MINIMALIST MEAL PLAN

Meal planning is essential to my week running smoothly. I've been meal planning for years, but recently I started feeling overwhelmed by it all. Which is the exact opposite reason I meal plan! Feeling even more overwhelmed at 5pm, while two children repeatedly say, "I'm hungry. What's for dinner? Is it time for dinner yet? I forgot, what's for dinner?" is no bueno. That's how you end up ordering pizza two times a week.

All my meal planning in the past has required quite a bit of creativity, time, and energy. Every week, I'd be searching through cookbooks and Pinterest recipes, planning out all the meals and writing down all the ingredients, and then shopping for all of that, list in tow-including the actual meal plan to make sure I didn't forget anything. And while I love cooking and meals at home with my family, and enjoy grocery shopping, and get real satisfaction out of meal planning it was turning into something that was complicated and...hard.

So I decided to reassess. To simplify. (That is basically my life motto right now: More simplicity. In all the things.) Inspired by this blog post, I decided to assign a meal to each week night. I've always thought that I needed to change things up or everyone-including me-would be bored, but turns out everyone likes these meals best anyway, and are happy to eat them. Plus, I do change them up, but only in the most simplest of ways.

Here's my weekly minimalist meal plan:

Monday: pasta, salad, veggie 

Change ups: marinara + ground beef OR meatballs OR Italian sausage, pesto + chicken, Alfredo. We usually have some sort of squash as the veggie to keep it Whole 30ish for me and the hubs (spaghetti or zucchini are favorites) plus the pasta for the kids. 

Tuesday: stir fry, rice

Change ups: chicken, pork, or steak plus any veggies. I do either Asian seasoning or fajita. Same process, totally different flavors.

Wednesday: burgers, fries, salad

Change ups: turkey burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, BLTs. I sometimes switch out the salad for raw carrots, celery, and radishes. We have both lettuce wrapped and buns. 

Thursday: soup or salad

Fave Soups: split pea, chicken and rice stew, tomato, beef stew, chicken enchilada

Fave Salads: chicken Cesar, taco, salmon BLT

Friday: leftovers or out

Saturday: Slow Cooker

A variety of things, but my default is pot roast or buffalo chicken

Sunday: Sunday Supper

We take turns picking out "fancy" meal each week.

Sunday supper is always a big meal for us, I usually plan it out from cook books and it takes a bit longer to cook, and we all work together. I also take this time to give the kids basic cooking lessons. I love Sunday Suppers and I can truly enjoy the work that goes into them now that the rest of the week has been simplified. 

So, how can you start minimalist meal planning? Think about the foods and meals your family love and actually eat, and things that are simple to prepare. Take into account evenings that you know will be busier and make those the simplest to prepare meals. Go from there, and the rest will all fall into place.

This is hands down one of the best changes I've made this year. Making a minimalist meal plan has made a big difference in my kitchen. Knowing exactly what I'm going to make AND that it will take minimal time, not to mention that I know everyone will eat it without complaining (PRAISE HANDS) takes the stress out of the equation. It also has helped me to enjoy cooking even more, and to try new flavors and more complicated recipes on the weekends and it leaves me less stressed to enjoy our weekday evenings together. And the best part of all? Teaching my children that home cooked meals and eating together doesn't have to be hard or stressful.

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

I'm pretty passionate about teaching my children how to cook. I never learned how to cook as a child; my mother didn't like cooking (she actually owned a cookbook called "The I Hate To Cook Cookbook") and so she didn't think about teaching me how to make anything. But I've always had an interest and after taking a home economics class in the 8th grade, I taught myself how not only to cook, but found that I love it. And this is a skill that I want to pass on to both my kids.

I mentioned that once a week over the summer, I'm having the kids cook dinner. I let them chose what we eat, they help with the shopping, and they cook it all themselves, to the best of their ability. Of course, I'm there to help-especially with heat and knives-but for the most part, the goal is for them to do it themselves (and the bigger goal is for them to be self-sufficient adults who can grocery shop and cook without batting an eye and won't be calling me from their dorm room asking how to microwave Spaghetti-O's).

So how to get started having your kids help out in the kitchen?

Start Young. Both of my kids have been helping in the kitchen since they could stand on a stool. Start with simple things like whisking, stirring, wiping the counters, and measuring ingredients. As they get older, give them new, more advanced skills. (Don't fret if your kids are already older, they too can learn, promise.) Which leads us to...

Don't Underestimate Them. Kids are capable. I personally find this set of skills pretty accurate, but of course, as with anything, consider your child's personal ability and maturity when making decisions about what kitchen skills are best for them. (But totally remind them to wash their hands because, they're kids and they are germ traps.)

Source: Williams Sonoma

Lay The Groundwork. Make sure they understand how to read over a recipe, make a grocery list of what they need, and plan out their meal. All these steps add up to successfully being able to make that meal!

Let Them Take the Lead and Let It Go. This is harder for some people (ahem, ME) then others. When you let kids cook, there will be mistakes and messes and you just need to hold your tongue and let them enjoy the process. But also...

Make Time For Clean Up. Clean up is part of cooking and make sure your kids know that and help. Maybe there will be less of a mess next time! (probably not, let's be real.)

Indulge Them A Bit. For their Thursday menus, I encourage my kids to chose foods they like and are healthy, but I let them chose a dessert of their choice too. Teaching them balance, even at a young age, is part of the life skills they'll need of a happy healthy life!