Menu Ideas

One of the areas I really wanted to get back on track and organized was our eating habits and more specifically my cooking habits. I always fall off the wagon in various degrees when we come upon a crisis. We end up eating out or prepacked processed food way too much, and our budget and health suffers for it.
My latest excuse list for why I haven't been planning and cooking regular, healthy, and inexpensive meals:
Child birth
Moving
Husband working late
Babysitting extra kids
Summer vacation

Not bad, right? Except it started 6 months ago and now it is time to get thing back on track.

This area is a challenge for me for several reasons.
First of all, I hate grocery shopping. It is one of my most dreaded homemaker chores. I tend to put it off as long as possible, and when I do go I try to shop for as long as possible. This tends to result in a cart overflowing with food, accompanied by a crying child or two, who have been shopping for too long and told "no" one time too many times.
After surviving the trip through the check out, loading and unloading the car, and putting it all away, I am $200 poorer and have to figure out where to store 2 weeks worth of milk. I cook it and serve it and my kids eat it (sometimes) and about two weeks later we are again out of food. So I have to do it all over again- with nothing at all to show for the previous week's effort. In my task/result oriented brain, this is a huge waste of my time and resources. So we order a pizza and call it dinner and I don't have to worry about it.

The other reason is that I have never considered myself a good cook. My husbands always replies that he has always eaten what I put in front of him, that I have never served him something "inedible." Since this is coming from a man who had to eat mystery meat and poop mushroom goulash in Russia for two years of his life, and was happy living off ramen noodles and tater tots when we met, I don't really think his opinion counts. My 6 year old who gags on grreen beans or the 9 year old who bursts into tears at the sight of chili, those opinions matter. Because the whole reason I am cooking is to make food that they will eat. So I have had to do some teaching myself how to cook, with the help of some food blgs and some friends. My mom did her best, but I seemed to have tuned out everything but how to make spaghetti for 15 people (but my toddler hates spaghetti) and chocolate chip cookies (sorry Mom, someone else is going to have to carry on your cooking legacy).

Finally, I hate having to decide what to make. I often find myself staring into the cupboards at the rows of cans and boxes and wondering what in the world I can do with tomatoes and pasta and frozen chicken that will turn it into something healthy that my kids will eat, in less time than it takes for the baby to wake up from her nap. I usually come up pretty short.

So I have challenged myself to turn meal planning, shopping and cooking into something I can view as productive, enjoyable, and worthwhile. And if the food is good enough for my kids, helps me lose some baby weight, and makes dad happy, that would be great too!
I developed three measurable goals for myself, to satisfy that task-oriented college girl who still demands to be heard once in a while:
1. Make a menu plan. A week of planned meals that I will have the ingredients to prepare, planned around our schedule to I will also have time to prepare them. Croc pots and salads on days we will be out late, more elaborate meals on our stay at home days, and try a few new things to expand our list of meals. And I won't have to stare at the fridge and wonder what to make, I will already know.
2. Make grocery shopping a happy time. Ok, maybe happy will be a stretch, but I think I can make it more enjoyable. Challenge myself to get in and out in an hour instead of two or three, to save a certain percent by shopping sales or using coupons. I will not become obsessed with couponing but am willing to adjust things to use the food that is on sale. My starting goal is 30% off at the checkout with sales or coupon discounts.
3. Cook good food. I am going to try one new recipe each week untilI have a solid stash of go-to meals that are yummy to everyone and easy for me to make. Food blogs and tutorials to the rescue. My kids are pretty good at trying at least a bite or two of new foods, and I rarely force them to eat things I know they hate. Limiting take out to once a pay period (because I am also realistic) and increasing our fruit and veggie servings to two at each meal plus snacks should also help us to feel healthier and maybe even shed a few pounds.

So there it is. My three steps to better meals. Next, my attempts at menu planning!