Meal planning….
When someone says the words “meal planning” to me, my response is, “UGH”. I am not big on planning ahead for anything, let alone what we will be eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next five days. However, when I know my kids’ schedules are about to pick up, I KNOW the way to take some stress off my plate is plan out our meals for the week. The more you do it, the easier it gets! I have been off track all summer but I am ready to get back to planning and taking the guess work out of our meals.
When I think of meal planning, I often just think about dinner. As my kids have grown a little bit older, I have found that THEY LIKE to know what their meal options are for breakfast and lunch. When they do, this leads to less meltdowns and arguments over what is being put on their plate.
For breakfast, I like to pick three different items to rotate through for the week. One of those items is always a grab and go that I can easily pair with fruit. I will make a batch of muffins or hard-boiled eggs to reach for when little feet are dragging.
When it comes to lunch, I tell my kids to pick two days they will be purchasing their lunch at school. Once they do that, they know they have a couple of options to choose from when they are bringing their lunch.
For dinner, I ask everyone for one dinner suggestion for the week. This leaves me with only two meal ideas to come up with! Also, if we know we are eating on the go one night, I am sure to write that down as well.
Check out the FREE Meal Planning Printable HERE!
Tips for this print out:
1. Save them! A friend once showed me how she saves her weekly meals so that when we is in a slump, she can simply look back and recreate a previous hit!
2. Let the family participate in their choices. It takes a load off of your plate and gives them a sense of control.
3. The breakfast and lunch boxes are there to lay out the options for the week. This way you aren't short order cooking at the crack of dawn while trying to get everyone out the door.
4. In the lunch section, you can mark whether or not a child/family member is purchasing lunch out that day. This way you have a better idea of the meal prep that will be going into the following day.
5. Be flexible! Things change. Schedules change. Wrenches get thrown into plans. Don't sweat it if you don't follow your plan to the tee.
Enjoy! Remember, the more you do this, the easier it will get.
As a mom, packing for a vacation can get those stress levels rising! Not only are we packing for ourselves but we are also responsible for the kids and sometimes, the fur babies. Now that my kids are a little older, I thought it was time to pass some of the pre-vacation responsibilities to my boys.
I needed a system that was simple, straight forward, and easy to read and explain to my kids. This "Pack Your Bags!" free resource, provides written text for readers, pictures for non-readers, and gives them the control of checking things off the list as the get things done.
If there is one thing I have learned from my background in child development, it is that kids love multiple forms of sensory input. This resource provides, visual cues as well as the gratification of a check box using a marker or pencil to mark completion!
This resource provides kids with the opportunity to:
-Work on their counting skills
-Work on identification skills
-Learn the written word for the objects
-Provide a sense of responsibility
-Provide an opportunity to work with colors if you want to get more detailed. My kids need all the help with matching they can get!
You can grab your FREE PRINTABLE HERE!
I can't wait to hear how you use this resource.
