Who has time for thinking about food?

It seems to be a rather cruel joke - I post my best intentions here, and this is where they stay...in digital form.  I've recently gone back to work almost full time, and juggling the responsibilities of my family, my new job, all my writing gigs and more has left me rather at a loss when it comes to meal time.  I haven't been able to slow down long enough to grocery shop, let alone lovingly prepare a meal.

It is getting dire around here. 

I've needed to do big grocery shopping for a week, and instead we keep slapping a bandage on the situation with a gallon of milk here, a loaf of bread there.  I figure I'll adjust to this pace (not that I was exactly adept at the previous pace, hah!) but for the meantime, I'm going to be having to force hours out of my day in order to get some order in my pantry and fridge.

RIght about now, I really need to re-read The Fat Fallacy.  That idea that I can enjoy a leisurely family meal with my husband and children seems like a far-fetched fantasy... only because I'm allowing myself to not be strict with my work schedule.  Is is possible to have your cheesecake and eat it too?

I'm determined to find out. 

So!  First things first - a menu.  Then shopping.  Then some prepare ahead tactics. 

The menu for the next week in in the extended entry.  I can do this. 

8/22 - Soup and sandwiches, sliced apples
8/23 - Pasta salad and grilled turkey sausages
8/24 - Tilapia, sweet potato fries and applesauce
8/25 - Homemade mac and cheese, steamed broccoli
8/26 - Soft tacos made with black beans, red bell pepper, rice, avocado, corn and cilantro, with salad
8/27 - Chicken and noodle casserole with green beans

Comments

[Healthy Mummy]

Have you ever tried shopping for groceries on-line. I did this for the first time this week. It's a huge time saver and I found it was a much healthier shop because nothing managed to slide off the shelves into my basket.

[HG]

Oh Jenny - I need to get back on that bandwagon too (heh, I typed badwagon initially). Meal planning - such a distant memory.

I'm managing to hover on the low end of my weight loss, but still have some ways to go. I kinda want to lose 20 pounds by Thanksgiving (we're heading to FL), but would just like to get in better habits again if nothing else.

I'm also obsessed with Bento right now - learning about it. I'm going to try it for the kids' lunches. With the extra hours I pull out of my ass, dontchaknow.

[Lady Rose]

Being busy and feeding a family while eating healthy can be challenging.

I love my crockpot for cooking meals ahead - I use the cookbook fix it and forget Lightly! It has lots of yummy family style recipes.

I try cooking once a week - using the crockpot, oven (bake chicken or turkey) and stove top (i.e. a sauce for noodles, or one or two one skillet meals or saute veggies to be added to other dishes) - then pack it all up in containers.

I make the main part of the meal diet friendly - then if the family wants an extra dallop of butter on top, or an added side dish (i.e. baked potato) or roll they can have what they want and not be limited by my diet, but the main meal can be eaten by everyone because it's healthy.

[Jen]

Check this website out. She offers great meals each week that are low-fat, kid friendly and easy to make. I think she charges $4.95 per month (which I think is a great deal) and it includes 5 meals (including the side dishes) and the shopping list. I did this for a while and would order my groceries online and have them delivered for $4.95. My friend in NC has the store bag hers and they have a drive-thru pick up window. What an idea!! This eliminates those impulse purchases thus saving you money in the end.
It is hard to do it all!

[jen]

oops, forgot to include the website:

www.sixoclockscramble.com

[cmy]

Hi Jenny, I think you do great meal-planning and I love the small slice pictures!
Have you thought about giving each night a theme for your menus? For example, we usually do pasta on Friday nights, and some form of eggs on Sunday nights. You could have one night chicken, one night Tex-Mex, etc. That gives you a structure to start with, then you just fill in the blanks. You could also try different countries - Thursday Italian food, Friday American comfort food, Saturday French, or whatever. The kids could get into that!
Just some thoughts to help out... in our family it's back to school on Tuesday and Wednesday so I have to get organized too!

[Elizabeth]

Jenny, I have a sponsor on my site MomCooks called emealsforyou.com-actually, they aren't really a sponsor since they don't pay me or anything :) But they give my readers five dollars off the six month price of access to their menu planning site, so it's $31.00 for six months! You can search by ingredient, category, or get entire days' menus including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!

[Chef Jake]

Just wanted to let your readers know that we have extended the membership period for www.emealsforyou.com to 1 full year while maintaining the fee at $36, or roughly the cost of a magazine subscription.

[Chef Jake]

Just wanted to let your readers know that we have extended the membership period for www.emealsforyou.com to 1 full year while maintaining the fee at $36, or roughly the cost of a magazine subscription.

[Chef Jake]

Just wanted to let your readers know that we have extended the membership period for www.emealsforyou.com to 1 full year while maintaining the fee at $36, or roughly the cost of a magazine subscription.

[Chef Jake]

Just wanted to let your readers know that we have extended the membership period for www.emealsforyou.com to 1 full year while maintaining the fee at $36, or roughly the cost of a magazine subscription.

[healthy diets for overweight children]

I promised myself to not take on any activities that were only to help me lose weight. Everything I do must“ pay off” in some other way. I find ways to eat better that make me feel more energetic. I excercise because I like the extra energy or the social aspect of it. I drink water to see my complexion clear up. I avoid sweets because I hate that slump that comes after a sugar high. My weight is coming down slowly but, effortlessly. I’ m focused on my quality of life. And I like myself (big or smaller) when...

[Elspeth]

Good post.

[Tessa]

I grew up in a house hold where my mother was working until sunup to sundown and had to come and cook a delicious meal for the family. To say that she's burnt out at the end of the day is an understatement, so what she always liked to do was get the kids in on creating a meal. This is of course easier when they're older, but it spreads the tasks to other family members and gets the kids to learn how to cook and be resourceful which will be huge when they move out. It also creates a family meal and brings everyone together in a collaborative effort!
Tessa from
http://www.bettyconfidential.com/

[Jason]

Great blog you have here. Very inspirational. I have a site as well which I hope will be a top resource for those looking for the motivation they need in order to lose weight. There are very little sites like ours out there.

I'd like to exchange links with you. Please let me know if this is possible under the "Best Weight Loss Websites" page. Until then, keep up the good work.

Jason
4Weight2Lose.com

[mr big dicks hot chicks]

Ah yes, the chaos continues here at Casa Lauck. I've got nothing worth eating, I've been sporadic on the working out, and my kids and I have a tenuous relationship that includes a lot of snarling. Back to school is awesome, yeah?

[hairy cunt]

http://gorgeous-hairy-pussy-teens.www-hairypussy.com/
seems to be a rather cruel joke - I post my best intentions here, and this is where they stay...in digital form. I've recently gone back to work almost full time, and juggling the responsibilities of my family, my new job, all my writing gigs and more has left me rather at a loss when it comes to meal time. I haven't been able to slow down long enough to grocery shop, let alone lovingly prepare
http://cunt-hairy-young.www-hairypussy.com/ http://hairy-cunt-and-ass.www-hairypussy.com/