This is a guest post from Christiana Hitchcock, writer of It’s a Keeper!! Thanks Christina for the great tips and yummy recipes.
What’s for dinner? That simple, little question causes more stress and anxiety than a root canal (well, not really!). In our busy lives, it’s so easy to put off or forget about dinner plans until you have a house full of hungry hooligans!
It doesn’t have to be like that. Really. What if I told you that, this week, my family had Chicken Cobbler Casserole , Pork Chops in Creamy Shallot Sauce , homemade Sloppy Joes (and the sauce did not come from a can) and Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers for dinner? Oh, and I didn’t spend more than 30 minutes each evening getting dinner ready. You’re either A.) calling me a liar or B.) accusing me of channeling Martha Stewart.
Well, I’m not lying (I swear!) and I don’t have time to “channel” anyone or thing. But I will tell you how I, a full-time working mom, have figured out to get a hot, homemade meal on the table every night without stress (gasp!).
The answer is simple. A menu plan. I know what you’re thinking. Who’s got time to plan a menu? I promise, if you invest a little time at the beginning of the week planning and prepping, the dinner-hour will be much less stressful.
Here’s how I do it:
It starts with a plan. Every Sunday, I plan out our meals for the week. I take into consideration everything going on for the week and then I plan out our dinners for the week. I write down the main dish, and any side dishes, on my weekly calendar, which hangs on the fridge. This way, I won’t forget what I’ve planned! I also gather any recipes that I need and keep them in one spot.
Fill in the gaps. Next, I check my inventory. I cross check the recipes against my pantry, fridge and freezer. Anything I need to buy goes right on the shopping list. I usually go to the grocery store and butcher on Sundays and get everything that I need at once.
Prep. Label. Store. Once I have everything I need, I start prepping. I usually do this while I’m preparing Sunday night’s dinner. I go through all of my recipes for the week and find what I can do ahead of time.
If I’m having a casserole, I pre-cook the meat, get it all assembled, cover it with foil and write the baking instructions on the foil with a permanent marker.
I chop (and sometimes, cook) the veggies. Everything goes into Ziploc bags and is labeled.
If I’m making a pasta dish, I pre-cook the pasta. Then all I need to do is stick it back into boiling water for a few minutes when I’m ready to serve.
I also pre-measure ingredients whenever possible — like the sauce for the Sloppy Joes. I measure everything out and store it in a container (labeled of course). I would also pre-cook the meat, onions and peppers.
I usually spend about an hour or so on Sunday getting everything ready for the week. By taking the time to plan and prep when I have it, dinner-time becomes a LOT simpler.
See? Who needs Martha? With a little planning and some thoughtful prep work, you can have a delicious homemade dinner on the table for your family…even on the busiest of nights.
Christina, an NEPA native, is a full-time working mother. On her blog, It’s a Keeper (www.everydaytastes.com), she is cooking her way through a pile of 259 random recipes that she’s collected and reporting the results – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Thanks Christina!!
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