Saturday, July 11, 2009

Food For Thought

You know what, being a mom is a lot of work. There is the laundry to do, activities to take the kids to and trying to make sure they eat something healthy. I want to focus on the eating part. You see, I live out in the country. I am 4 miles from our little town grocery store and about an hour from a large grocery store. I can't really just run in for something if I've forgotten it. When I lived in town we got really used to those $5 pizzas. In fact, we went and house sat for my parents a few years ago and the first night there I asked Taylor what she wanted for dinner and she told me pizza. Well, it was kinda late and I told her it would take a little while to make pizza and she wanted to know why we couldn't just go buy one. It's not that easy in the country.

Plus, you see, I have this adorable little bundle of joy that loves being held. If it's been too long since I've held her, she lets me know. Lately she hasn't been sleeping as well. I'm not sure if she is going through a growth spurt and her sleep schedule is re-adjusting or maybe she is getting those teeth to come through that she has been drooling over for the last two months. Either way, she isn't sleeping as much and wants to be held more. When she was tinier I was using my slow cooker more. I could throw stuff in during her first nap and by dinner it was ready, that was great. Now, I've run out of ideas, plus for me it's too hot for soups and chili like I was making.

I know a menu would probably help me out some, but I don't use one. I've seen programs where someone gives you a menu for the week and the corresponding shopping list. You go to the store once and you've got the stuff for all these healthy meals. The problem is, most of those lists usually include some kind of fish, and I don't like fish. Then I would have to go through the list and edit it for the stuff I wouldn't be using for that meal and come up with an alternative. Is it worth the hassle and the cost?

Then there are all those pre-packaged meals that are oh so fast, but full of salt and who knows what else. Some of them taste pretty good, but some are not. The thing is, they are fast and easy. Once in a while they are okay, but not everyday. I've also tried making a double batch of something and freezing it, and that works sometimes, when I plan ahead enough to do it.

What do you do? How do you make meal time easier on yourself and good for your family?

1 comment:

Rose said...

Crock pot rocks. One of my fav things to do in the crock pot is plain old beans. If you have a large crock pot do 4 or 5 cups of beans at a time and then you'll have a huge pot of leftover beans in the fridge, which is great if your kids, like mine, like bean and cheese burritos. Fast easy lunches and dinners. that and quick home made tortillas....never ending food lol
I have a book of my fav crock pot recipes too.....I'll send you some good ones :)

I also only get to the grocery store about once every 2 weeks. I now know what we need and the menu just about by heart...but it was rough the first couple years.