It May Seem A Bit Mundane

Last week I posted a photo of what our family eats in a week. I had a question about our menu planning, so I thought I would share that with you today. Over the years we have had a few different ways of planning meals. From no planning to over planning, our systems have changed as our family has grown and changed.

What we do now is working for this season, but I'm sure it will be adapted as time goes on. In fact, our current menu plan didn't start out this way. It evolved over the course of a few months into what it is today. And there is always room for flexibility. Some months we go through our plan pretty much as it is written.

Other months we're flip-flopping days around, eliminating meals, and replacing them with others. And the variations depend on a number of different factors ranging from illness to a busier than expected schedule to just not feeling up to making whatever is on the menu. All that to say that the following is just a snapshot of how we do meal planning in our family. If it is anything like other "how we do things" type posts, it will need to be changed promptly after publishing.

We like everyone to learn how to help out in the kitchen. We eat cold cereal and/or homemade instant oatmeal for breakfast every day. If I've made some bread and we have it on hand then some of the kids will eat toast. Rachel (now 7 months old) eats half of a banana each morning as well. We very rarely cook anything else for breakfast. We have one official snack time each day. The kids grab a piece of fruit and head outside to eat it while they enjoy a break from school work.

Sometimes we have sliced watermelon, crackers, or granola bars in the afternoon. This only happens about twice a week. Otherwise I try to limit the snacks to the morning. If the kids are really hungry then they can get a second piece of fruit or peel a carrot. This is not specifically planned. I just fix whatever seems easiest on any given day.

Claude--We don't do very well with this one. We are now trying to grill a bunch of chicken over the weekend, put it on top of some lettuce, and pack some yogurt and fruit to go along with it. Otherwise he throws some Ramen and a can of tuna into his bag along with an apple or banana.

At the moment we have a weekly menu that is repeated throughout the month. The meals planned are ones that the Crew has requested that we eat on a regular basis. They enjoy knowing what to expect will be on the dinner table and I like the simplicity. Eating the same foods every week makes shopping and cooking so easy!

I have found that meals take less and less time to prepare as the weeks go by because I have had a lot of practice making the same handful of meals. It may seem a bit mundane, but at this stage in family life that is exactly what we need. Simple, easy, and predictable. As an added bonus, Abby has learned to tell the passage of time by what we eat for dinner each night. And those raw veggies that nobody touched the first couple of weeks I set them out, Now they are everyone's favorite vegetable.

Homemade Refried Beans (I modify this slightly to make a bit less although I still use a 5 lb. With this list I can make a few different meals or supplemental foods in a hurry. Rachel likes to feed herself. Because she is eating solids now, I do need a plan to feed Rachel.

Here's what we do right now. Of course, it'll change in the coming months as she needs more food, can feed herself, and just generally gets older. Also, you'll notice that she eats the same foods every day. It's either this or she doesn't eat because I can't manage a million different fruits and veggies and combinations of the two each day.