont already have them.
WWW.RECIPEZAAR.COM is a good site!

Here are some meals I have found easy to make:
-Shepard's Pie
-Spaghetti
-Meatloaf
-Cabbage & Kielbasa
-Frozen chicken patties baked covered with spaghetti sauce and cheese sprinkled over them (For a less boring easy chicken dinner)
-Hamburger, Tuna, etc. Helpers w/side salad or frozen garlic bread

I'd also say invest in a food chopper to make chopping and adding veggies easier...

Hope this helped a little! Go0d luck! :0)

Answer 4

I would suggest making very big meals every 3-4 days and just eating the leftovers, just add different side dishes. For example:
Cook a whole chicken and make corn and stuffing one night
the next night eat the chicken with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes
the last night eat the chicken again but with just bread and salad

You could also make a whole bunch of meat sauce and the first day just have it with spaghetti
the next day add it to ziti with some mozzeralla cheese and let it bake for 30 minutes
the next day add some chili powder and beans to it and melt cheddar on top and you have a bowl of chili now.

Try to buy meats on sale and freeze alot of meat. Plan out your week and just remember to put a package of meat in the fridge to defrost the night before.
I actually bought an extra small freezer so that I can get A LOT of meat and freeze it when it is on sale (the freezer was only $150 at Lowe's and there was a $50 rebate).

Also, there are healthy quick meals too like buying the rotisserie chicken at your wholesale club or grocery store and just making sides for it.
Or just baking some bacon in the oven and making BLTs for lunch and having it on a salad with diced deli meat on a salad at night. And they'll be some left for breakfast the next day.

One way I get organized is to write EVERYTHING down. I have a list for everything. Then when you get up in the morning you feed the kids and get them occupied then you go to your office and for a few minutes go over the lists of things to do, places to call, etc and take care of 2-3 things everyday, it makes a difference.
Another thing I did was online banking with all my bills, that way I don't have to spend time writing checks and sending them out and nothing can really be late.

Answer 5

1) Plan your weekly menus. Sit down 1X a week and plan.

2) Cook up foods that can be leftovers. One night spaghetti & garlic bread, a couple days later spaghetti pie w/ cheese on top.

3) There's nothing wrong with soup & sandwiches for dinner once a week. Make them yourself, skip the Happy Meals.

4) Remember to take out meat/chicken from the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. Place it in the slow cooker and dinner will be ready when you get home. Add rice or potato plus a veggie -- dinner!

5) Remind your kids that fruit is a snack. Limit junk food. I operate the Kimkins.com diet website and many of our members trace their obesity to high calorie quick snacks as kids.

Good mom for wanting to make permanent changes! Your kids might like to make Ziploc omelettes, see the recipe in my blog. Too fun!

Answer 6

You're trying too hard!!

Organizing is a point of view. I work full time, part time university student, with 2 kids and a foster child. They have activities every night, sometimes more then one, and usually 4-5 on the weekends plus a few birthday parties. It won't happen overnight - I'm still working on it!! - but I consider myself pretty organized since we're always on time and never forget a hockey practice or a swimming practice etc and don't wrap birthday presents in the car anymore :)

Here are some things I have done to make it easier - totally depends on the kids age but you mentioned happy meals so I'm guessing under 14 :

1 - Buy a slow cooker!!! You can prepare the morning while making kids lunch and when you get home it will be ready! Company's Coming makes an awesome slow cooker recepie book with some really easy recepies everyone will like

2 - Make double. Instead of turkey breasts on Saturday night make a turkey. You will have 4 extra meals [hot turkey sandwiches, left over turkey... you could make a soup from the bones...] Freeze leftovers for the crazy nights

3 - Premake meals on a slow Sunday night. You could make hamburgers and freeze them, make a huge batch of pancakes - and them pop them in the toaster for good easy fast breakfasts

4 - Keep a lot of bread on hand. Buy different toast toppings - pb&j, cheese whiz, cheese... On hockey nights we come home for 20 minutes between work and hockey. They make toast and have fruit and milk with it. And then later on another meal [like spaghetti and garlic toast]. Kids are supposed to eat more often right? :)

5 - Kids love tv dinners - honestly once a week they are better then 3 happy meals a week :P Keep them on hand for burnt out nights

6 - Cans of stew, ravioli, soup etc are staples and really good - buy bulk when they go on sale

7 - On your fridge keep a short tally of what you have to prevent meat etc from going bad and that way you won't be losing money! [whiteboard!]

The kids can help make supper too. While you are getting changed, a 9 year old can turn on the over, while a 6 year old can take food out of the freezer. Then while you make supper its homework time. For nights with no homework keep math sheets onhand so they can practice.

You can try planning a weekly menu, but unless you're a robot you might turn you and your kids off and go back to regular mcdonalds runs. Decide the night before what you are going to have the next day - that way you know you have the ingredients, the meat is thawed etc.

Also have one night a week where you do go out to eat. For us it is Thursday since its chinese food buffet night [and making chinese at home isn't easy compared to cooking a batch of frozen chicken nuggets!]

If you slip and fall don't give up - its not easy! But once you get the food into place, a lot of other things seem to follow. Good luck!

Answer 7

The crock pot is going to be your friend. I work full time too but we have a home cooked meal most nights. Once a month we have pizza or chinese. Anything can go in the crockpot-search online for recipes. I plan out my menu for the week on Saturday and then do my shopping. Frozen veggies are perfect side dishes-Birdseye Steamfresh is what we use. Keep fresh lettece on hand for side salads. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are so easy that you can do anything with them. The key is planning ahead and sticking with the plan. Good luck.

Answer 8

Flylady.net is a great website for helping you organize your home. That site also recomends saving dinner.com for help in planning meals. It can be very helpful.
I plan a month at a time, that way if one or two nights come where the planned meal isn't going to work out I can switch it with another night and still not need to order out.
Good Luck!

Answer 9

I dont cook anything that takes more than 20 minutes to prepare... unless its something I can make a few meals out of, like say, a ham or a large roast.

I buy good quality frozen veggies, all different varieties, and nuke them to go with dinner.

We do a lot of potatoes and rice for the startchy side.

So we end up with meat, potatoes or rice, and a heaping helping of two different kinds of veggies.

Honestly, I think the best thing you can do, is invest in some larger cuts of meat. A big roasting chicken, a small turkey, a nice inexpensive ham, stick them in the freezer, and cook one on the weekends.

A bone in ham (5 pounds or so) provides you with a couple meals of ham steaks, a bone for pea soup, chopped ham for adding to things like fried rice, and usually theres enough left over for a little ham salad for a lunch sandwich or two. Or you can cube some left overs and mix it in with home made mac and cheese. This is enough for 2-3 people. Depending on how many you are, and how much you eat it'll make different ammounts. For us, its about a good 3-4 days worth of dinner meals.

A big beef roast provides a few meals of beef, with left overs for beef and veggie soup, and BBQ shredded beef. You can even cube some thats left over and mix it with cubed browned potaoes for hash. Its a breakfasty meal, but it makes a solid dinner.

You can get quite a few meals out of a roasted chicken too.

I'd invest in a slow cooker if you dont have one already. Everyone cooks up awesomely in a slow cooker, all you have to do it throw some raw meat, some water, and some veggies into the cooker on your way to work, and by the time you get home you've got a big dinner already for you.

Cooking extra protions and freezing some meals is also really helpful.

Theres absolutely no reason to eat out, and eat processed yucky food all the time, when you can choose meats that make many meals simply, and quickly (after that initial cooking of the ham, or roast).

Answer 10

Planning is esscense of sucess is defined in many management books by guru's and generally planning comes to children as heridatary gift

You need to chart your activities for the week before you start planning, analyse the activites and improvise on same

Dont give your children happy meals and pizza give them more than that a good wholesome and natural food

try and see that the next early morinings half work like cutting some veg. for sandwich etc are cut at night while watching TV etc so that time is utilised optimally etc.