Today I had the opportunity to be a guest on Mom Talk Radio with Maria Bailey. If that name sounds familiar its because Maria is the brains behind MomSelect (which I love doing reviews and product giveaways for)!
The topic for today's 7 minute talk was "When do you decide what is for dinner?" Jay from Caffeine and a Prayer and myself had the opportunity to talk with Maria and give other moms our ideas and what we do in our home. The conversation went by SO quickly! I didn't even have a chance to get nervous or wonder what I was going to say. I must admit though, I did have a cheat sheet in case I got lost in a thought!
My ideas for meal planning? Well, they've been exhausted on this blog and I'm sure others are TIRED of hearing about it, but its a fun concept for me to talk about it! And everyone reading knows I'm a little uptight a.k.a. anal retentive so its something I proudly own! For me, meal planning is a chore and does take time, but its always rewarding! If I don't meal plan, the majority of the time, I'll call my husband and request him to pick up dinner or do the drive thru thing! Not healthy or easy on the budget! Which, again, if you've been reading this blog for ANY period of time, you also know that I'm CHEAP! Like, I squeak when I walk, kinda cheap!
So, meal planning is a must in our household. I print off a calendar. I read blogs, look through my recipes cards, cook books, revisit old standbys... whatever it takes! You can even use Emealz which is really not that expensive when you think about the period of time you get the meals and shopping list planned for you and not to mention, the time you're saving from having to do that on your own!!! Why don't I do emealz anymore? Its because I'm a snob! I know I can plan 7 nights dinner cheaper than they can.... I just gotta do the work, so at this time, I'll continue to it myself.
Jay mentioned something in the conversation that I also do. Have staples on hand. Things that you know your family eats a lot of- rice, potatoes, frozen veggies, pasta... whatever you know that your family will eat.... I often stock up on noodles when they are on sale at Publix- gotta love Buy One Get One Free deals! and I usually have a coupon to pair with them. Last week I hit Publix for some deals and had a coupon for .55 cents off 2 boxes of noodles. Normally I would think twice about this coupon, but Publix had these particular noodles B1G1 free, so we grabbed a few boxes for less than a dollar. But by having staples on hand, even when you have no idea what is for dinner, you can also visit your cabinets and piece together a meal. Nine times out of ten, I always have SOME type of meat in the house. Pair the meat/chicken/fish with some pasta and some type of sauce and you've got a meal!
If you don't meal plan, which I don't know very women who don't do even a tiny bit of it, start off small and just do a week at a time. Or just a few nights! If you're like my family, we ALWAYS have leftovers and I actually plan those leftovers into our weekly menu. I count on leftovers! I've been warned though..... leftovers probably won't last for forever with 3 boys in the house, but I'll gladly serve them while I have them!
A huge thank you to Maria and all the folks at MomTalk Radio for having me on the show to talk about a love of mine!
Posts
4 thoughtful comments:
How fun! You know I'm a long time meal planner, too. I just don't understand how people go to the store without a written meal plan!
How fun! You know I'm a long time meal planner, too. I just don't understand how people go to the store without a written meal plan!
yay! Sounds like it was fun! I meal plan, it just makes sense, especially when every dime counts - LOL! I'm not a wiz at it, but I am good enough to get by.
It was so much fun to you have you on Mom Talk Radio. You were really great.! Thank you.
Post a Comment