Today starts a new series on developing 7 habits of eating at home that make it both feasible and simple! Over the years I’ve learned a few things that really help when trying to build the habits of eating at home instead of grabbing takeout whenever I have a hectic day and I want to share those with you in this series.
So let’s start with the core basic–actually making a plan that works for you and not against you! We want to create habits that will benefit our family and budget with home cooked meals every night, but that take in account our busy schedules so we’re not spending hours of time planning out meals and then cooking them. We discussed this topic along with how to deal with picky eaters in your meal planning in this video along with lots of helpful tips and comments from viewers.
Your Calendar and Meal Planning
One of the things that often trips us up is the common advice to choose a day of the week for certain types of meals and then rotate recipes that fit each category. Something like this:
- M – Italian
- T – Tacos
- W – Sandwiches
- Th -…
You get the idea. This is okay advice if all of your days and evenings have the same routine that involves you being home in time to prep and cook dinner easily. But my life doesn’t look like that and I bet yours doesn’t either!
We need a meal plan that takes into account our schedule so that we have time to make the meals we plan on. Instead of being frustrated because meal planning never works for us, if we learn to have a new perspective and create a plan that works with our schedule instead of against it, we are sure to feel great about our successes!
Rethinking Eating at Home Habits
Instead of thinking about the type of foods when planning your menu, consider the cooking method and speed of the recipes you are looking at. This will give you much a much better success rate because your plan will fit your day and create a lot less stress and work when it comes time to getting dinner on the table.
- Slow cooker recipes are fantastic when you have a few minutes in the morning, but no time later in the day.
- Instant Pot or pressure cooker recipes work great for hands-off cooking that can be started later in the day. I like loading my Instant Pot around 3 pm and letting it switch to “keep warm” after the cook time is up. Dinner’s ready and waiting for us later.
- 15 Minute meals are best on super busy days. Having an arsenal of these types of recipes will save you from the drive-thru.
Habit #1 – Choose a recipe that fits your day and the time you have available to cook instead of making your day fit your recipe.
Read all the posts in the 7 Successful Habits for Eating at Home
- THIS POST: Plan Meals around your calendar and lifestyle
- Simplify Grocery Shopping to save time and money
- Stock up your freezer with easy meals and shortcuts
- Plan 15-minute meals for busy days
- Master time-saving tools in the kitchen–before you are in a time crunch!
- Create intentional conversation and connection with your families at the dinner table + FREE PRINTABLE!
- Use up what you already have by shopping from your pantry and freezer when you plan your menu at least a few times a year!